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I keep catching one of my team members (who I am managing) on youtube, social media and chat.

Our environment is quite relaxed in that sense - we all do this. Hence posting of the workplace right now. So the question is at what point should you put your foot down on the issue? I am a bit concerned it might be affecting his productivity in the respect that despite getting the work done it is taking him longer. At the same time I am giving him the benefit of doubt to let off some steam so to speak. I know from being a developer, you do spend some time idleing and thinking.

Joe Strazzere
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bobo2000
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    And if you are managing, then address the work not getting done, not the social media. You should know if it is affecting his productivity or not, and the work is what matters. – thursdaysgeek Mar 16 '17 at 17:04
  • @JoeStrazzere he is in my development team, I am managing him. I haven't brought it up because I am not sure if I am being unreasonable given that we all do it. I am not happy with the rate he completes work though. So looking at alternative ways to improve that such as increasing his work load to force him to procastronate less. – bobo2000 Mar 16 '17 at 17:15
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    @bobo2000 - I would think increasing his work load to force him to procrastinate less is a bit passive-aggressive, and may end up just making him resent you. Do you have deadlines? If so he is either meeting them or not. If not, then that's the time to put your foot down. If you don't have them, set them. – komodosp Mar 16 '17 at 17:38
  • I'll add to @colmde 's answer and say that increasing his workload because he is doing something you all do could be considered bias against him, and he'd likely be here complaining about the manager treating him differently than his peers. Since you have indicated his performance/output is less than his contemporaries, it's time to pull him aside and warn him that his usage privileges will be limited if he doesn't start to keep up with the team. In point of fact, that should be standard for everyone: get your work done and you can chatter, slack off and you cannot. – SliderBlackrose Mar 16 '17 at 18:51
  • see also: What can I do to make a coworkers lack of effort more visible? – gnat Mar 16 '17 at 20:15
  • The worst places I've ever worked are the ones that cared about how long people were in the office and what they were seen to be doing more than they cared about what results people were actually generating. Results are what should matter, but we all know that's not always how workplaces work. I'd suggest the best course of action is to challenge him over his lack of productivity, rather than over his internet usage. – Jonathon Cowley-Thom Mar 17 '17 at 15:17
  • @JonathonCowley-Thom As I said everyone is free to use social media etc as long as the work is getting done in a timely manner. Anyway, had a retrospective, we ended up finding out it was because he underestimated his stories by not breaking them down deeper. – bobo2000 Mar 17 '17 at 15:44
  • Why was this question marked as duplicate? I see no relationship with the other question, this is quite more specific – usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ Jul 06 '17 at 15:41

2 Answers2

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I would take the approach of "How well does this developer produce versus other members of your team?".

If their production is in line with the rest of your team, or worse they are a better producer, then I am not sure it will be easy for you to approach without altering the atmosphere for all of your team.

If their productivity is below the line in comparison to the rest of your team, that is your angle. And as you address it, you can suggest less youtube time to allow for more coding time.

Neo
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    To be fair, if he is being paid the same but producing more, the least of my concerns would be his media usage. We can give some privileges to the better performers, I think. Still, good answer and a +1! – T. Sar Mar 16 '17 at 17:52
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So the question is at what point should you put your foot down on the issue?

If you are the manager, you put your foot down on any issue when it becomes a real problem.

If this person is not working at the appropriate rate, then you deal with that problem specifically.

Basically, you should care about getting the work done, and not about the "letting off some steam" "idleing" and "thinking". (I would argue that you should be encouraging "thinking" anyway".

Joe Strazzere
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