I just came across an article via the Journals at ArsTechnica that offers a sharp contrast to the environment I work in.
From Solitaire Game Gets NYC Worker Fired:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn't playing games — after he saw a game of solitaire on a city employee's computer screen, he fired him.
...
"It wasn't like I spent hours and hours a day playing, because I had plenty to do," Greenwood said. "If I had been working at something exhaustively for two hours, I might get a cup of coffee and play for a minute but then go right back to my work."
There are several people at my work, including management, that subscribe to this sort of philosophy (the "playing games on short breaks is ok" one). Personally, I'm not big on solitaire during breaks, but I have been known to browse websites when I get frustrated with what I'm working on.
My big problem is have trouble telling if I'm goofing off or not. Mostly because what a lot of the websites I read for fun are also informational and pertain in some way to what I get paid for.
It would be interesting though to see something like Mayor Bloomberg's idea of how an office should be run implemented at my work:
Bloomberg, who left his financial information company for politics in 2001, managed Bloomberg LP with a style that has become his signature. He created an office setup, which he repeated at City Hall, where everyone sits together in an open-air environment — an arrangement that facilitates communication and eliminates fooling around.
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