There are moments in popular culture that are so engrossing that measurable drops in worker productivity coincide with spikes in Internet use: the March Madness basketball tournament, the inauguration of a president, and a few weeks ago, Google creating a Pac-Man game on its splash page. These phenomena are reminders of how even dedicated workers are distracted from their primary tasks to spend company time online.
Tuesday on Vermont Edition, we talk with a social media enthusiast and business consultant who says, that’s not such a bad thing. Rich Nadworny, owner of Digalicious, explains how employees who are online can be the best active marketers for a business, and why employers should embrace the idea of letting workers be online, anytime. We also talk with Kerin Stackpole, an employment attorney and partner at Bergeron, Paradis & Fitzpatrick, who says businesses have a right to limit what employees do online in order to protect their liabilities and reputations, and that employees should know the limits of their online privacy in the workplace. Listen
Also in the program, an event called Bellfest celebrates the work of entomology scholars Ross and Joyce Bell. Ross Bell came to UVM to study beetles in 1955, and he’s considered by many to be the foremost authority in carabidology, the study of ground beetles. Jane Lindholm talks with Bellfest organizer John Spence, about why fellow entomologists from across the continent are getting together on campus to honor a half-century of his work and the work of his wife, fellow entomologist and UVM professor emeritus of biology, Joyce Bell. Listen