What is our responsibility to ourselves, our coworkers and our company?
Not safe at work
In today’s information age we are bombarded with images that alternately inform us, entertain us and stimulate us. But how often do we get confused over where to draw the line?
What is our responsibility to ourselves, our coworkers and our company?
We all know that common sense is the best policy when dealing with others..we have a natural sense of what is appropriate…don’t we?
Why is it we frequently open emails from coworkers and we see chain letters like:
Please view this email and angels will bless you…or demons will curse you if you don’t…and you should send this to 20 people you know to get good luck…or else something bad will happen.
The other disturbance that can be fairly common is:
Funny pictures or videos
Shocking images
Beautiful pictures of nature
But…what about the NSFW warnings in emails?
…when you open it you may not realize it means Not Safe For Work!This could mean pictures or videos of people in various stages of appearance or behavior that are completely inappropriate for work. It could be a very risky maneuver should you try it. Your Information Technology people will curse you as they try feverishly to remove Adware, Malware and Viruses from your computer and they will also report you for misusing company property.
But that is not the whole story…A better question is…what is happening in your life or career that requires you to view such things?
And if you cannot resist viewing those images..must you do it at work?
Are you aware of how your actions affect others?
If the images don’t bother you…that’s one thing…but you must be aware that others may not want to be disturbed by your actions.Part of your unspoken contract with your employer is to be part of a team in harmony with others and you have no right to weaken or disturb others. So the next time you are bored or want to gain attention think about what you are about to do.
Offensive material doesn’t have to be limited to pictures of scantily clad women, it can be news articles on disturbing events or an opinion piece on the latest conspiracy theory. Not everybody wants to engage in banter that is not focused on career productivity.
I once worked with a team of people that seemed to be a very stable unit because they all knew each other very well and they were together for over 10 years. They each enjoyed decent reputations and were quite competent at their jobs and I was delighted to be accepted by the senior team at work.
The problem was they stopped seeking challenges at their job, they did not transfer or add to their skill set..most of them felt like they have seen everything and failed to be surprised by anything that happened on their job.
This lent itself to activities ranging from trivia contests to top 10 lists of best movies, best songs and so on and so forth….but then the ante was raised and people would try to shock each other to keep each other engaged.
Eventually the team was disbanded because they were performing inconsistently and their chatter came at the expense of their workload.
I don’t claim to be the model employee but I have learned that there are certain traps that are easy to avoid when you want to enjoy job security. Not safe at work written by Ken Bownes
