Social networks,
online shopping, personal emails, online media, chat rooms, instant messenger
systems and much, much more; employees spend nowadays a long period of time on
the internet at work for personal-related reasons. A study carried out by Olféo
in 2009 showed that French employees spend an average of 66 minutes a day
surfing the internet during the business working hours. The findings of the
investigation also revealed that employees’ favourite activities are: check their
personal email box, use social networks, read online news and shop online.
According to a
similar investigation carried out in the UK by MyJobGroup, the time spent online
by British employees, very similar in length to that spent by French workers, accounted
in 2009 for an estimated loss of a staggering 17 billion Euros.
In order to avert the phenomenon
to completely spin out of control, on account of the distraction and loss of
concentration it causes, some organizations have totally banned or sensibly
limited the private use of the internet to their employees during the working
hours. The BNP management, for instance, decided to prevent employees accessing
some websites – such as Facebook or Gmail –, whereas giving access to others –
such as news and public transport websites. When an employee tries to access
one of the websites banned by the company Internet policy, the screen shows a
warning message recalling the employee that s/he should have not made the
attempt to access that page.
Some organizations block
or limit employee access to the internet to prevent their IT system from being exposed
to viruses. In some countries, employee internet usage does not enjoy the same
legal protection offered, for instance, to personal data so that employers can track
the websites visited by their employees and deny access to undesirable sites
accordingly. In some instances, employers have the obligation to deny their
employees access to the Internet when this may be considered a danger for their
infrastructure network and thus for the public.
The vast majority
of French organizations, notwithstanding, have opted to avoid completely blocking
the internet access to their employees. In contrast, many employers have decided
to expand the number of accessible websites, considering that it is not preventing
their employees accessing the internet which will enable them to reach higher
levels of efficiency and productivity. Employees have indeed many other options
to waste time, whether they want to.
Surfing the internet in the
workplace is perceived by employers as a complete waste of time, time which individuals
essentially deduct from that which these should devote to perform their working
activities. For many individuals, especially for Generation Y people, nonetheless,
browsing the internet rather represents the way these naturally approach their
work. Younger generations consider the internet as a working tool exactly like the
telephone. Limiting or banning the use of social network, in particular to young
generations, would negatively impact their job; for these individuals, social
networks are also a common place where share and hopefully find solutions to
specific work-related problems. Young people do not hence use social network just
for personal reasons. In some organizations, namely those where the internet is
part of their core business, like Google and Cisco, employees are even
encouraged to surf the Net, which employers also see as a more effective way to
communicate around their brand.
The best approach
employers can adopt is possibly neither giving employees a completely free of
control access to the internet nor totally banning it. The one size hardly fits
all, it is thus also unlikely that the problem might be effectually tackled adopting
a best practice approach, that is, an approach which has proved to be effective
in some other organizations. Every employer has different needs and should
hence differently approach the issue, invariably taking heed of the IT Director
advice.
Organizations
should regulate the use of the Internet by developing and introducing a
specific policy aiming at clearly defining what the employer means by, for
instance, “appropriate” and “reasonable” when referring to the personal use of
the Internet in the workplace. Policies may, for instance:
- State the maximum
length of time individuals can surf the Internet on any single day;
- Provide for the suitable
period of the day when employees can freely surf the net (during breaks, for
instance);
- Limit and list the
number of authorized websites.
In a bid to deter employees
from surfing the internet for long periods of time, some organizations have
decided to adopt open-plan office layouts. This approach appears to be sorely
questionable in that such a decision should be indeed made on the basis of much
more relevant and significant considerations.
A French employee
confessed to a social media to spending at least one hour a day surfing the
internet at work; he added that doing that allows him to address most of his
daily issues: banking, administration, shopping, etc. This also enables him to
spend more valuable time at work, but whether his employer should ban the use
of the internet, he would have no option than to leave the office earlier in
order to care about his personal commitments. Thinking about and planning for his
personal duties during the day would clearly make him less efficient and less productive
at work. According to this employee, the Internet is a very useful and powerful
tool, which enables employers to save a lot of money and gain new expertise.
Internet is seen by
employers as the employee distraction of the present times. The current debate
about the Internet has essentially replaced the debate engaging employers in
the distant past about the use of the telephone at work. Nonetheless, a number
of options are certainly available in order for employers to effectively and
properly manage the “issue.” Every organization just needs to identify its “best
fit” solution, but totally banning the use of the Internet definitely represents
the least convenient approach to adopt, younger generations could not indeed survive
the measure.
Longo, R., (2010), Internet
at work, how to manage the “issue”?; HR Professionals, [online].
