EDITORIAL — Goofing off at work

As per a story that came out in this newspaper, the Cebu City government is investigating reports of employees “engaging in non-work activities” during office hours.

Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival’s chief of staff and spokesman Kenneth Siasar said reports have reached his office regarding city employees allegedly not doing their jobs or even recording content for Tiktok during supposed office hours.

True enough, a video making rounds online shows three supposed city employees dancing in their office.

The story goes on to say that casual and coterminous employees found guilty of serious violations may face non-renewal of contracts.

“If the investigation finds severe breaches of policy, that can be one basis for non-renewal,” Siasar was quoted as saying.

Let’s get this straight; there’s nothing wrong per se with shooting a video of your abilities and talents and uploading it to the internet. One’s abilities and talents are best shared with others after all. But when government employees decide to record and post their content during office hours then that’s another thing entirely.

When government employees decide to sing, dance, walk the tightrope, blow fire, get shot out of a cannon, or do whatever they’re not supposed to be doing during office hours that means they aren’t doing the work our taxes pay them to do. This could also mean that somewhere, someone’s important transaction with the government is getting delayed. Or that somewhere, someone who needs urgent assistance from the government isn’t getting it.

Unless it’s part of an office-sanctioned presentation, it’s also not ideal for people to see others in government office or government attire dancing, let alone goofing off; those who wear government uniforms, even if they belong to the lowliest office of the barangay, represent the entire organization itself.

While those videos are infuriating, we suppose we should be thankful that such kind of employees are actually providing the evidence against themselves by uploading such videos. This makes it easier to find out who they are and where they’re assigned.