Q: My wife and I own a business, and we’re struggling to find the best way to limit our employee’s personal use of the internet while at work. I think we should allow for some use as long as it’s reasonable, while she thinks we should prohibit all use, period. Is there a norm we can follow?
A: There are many reasons why employers don’t want workers to surf the Web. The most obvious one is that it’s a time waster and reduces productivity. But there are also concerns about security of company information as well as exposing employees to possible sexual or inappropriate content.
So there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It depends on variables such as the makeup of your workforce (salaried vs. hourly), the nature of your business (whether you handle sensitive information) and your company culture (conservative vs. creative).
For instance if the majority of employees are salaried, allowing some surfing may not negatively affect productivity since they’re paid to get the job done, regardless of hours. In fact, a couple of studies suggest that short-spurt web browsing can relieve mental fatigue.
However, if the majority of workers are hourly, it may be wiser to prohibit personal browsing. Otherwise you could be literally paying employees to “cyber-loaf”.
So, you should design a policy that’s customized to your specific situation. Here are some guidelines.
- Define specifically and give examples. A policy that prohibits “excessive” use of the Web, is useless unless “excessive” is defined. Same goes for prohibiting “inappropriate” websites.
- Enforce it. Decide -and tell employees- how you’re going to monitor Web use (surveillance software, random checks, blocking sites), but treat employees like adults. Being too strict is counterproductive.
- Don’t overlook smartphones. I’ve seen employees circumvent bans on computer surfing by using their cells phones to check social media.
Our society’s need and dependence on the Web is only going to continue to increase, and because the workplace reflects society this will be true of our employees as well. So, it’s management’s job to clearly define not only what is and isn’t acceptable to do at work but also how much is too much. So, are you reading this at work?
