Internet Usage

Internet Usage Workplace

Although not every employee within a company may be addicted to surfing the net. But there are going to be spending more time that usual using the internet for anything other than business purposes. What has become quite apparent is the amount of time is being spent on the internet during the working day on none of it relates to company business. Certainly there has been a large increase in internet misuse and many companies have strived to combat this problem through the introduction of an internet usage workplace policy.

Certainly there is evidence to show that around 1 in 5 of all employees will view some form of pornography whilst online at work. Plus it has been discovered that around 70% of all adult websites will be visited during the hours between 09.00 and 17.00 each day. Typically the sites that many employees will be visiting throughout the working day include some of the following:-

1. Sports sites 2. Online bidding sites 3. Sites where they are able to trade stocks and shares 4. Sites that enable them to do their shopping online 5. Sending of jokes to their co-workers

Certainly it has been revealed that between 30 and 40% of all the time that staff spend on the internet whilst at work is not actually related to business matters. Today this is costing businesses across the USA around 1 billion dollars in lost productivity each year.

This is why so many companies are now using software programs which enable them to monitor and track just how the internet is being used by their employees. That is why as previously mentioned many company's now have policies in place to help prevent misuse of the internet occurring. Such documents are well drafted and will define the exact guidelines that all members of staff should be employing when using the internet.

Although it is very difficult to produce a policy which will cover all businesses many will include some of the following guidelines within their policy.

1. The employees will provided with a list of sites and URL's that the company deems to be acceptable for their employees to have access to.

2. It will explain the reasons as to why the company is monitoring all traffic coming in and going out on the internet from their business.

3. It allows a company as part of their internet usage workplace policy to stipulate certain times as which its employees will have access to the internet to carry out personal work. So it may allow some employees to have access to the internet at all times, others at specified times during the day and for other's it may deem that they should have no access to the internet at all.

By installing a internet usage workplace policy a company is not only helping to prevent misuse and abuse of the internet to a minimum, but also helping to ensure that employee productivity levels remain high.