Great employee with a Facebook habit

Question

I have started a small software company with one new hire and a remote worker that is supposed to grow over the next few months.

Right now, it’s only two of us in the office and I know that sitting opposite your boss all day must be intense. We get along really well, and in the past month he’s worked hard to get through a build we thought would take us months longer.

He’s worked after hours, worked at home, worked on weekends and he’s made suggestions for new features he’s wanted to add as a surprise. He’s a good guy.

The only issue I have is that lately, since the work doesn’t have the same tinge of urgency as it did before — and since he’s done a lot of the major stuff already — within four weeks of working here is on Facebook.

I would say he’s on Facebook for easily half the day. He gets through everything he needs to quickly, but then doesn’t hand in the work (delays it by a few hours) so he can spend time on Facebook and make it seem like he’s working through that time.

I can see that he’s talking to his girlfriend who moved over for the job with him, but doesn’t have a job yet. He’s a young guy and I’m guessing he wants to keep her happy.

I could have maybe looked past it, but the other day we bought a temp worker into the office and he was doing this in full view of a new employee. He works hard out of hours but not everyone can see this, and I don’t want this to become the norm for everyone else.

And, I can’t help but also think that I’m paying him for his hours at work — but this seems a hugely unfair line of thought given the fact that he puts in work out of hours too.

How should I best handle this situation, if at all? The last thing I want to do is demotivate and demoralize.

Answer 1

Nip it in the bud. Don't let it go on longer or he will think it's accepted. You need to have a 1-1 meeting with him and tell him that it's not acceptable. If possible, catch him when he's doing it.

That's part of management. Not always pleasant, but it's what needs to be done.

If it were me, I'd maybe emphasize that I was happy with his work overall, but during business hours, please keep it to a minimum. See where that goes.

In time as the business grows, you will likely need to draft an "Internet usage policy" to define that, and a company handbook for new employees.

Answer 2

"He puts in work after hours."

1. He's not an hourly employee so you get the pros and cons of that. Pros: you don't have to pay overtime. Cons: You shouldn't micromanage. Some states actually have labor board rules that say this. It sounds like the guy is delivering productivity at a good rate. You just don't like seeing him on Facebook...

2. Most of the industry runs on Agile methodology which says you need to trust the employee. Not micromanage/worry about whether they look at Facebook or not. Delivering his work within reasonable time frames is all that matters. I get it, you feel like you own his soul during the 8 hours of the business day. I bet from his POV he's delivering work equal to or greater in value than what you pay him. And you think so to or you would have fired him long before you saw him on Facebook, right?

3. Your competitors have perks like full arcade game rooms, free kitchens with chefs, open bars and here you are telling a guy he can't look at Facebook. Think about it. You think your competitors are going into those game rooms and telling people they can only be in there after business hours? Nope. If you terminate him for it he's going to run to job boards and post reviews that talk about your 'perks'. Then good luck on finding the quality hires.

You could let him work remote full time or maybe you hired a guy who is too high level for the kind of work you're doing? Or you did not motivate the guy sufficiently. Profit share/stock option/compelling story about why your company will be the next big thing are great motivators. They might motivate a guy to forget he has a girlfriend (ha ha) and forget about Facebook. Maybe.

Anyhow, tread carefully because from your employee's POV he's probably giving you a solid average of 40-60 hours worth of productivity per week regardless of what you think from seeing him in the office. Accusing him of theft ain't going to go over well. Neither is basically insisting that he shoe horn all of his work into his time at the office when you already know he's working from home a lot/

Answer 3

Before settling on a solution you need to decide what the problem is.

It could be:

• You want him to work during working hours (in addition to or instead of the additional hours)
• You don't want other employees to see him wasting work time
• You don't want you to see him wasting work time
• You think he isn't productive overall

It could be one of the above, or a combination, or something else. Only you can say for sure which of these is the actual problem.

Think about this carefully because what you absolutely don't want to do is to "fix" a problem that you don't have. e.g. if you care more that he does the work than when he does the work it would be silly to insist on formal working hours when really that doesn't achieve anything which is too important to you.

For what it's worth I think you could fix this with a conversation and perhaps an agreement about flexible working.

Answer 4

Have you considered flexible working hours? If your main concern is the impression that he is projecting, you could have a conversation with him saying that you think he's doing a great job, but you'd prefer that he not use Facebook in the office. Perhaps if he routinely didn't work some of the afternoon, but worked into the evening instead, that would work better for him?

Answer 5

You are trying to micromanage the employee. Some employees like micromanagement, others don't. Sounds like this employee prefers less micromanagement, but if you are unsure you can always talk to him about which direction he would like you to go with your management style. However, micromanaging an employee that doesn't want it is a sure way to killing their productivity and making them quit.

You say he's a good worker, so what's the problem? Is he finishing work on time? Then you should stop worrying about how much faster he would work if only he didn't take breaks. If he didn't take breaks, he may start working slower, and he may just decide that the job sucks and quit. Then you will have to spend time and money to replace him, and maybe the next person will be a bad worker and browse Facebook. Don't fix what isn't broken.

He gets through everything he needs to quickly, but then doesn’t hand in the work (delays it by a few hours) so he can spend time on Facebook and make it seem like he’s working through that time.

It's irrelevant how long he takes to finish the work. It only matters if he has finished it in time. If yes, you can stop worrying about it. If no, you can (and should) ask him to do it faster. The facebook problem will disappear on its own, or he will fail to do it on time and you can have a discussion about why. I don't mean asking for work to be done sooner for the sole purpose of "squeezing" him - that would probably have similar consequences to unwelcome micromanagement. But if there is an actual, tangible business benefit to doing it sooner, you should definitely communicate this to him.

the other day we bought a temp worker into the office and he was doing this in full view of a new employee.

If your concern is morale, then the issue is not him being on facebook, but him being on facebook where other employees can see. It will be a lot easier to tell him "just don't let the temp see it". If you are concerned about equal treatment of employees, you can bring that up as well: "I don't let anyone else do it so I think it should be a new policy that you're also subject to". But do keep in mind that too many arbitrary policy changes will do exactly what you want to avoid: Demoralize and demotivate.

Answer 6

To get things out of the way first, if my manager came to me and said "I'm really happy with your results and effort, but you should not use Facebook so much" I'd get frustrated and probably start looking for another job. I've already done that, to be honest. Many companies are in a dire need of good developers, that's why we have good salaries and the companies offer dozens of perks.

I see that, to you, the biggest problem is that, as the company grows and more people get hired, the new employees will see this guy on FB half of the day and think he does nothing work related. Therefore, I suggest this:

Standup meetings.

Every single day, without exception, gather the team around, make them standup and go briefly over what they've done during the previous day, what they are currently doing, what they will do right after that. Two minutes for each employee and everyone will know what each other is doing and your problem will be solved.