I constantly see one of my subordinates chatting in a semi-professional chat during her working hours. With "semi-professional" I mean that the chat is targeted towards frontend developers (which is her position), but besides sharing and discussing code snippets they often do small talk about books, movies, etc...
As a believer in development culture and active user of the Stack Exchange network I don't want to forbid such communication entirely. Mostly because it is hard to define the line (is answering a Stack Overflow question already private? Is commenting and improving an answer? Is discussing lunch options in WhatsApp?)
On the other hand I see that it takes a significant amount of her working time and I have never seen her doing overtime.
What I did so far when I saw her chatting for a longer period from the corner of my eye:
- Asking about the status of her current work package. The packages are rather small (I could deliver them in half a day, she takes 1-2 days). I often get evasive answers and she then indeed turns back to her package - for some time.
- Discussing which additional aspects popped up during the current work package to send her back on track.
- Openly stating that she should have an eye on her private browsing behavior
- Openly stating that I see her changing the tab when I come close and that I am annoyed by that.
We are a small startup so our possibility of sanctions is rather limited and not our desired culture. I am also unsure if I should appear tougher and stricter - to be honest I am alarmed that I have to act like a elementary school teacher here. Also she is not a very good coder, but it took a long time to fill that position and she indeed solves more problems than she creates - so firing her is a tough decision.
(I could deliver them in half a day, she takes 1-2 days)
which sounds like you may have trouble delegating items of work and accepting that employees may do thing differently than you. Together with the other points you've mentioned, it seems to point that you may be micromanaging. Try to take a more laid back approach and focus strictly on the results she produces, ignoring how she delivers it.