Goldbricking

Goldbricking/ Cyberloafing
Working Hard or Slacking Off?
Are Your Employees Watching Porn at Work?

Goldbricking
• Goldbricking is the practice of doing less
work than one is able to, while maintaining the
appearance of working.

Goldbricking
• The term originates from the confidence
trick of applying a gold coating to a brick of
worthless metal—while the worker may
appear industrious on the surface, in reality
they are less valuable.
• A modern example is staff who use their work
internet access for personal reasons, which can
lead to inefficiency. Goldbricking online is
referred to as cyber slacking or cyber loafing.

Goldbricking
• A 1999 report estimated that cyber slacking cost
employers in the United States $1 billion a year
in computer resources
• Instances of goldbricking increased markedly
when broadband Internet connections became
commonplace in workplaces.
• Before that, the slow speed of dial-up
connections meant that spending work time
browsing on the internet was rarely
worthwhile

Goldbricking
• Many firms employ surveillance software to
track employees' Internet activity in an effort
to limit liability and improve productivity.

Goldbricking
• Other methods used to reduce goldbricking
include installation of proxy servers to
prevent programs from accessing resources
like Internet Relay Chat, AOL Instant
Messenger, or some online gambling
services, strict disciplinary measures for
employees found goldbricking, and carrot and
stick measures like providing free or
subsidized Internet access for employees
outside of working hours.

Subsidized Internet Access For
Employees Outside Of Working Hours

Goldbricking
• Smartphone's have greatly reduced the need
for employees to use company
computers/Internet access for personal
matters, also making it harder for companies
to restrict or track workers' Internet activity.

Goldbricking
• Goldbricking became a mainstream topic
when Yahoo! announced in late February
2013 that it was banning the practice of
telecommuting because it discovered its
remote employees were not logging into the
corporate VPN often enough

Alternate Views
• Research has indicated that permitting employees
to utilize computer resources for personal use
actually increases productivity.
• A study by the National University of
Singapore entitled Impact of Cyber loafing on
Psychological Engagement concluded that
using the internet for personal use served the
same purpose as a coffee break and helped
workers concentrate and stay engaged

Research has indicated that permitting employees to utilize
computer resources for personal use actually increases
productivity.

Goldbricker
• What is a 'Goldbricker'
• A goldbricker is a person who gets paid a
wage, or salary, for work that is not done,
despite the appearance of working.
• The term originates from the unethical
practice of coating bricks of cheap metals with
gold plate, to pass them off as solid gold. Thus,
a worker who seems hard at work might be
tending to personal matters.

'Goldbricker'
• 'Goldbricker'
• Goldbricking today most often refers to
employees who use company time to scour the
internet or perform other personal tasks.
Unproductive workers add to a business'
expenses.
• Companies who use independent contractors in
hopes of boosting production must remain
vigilant to avoid overpaying for the work
completed. However, business is not the only
victim of the goldbrick.

'Goldbricker'
• For example, as shown in 2009 NBC News report,
New York City it was reported that about 700
teachers accused of various on-the-job offenses
were paid to do nothing for months, or years,
awaiting decisions on their cases.
• This Union-forced practice becomes goldbricking
as the teachers were still reporting to work and
thus giving the appearance of labour. In fact, they
sat in a so-called rubber room for eight hours,
doing nothing. The policy costs city taxpayers an
estimated $65 million a year.

Cyber-Slacking is Goldbricking
• In the United States, goldbricking is
estimated to cost companies billions of
dollars a year.
• A 2012 survey by Salary.com found that 2112
of the total 3200 respondents confessed to
wasting time at work.
• Internet use, sometimes called cyber-
slacking, was the leading time-wasting
activity in the workplace.

• Employees cited the lack of challenging work,
long hours, and the lack of incentive to do
more work as the reasons for goldbricking at
work. The boon in social networking sites like
Face book, Integra, and Twitter, as well as
texting, has contributed to goldbricking habits.
Workers who want to socialize on the job no
longer need to stand around the water
cooler or pick up the phone they go online.

• Companies are fighting back with
surveillance software which can monitor
employee internet searches, or by installing
proxy servers that block social media and
other websites. However, the ubiquity of
Smartphone's has complicated restriction
efforts, since employees can browse
cyberspace on their own devices.

Companies are fighting back with
surveillance software

Corporations Push Back on
Goldbrickers
• Goldbricking has become such a serious
issue that it is impacting labor and societal
dynamics.
• In 2013 Forbes reported Yahoo announced it
would prohibit telecommuting citing
productivity issues as it found remote
employees were not logging into the company
servers as often as office-based workers.

Goldbricking Has Become Such A
Serious Issue

Corporations Push Back on Goldbrickers
• Other companies such as Aetna and Best Buy
are also pulling back workers. For example, as
reported by Forbes in 2017, IBM pulled many
of its remote workers back into the office
place, citing the lack of collaboration skills
as the reason.

Corporations Push Back on Goldbrickers

Top Employee Time-Wasters
• It's probably no surprise to you that a employee's day is
not all work. But how much of it is goldbricking?
• Well, surveys conducted by Salary.com
and AOL.com report that the average American employee
wastes more than two hours each workday, costing
employers more than $750 billion annually.
• A stunning 64 percent of survey respondents admitted
that they surf the Internet for non-work purposes every
day. Even more surprising, 46 percent of employees
surveyed admit they have spent time looking for another
job while on company time.

The Typical Profile
• More men waste time at work (69 percent) than
women (62 percent). Workers in the 26-to-35-year-
old age group topped the list, with 75 percent
wasting time each workday, edging out 18-to-25-
year-olds, while workers 56 and older waste the least
amount of time.
• Perhaps the most startling revelation is the correlation
between higher levels of education and time
mismanagement. Only 59 percent of high school
graduates reported wasting time, while 67 percent of
PhD's admit the frequent misuse of company hours.

Time-Wasting Rationales
• Some 35 percent of respondents say they waste
time because their work isn't challenging
enough. In a close second, 34 percent of
workers say they waste time because their
workday is too long, while 32 percent feel
their company gives them no incentive to work
harder. Another top time-wasting excuse, cited
by 30 percent of employees, is job
dissatisfaction in general, while 23 percent are
just plain bored.

Here's the list of the top time-wasting
activities, according to the surveys.
• 1. Social media sites. Not surprisingly, visiting social
media sites is the black hole of workplace
productivity. Facebook is the top social destination,
with 41 percent of survey respondents logging in
from work every day.
• Facebook is not the only culprit however; LinkedIn,
Google+, Twitter and more recently Pinterest all
claim their share of work-hour traffic.

• 2. Socializing with co-workers. The water
cooler is still king, with a majority of
employees admitting they commonly engage
in office gossip on work time. Although
employers certainly want co-workers to be
friendly in order to boost company morale and
team cohesiveness, it can be an enormous
drain on company time.

• 3. Personal business. Employees use work
time to check personal e-mail accounts, make
personal phone calls, send texts and do other
personal tasks such as online shopping and
gaming. This trend is on the rise, as the
line between work and home continues to blur.

• 4. Excessive or prolonged breaks. A 15-
minute break stretches to 20. A 30-minute
lunch break turns into 45. Arrive a few minutes
late in the morning. Leave a few minutes early
in the afternoon. A few minutes here, a few
minutes there, it’s no big deal, right? These
seemingly tiny bits of lost time, add up to
valuable hours squandered each week.

• 5. Unnecessary or inefficient
meetings. While many employers tend to
overlook their own contributions to inefficient
use of employee work-time, 47 percent of
workers surveyed cited unnecessary or
unproductive meetings as their number-one
waste of work hours. That should be a red flag
to business owners and perhaps the easiest
problem to repair.

Unnecessary Or Inefficient Meetings

few tips on increasing productivity
without causing a full-scale mutiny.
• Use website blockers. Utilize software to block
access to certain Internet sites from work
computers.
• While this is only a partial solution as many
employees simply turn to their smart phones,
some significant improvements in employee
productivity have been seen. It’s apparently
much more inconvenient and obvious to surf
the Internet from a mobile phone.

• Implement an Internet policy. The specifics
of the Internet policy are not important. What
does matter is that the policy is clear and
consistent. Most workers say that if they
know what is allowed and what is not, they
will be more likely to adhere to those
guidelines.

• Try tracking software. Time management and
tracking software has been found to improve
employee productivity by creating more
structure and accountability as well as
enabling employers to more effectively
monitor employee time use

• Challenge employees. Time and time again,
employees have said they are bored and not
being challenged enough. So, challenge them.
That doesn’t mean piling on additional work;
most employees already have plenty of work
to do. What it does mean is that you should
give them more responsibility and challenge
their initiative, decision-making and
creative skills.

• Be more visible. Have management,
supervisors or owners spend more time on the
office floor.
• It’s not necessary to look over shoulders; the
mere presence of management is a deterrent to
time wasting. Additionally, the increased
employer-employee interaction might lead to a
better understanding of problems that exist and
possible solutions.

without causing a full-scale mutiny

• Give rewards. Motivate employees to be less
wasteful with their work hours by giving them
recognition and some extra incentive.
• Start a friendly office competition to
reward the most productive workers or the
most efficient team. Offer small rewards
such as movie tickets, gift cards to local
restaurants or even an employee of the week
parking space.

• Streamline meetings. While some employers
don’t want to hear this, it is actually the
solution most in their control.
• Eliminate unnecessary meetings altogether.
Are weekly or daily staff meetings truly
productive or a waste of employee time? For
meetings that are justified, limit attendance
to critical employees, stick to the agenda
and adhere to a time limit.

Case Study: Are Your Employees Watching Porn at
Work?
• For many of us, the very thought of accessing
such material at work completely unthinkable.
• However, unfortunately yes it does happen
– and under many different guises. From
blatant office ‘banter’ forwarding indecent
images around colleagues, to secret viewings
– it all goes on.

Case Study: Are Your Employees Watching
Porn at Work?

What are the risks?
• There are a number of risks for
employers. Firstly, it is a complete breach of
most company IT policies.
• Besides the offensive nature of what is
being viewed, these porn sites are often
completely riddled with viruses, malware
and other nasties that you really don’t want
on your business IT network.

What are the risks?
• There is a huge risk too that employees may raise
complaints against their employer if a colleague is
accessing offensive materials in their presence, or
forwarding round inappropriate emails – you have a
duty of care to provide your employees with a safe
working environment, and such activity may leave
people feeling upset, afraid and vulnerable. It could
also give rise to discrimination claims and even so
far as constructive dismissal if you failed to address
a concern and an employee felt they could no longer
work for you So it is a very serious matter.

What are the challenges?
• What are the challenges?
• Blurred lines is a major issue here. We live in a
world where there is very little distinction now
between our work and home lives. With
smartphones and tablets, laptops and other tech,
we are constantly ‘plugged in’ whether this be to
work at home or vice versa. So some employees
can’t distinguish the difference between a quick
look at a website on their personal mobile phone
vs. doing the same on their work mobile.

What are the challenges?
• Equally, if you aren’t regularly monitoring the content
of your employees web and email activity how would
you know?
• We dealt with a case a few years ago now, where an
employer was blissfully unaware of their employee’s
internet activities until their IT company flagged an
issue. Turns out their employee was frequenting
some VERY offensive sites during work times.
• The other thing to consider too is that catching an
employee watching porn at work can have pretty life
changing consequences for them – how do they
explain their dismissal to their partner?

So what can you do about it?
• Make sure you have a comprehensive IT and
Internet policy in place that is clear on what
is/isn’t acceptable use
• Make sure your contracts and policies state that
you have the right to monitor employee
internet/email activity
• Make sure employees are aware of these policies
and have understood what they mean
• Make sure employees are 100% clear that you
will monitor their use

So what can you do about it?
• Make sure you include this as part of your
induction process with new employees
• Speak with your IT provider and ask them to
carry out regular checks and flag any issues to
you
• Deal with any complaints/concerns seriously
and swiftly
• Don’t assume that employees know what is /
isn’t acceptable – education is key

Terminology
• Counterproductive work behavior
• Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) is employee
behavior that goes against the legitimate interests of an
organization e.g.
• production deviance, involving behaviors like leaving
early, intentionally working slowly, or taking long breaks;
• property deviance, involving sabotage of equipment, theft
of property, and taking kickbacks;
• political deviance, involving showing favoritism, revenge,
gossiping, or blaming others;
• personal aggression, involving harassment, verbal abuse,
and endangerment

Counterproductive Work Behavior

Terminology
• Goldbricking
• Goldbricking is the practice of doing less
work than one is able to, while maintaining the
appearance of working. The term originates
from the confidence trick of applying a gold
coating to a brick of worthless metal—while
the worker may appear industrious on the
surface, in reality they are less valuable.

Terminology
• Goofing off
• Goofing off is a slang term for engaging in
recreation or an idle pastime while obligations
of work or society are neglected

Terminology
• Slacker
• A slacker is a person who habitually avoids
work or lacks work ethic

Terminology
• Cyber Loafing
• Cyberloafing is a term used to describe the
actions of employees who use their Internet
access at work for personal use while
pretending to do legitimate work.
Cyberloafing is derived from the term
goldbricking, which originally referred to
applying gold coating to a brick of worthless
metal.

Terminology
• Cyber Slacking
• Cyber slacking is a term used when
employees use their work internet connection
for personal reasons for excessive amounts of
time. Cyber slacking can cause a number of
problems, from the obvious loss of
productivity to legal liability as well as virus
infection

Terminology
• Rubber Room
• A room where teachers in the New York City
Public School System who are suspected of
misconduct are held for an indefinite period of
time.

References
• Cyberloafing
• https://www.techopedia.com/definition/2390/cyberloafing
• Cyberslacking
• https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cyberslacking.asp
• Goldbricking
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldbricking
• goldbricking
• https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/goldbricking
• Goldbricker
• What is a 'Goldbricker'
• https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/goldbricking.asp
• Pornography at work: grounds for dismissal?
• https://www.theguardian.com/money/work-
blog/2013/sep/04/pornography-work-dismissal-workplace-rights

Goldbricking

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Goldbricking