Internet Access For Employees: Good Or Bad?
In a Fox Valley office, a human resources administrator searches the Internet finding a wealth of information for a report to management in an upcoming staff meeting. But, down the hall, an engineering technician has been "surfing the net" looking for new games to download to his computer. Meanwhile, a property manager has been accessing sports scores and sending E-mail messages to after-hours hockey team members about the team's upcoming weekly practice sessions. Such non-work related Internet surfing is growing to become a major hindrance to job productivity.
The Internet has spawned a new employee activity - "cyberslacking"- time wasting personal web surfing while on the job. According to one 1996 report, on-line editions of Penthouse magazine were called up thousands of times a month , equivalent to more than 13,000 hours of lost productivity, at major corporations. And, in a worse case scenario, according to owners of a local software company, the management of a communications firm in the area were reeling when law enforcement officials arrested an employee for downloading child pornography onto company computers.
Yes, the Internet has opened up a whole world of information at our fingertips. This information can be useful to the employer and can help the employee to do his or her job better. From my own experience, Internet searches can be time consuming, even time wasting. Clearly, to get the best use of this new communications tool, some management guidelines are needed. Here are some important issues to consider.
Who in the company will have access to the Internet? It may be wise to limit internet access by granting passwords to designated individuals whose job responsibilities relate to research and/or communication of information via the Internet.
Which computers will have internet access? Deciding which computer terminal(s) to be equipped for internet access may be another way to limit which employees may access internet on the job.
Will Internet access be limited to business use only, or will certain personal use be allowed? Define an internet access policy including specifying business purpose of use of this system, password or other controls, and prohibitions against prohibited searches such as sexual or pornographic material.
Train authorized employees on internet use by providing time saving tips for effective internet use.
Instruct Internet users not to transmit confidential company data over the internet unless the company computer specialist has set up protected communication system.
Define corrective action to deal with offenders who disregard the company internet policy.
Consider purchase and use of software controls which limit or control employees access to certain prohibited web sites. Such software systems are now available to monitor employee internet use and even freeze computer operations when guidelines are violated.
Creating some basic guidelines will improve productive use of this new communication tool and help to minimize problems from improper Internet use on the job.
William S. Hubbartt is president of Hubbartt & Associates, a St. Charles, IL consulting firm specializing in employee compensation, employee handbooks, personnel policies and supervisory training. (www.Hubbartt.com) Mr. Hubbartt is author of The New Battle Over Workplace Privacy, published by AMACOM Books.
