My Question of the Day for 29 April 2010 – UPDATED
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My Question of the Day: Some of us work in environments where there is a lot of down time. Would you say that during the down time it is appropriate to browse the web, check your phone, read and/or work on your own activities instead of just sitting/standing around, or should you look for other work-related things to do, even if they’re not in your job description, so you will be using company time for company business?
(this question was submitted by @fulaanah; thanks!)
My 2 Cents: I always make it a point to ask about this upfront, especially if I see I’m going to be working a job where there’s going to be a lot of down time.
I want to know from the beginning what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable before I even take the position.
If there’s going to be a lot of down time and the company doesn’t have anything for me to do, other than what I’m responsible for, and they forbid me to do anything else besides sit/stand around, that’s not a job I’m going to take.
If there’s going to be down time, and the company asks that I try to find other things to do that aren’t in my job description, and once I’ve done that they’re okay with me doing my own thing, I’m more likely to take this position.
I have to be honest and tell you that I would be very, very reluctant to take a job where I wasn’t able to do my own thing, at least a bit, once all my responsibilities are met. I’m a hustler, and I’m used to having my irons in more than one fire (yes, I know it’s have more than one iron in the fire, but I said what I mean 
), so having some down time to do my own thing is almost imperative for me. That’s just me, though.
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Take a few moments to check out the tweets from Twitter on this subject:
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JoshDamage as long as you aren’t violating any company rules I’d say it’s Ok to surf, tweet, text etc.
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The commentary doesn’t have to end!
Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.
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I would definitely look for other work-related things to do, but if there’s truly nothing else to do then I don’t see anything wrong with doing a couple personal things. I don’t believe in trying to “act busy”. If you want me to be busy, give me actual work; I’m more than happy to do it. Otherwise, let me go home early (with pay, of course haha).
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LikeDislikeDo what company work you can, as you are on the companies time. The rest of the down time you can spend looking for another job.
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LikeDislikeIf you can’t find anything work-related to do and your superiors can’t find anything work-related for you to do, it should be perfectly fine for you to do whatever you want. It also might make you more productive as your mind gets a break from work stuff, so you’ll focus better when work does come back around.
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LikeDislikeRather than send employees home, some companies are content with having workers read, study, search the web, or other non-work related things during downtime. If you find yourself with absolutely nothing else to do and your supervisor or company doesn’t mind, then it is perfectly fine to do so. Just as long as these activities do not interfere with your work when it’s time to work, I see no problem with personal activities during downtime.
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LikeDislikeI think it’s fine to spend some of that time checking email and messages but not the whole time. majority it should be spent doing company related work
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