The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last week that the city has limited employees to 30 minutes of Internet usage per day. Here's the URL for the story.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06040/652505.stm

This strikes me as treating all city employees like misbehaving six-year-olds and expecting things to come out OK. 

Mr. Howard Stern, the city's chief information officer, said that the city doesn't keep tabs on how much time city employees spend online.  Even though he has no data, he's sure that only 30 percent of employee internet use is spent on legitimate functions.

Mr. Stern also said that: "This is part of professionalizing city government."

As I understand it, this means that the city is going to treat everyone, regardless of job function or whether they're abusers of net access, as if they can't be trusted.  That, the city believes, will make them more professional.

There are so many things wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start.  Let's begin with fairness.

The city has 1300 employees with web access who will ultimately be subject to this policy.  How many do you think are abusers? 

If it's like most workplaces, the abusers make up a very small percentage of the workforce. So why punish everybody?  Because it's easier and safer, at least that's what the bureaucrats usually think.

They think it's easier to use software or a blanket policy that treats everyone like they're either a child or a criminal than it is to actually supervise things.  This doesn't happen only at the city of Pittsburgh.  It happens in public agencies and private companies everywhere.

This isn't restricted to internet use, either. In other places everyone suffers because a few people abuse the overtime policy or steal office supplies.  Wherever it happens it sends the message to the majority of folks that "We don't trust you" while allowing the abusers to continue their merry ways.

It will also turn the majority of folks into rule breakers. That's because people are generally pretty smart and they'll figure out a way to beat a policy they think is unfair.

My guess is they'll start signing in using each other's accounts.  They will be able to do that because the city isn't actually using human bosses to supervise their behavior. It's trying to get the job done with policy and computer programs.

The folks who will suffer the most are the straight-arrows who need internet time to do their job. Some of them will appeal the policy that regulates them to 30 minutes a day.  The city will respond with either an adjudication process or a newer, thicker, more complex policy, perhaps one that defines "classes" of employees.

In the meantime, the abusers will go on happily doing their personal business online.  And everyone else will get the message that slacking and cheating are the way to survive.

We should know by now that if you treat people like misbehaving children, then they'll start living down to your expectations.  We should also know that people are smarter than policies and we can set things up so they can use their powers for good or for evil.

It's a general principle of good management that the just should rewarded and the unjust punished in accordance with their deeds.  Here's how you make that work with internet usage or almost anything else.

Make sure you have clear rules.  People should know what they can and can't do.

Make sure your people know the rules.  That means communicating to everyone all at once, but is usually also means communicating, boss to subordinate, one at a time.

Make sure you supervise.  It's the immediate bosses that monitor behavior and performance.  They should know if an individual is abusing the system or not.

Make sure you enforce your rules.  People should receive the consequences of good and bad behavior.