Comments on: The Ethics of Web Work

By: WebWorkerDaily » Archive Two Clients, One Industry - Trouble? «

WebWorkerDaily » Archive Two Clients, One Industry - Trouble? « — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:00:11 +0000

[...] 1st, 2008 (11:00am) Mike Gunderloy No Comments We’ve looked at the ethics of web working before, but one of our readers sent in a novel question: I started webworking when I moved out of [...]

By: RickMahn.com » Blog Archive » links for 2007-06-28

RickMahn.com » Blog Archive » links for 2007-06-28 — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:21:58 +0000

[...] Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive The Ethics of Web Work « Another interesting article by at Web Worker Daily. Makes you think. (tags: web-worker) [...]

By: Richard Harrison

Richard Harrison — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:56:23 +0000

why care if they work a solid 8 hours in a bar?

Or even if they work 8 hours at all, if the work gets done.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:20:53 +0000

I think it depends on what type of worker you are. I run my own business, and my relationship with clients is as an independent contractor. The only one of the listed activities I would object to is the first (personal work on client time), but only if they were being directly billed for time I spent on personal activities. (That is, if I charged them my hourly rate for hours I spent doing personal work, as opposed to actual billable work for their account.) Otherwise, I can do anything I want when I want to, because how I do my job isn’t within their control. To quote the IRS: “The payer h[as] the right to control or direct only the result of the work done by an independent contractor, and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result.” As long as they get the product they paid for, how, where, and when it came into being, as well as what else I was doing at the time, is my business.

By: Barbara Saunders

Barbara Saunders — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:21:24 +0000

Before ethics can be defined, the job itself has to be defined: It’s reasonable for an employer to expect a “full-time” employee with a desk at home to work basically a “full-time” schedule and not be holding down another “full-time” job. It is unreasonable for an employer to expect that person to keep arbitrary office hours and breaks as long as the work gets done, and the employee is available when it’s necessary.

Whether the desk the person works at is in a bar, a cramped basement office, or a neighborhood cluster office is none of the employer’s business — unless security is compromised. Checking phone records is icky and silly. People make personal calls at work, too. In my last job, most employees didn’t get phones and had to make company calls from personal cell phones! The boundaries are breaking down every which way…

By: tiffany

tiffany — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:44:44 +0000

The beauty of web work, in my opinion, is that the focus is (or should be) on productivity not seat time or logged-in time. With the exception of snooping through personal phone records, I think all of those things are okay, provided you're using your own network, computer and phone. As long as the work gets done and done well and on deadline, why care if they work a solid 8 hours in a bar?

By: boyscout

boyscout — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:33:21 +0000

Fantastic article!

This has put much food for thought in my head, as I had been wondering what the ‘accepted’ behavior has been for web workers.

I am currently still a cube-slave, but looking to making the move to web work and telecommuting.

It’s tough to find that first telecommuting position, any suggestions?

~boyscout