How to eliminate chatting on business instant message

Whenever you decide to allow the use of instant messaging at work you run into the issue of people chatting with friends and family members while they are supposed to be working. You probably face this same problem when it comes to personal phone calls and side conversations. There is no sure fire way to completely eliminate chatting in the work place, but here are some ideas to try and stem the problem.

Tip one:
Set up a policy and procedure about chatting on instant messaging. If you only allow it during breaks and lunch then that needs to be specifically stated. Also be sure to set up clear consequences of what will happen if the employees do not follow the guidelines set forth in the policy and procedure manual.

Tip two:
Only allow your employees to add contacts who are business related. Tell them that if they wish to use an instant messenger they can only "chat" with people involved in your business. This is harder to enforce because there is not really a way to check each individual messenger due to the fact that they are password protected. One way you can help to ensure this is to save the logs from all messenger conversations and periodically review them. Be sure to tell your employees that you are doing this because sometimes just knowing that you are being watched helps you abide by the rules.

Tip three:
Do not allow instant messengers to be downloaded. You can have your IT department block all access to downloading by individual users, setting it up that you have to get an administrators permission before you are allowed to download any programs or applications. This can also benefit your company because it will reduce your chances of getting viruses or other security issues infected on your computer.

Tip four:
If your employees are allowed to send instant messages tell them to keep their conversations short and to the point. By keeping the instant messaging use to a minimum you are discouraging prolonged chatting that is completely unnecessary. This can also be checked against the instant message logs to be sure that employees are not wasting time.

Tip five:
Set the example by practicing what you preach. We all are guilty of having off topic conversations at work, but we all try to keep it to a minimum. If you have a manager that waste their time all day on messengers it is going to be harder to get your employees to keep their chatting to a minimium. But if you have managers who practice what they preach more employees will be happy to follow their lead and will curtail their conversations on their own.

Tip six:
Every so often take a break and allow employees to "goof off". This will reward your employees for getting their work done and not wasting time. If you don't have regularly scheduled breaks throughout the work day this is a good way to incorporate them. Say your employees have doing nothing but taking calls for three hours or more, they are going to get burnout. Allow them to take a five to fifteen minute recess and get up and walk around or chat with others on instant message. If you are working in a call center it is actually better to chat on messenger that way you do not distract others from their work.

Tip seven:
Use the appropriate status to explain your status at work. If you allow your employees to use messenger after they finish what needs to be done or on breaks have them enlist the use of the different statuses that messenger provides. While they are working you can have them mark themselves as busy or offline. This will tell people whether you are free to talk or not.

While there is no permanent solution to ending chatting at work there are ways you can work with your employees to help stem the problem.