As stated earlier, internet misuse in the workplace is becoming more and more of a problem in the workplace. "Employees are using the Web more and more for personal reasons and that is setting U.S. companies back $178 billion annually, a cost of $5,000 per employee, said a study released Tuesday by Websense, Inc." (Peter Saalfield, IDGNS) The company also reported that nearly 50% of all participants of their survey admitted to internet misuse while a the workplace. The survey attributes these growing numbers to fact that internet is not just growing in the workplace, but in our everyday lives as well. It is hard to avoid the internet on a daily basis in today's world. This is simply a fact. Not only do more employees get on the internet at work to "kill time", there are also more reasons to go on the internet in general. More and more of people's everyday tasks are being incorporated into the world wide web. "Among workers who reported using the Web for personal reasons the most popular activities were reading the news, checking personal e-mail, online banking, travel and shopping." I personally can testify to this statement. I do so much of my shopping online. I also will be the first to admit how tempting it is when I am at work and some extra time presents itself to surf the internet. There is a tremendous amount of access when it comes to online shopping.
Surveyed IT managers on average estimated that each employee is using the Internet for personal use for 5.9 hours a week, the survey said. After multiplying these numbers by the average American hourly salary, Websense came up with the figure of $178 billion. It is easy to imagine how this number is reached so easily. Although it is no excuse to abuse the internet while at work, the ease with which one can find whatever they so desire on the internet leads to a vast world of limitless queries and finds, a time-consuming endeavor. However, these numbers don't only affect those companies the employees work for. These numbers must ultimately trickle down to the consumers or clients that seeks goods or services from them. This is something that employees should keep in mind the next time they decide to abuse internet policies.
Works Cited: http://www.infoworld.com/t/applications/internet-misuse-costs-businesses-178-billion-annually-996
Image: http://curiosity-media.discovery.com/mediaItems/4/d/b/4db5cb33e0244/computer-softwareqa2-600x400.jpg.jpg?v=1303759669
I think that misuse of anything is not a good thing, BUT there are so many grey areas with the use of the internet. Such as with the use of it in every sector of our life, personal and professional tend to mesh together. Home and work emails are sent to the same email address. Messages are sent via twitter and facebook to friends AND co-workers. People travel for work, but use their own time to plan it and arrange it. I know there are situations that are blatant internet Misuse, but I would like to think that most of us could support the argument why we were on the internet at work.
ReplyDeleteI think that if companied defined what internet misuse is and how much it hurts the company people would care more. I think most people look at it as passing the time, when really, it would be looked at as breaking a company policy.
Like you discussed in the presentation. To address this problem:
- Have policies
- Educate your employees
- Connect reprimands with their actions
- Enforce your policies
- Use Positive reinforcement to keep moral high
- Don't babysit and monitor too closely
- Don't be unreasonable
An idea might be to have an internet room and the option for employees to use this room for non-official internet like facebook during lunch or break times. This may decrease playing on the internet at their desks and break some bad habits. This also ensures that the employees know the policies are to be taken seriously since money is being used to purchase new computers and allotting a new room for this.
Setting defined rules and guidelines are definitely key. An employee can't be faulted if they don't really know if they are violating internet policy. By not having a policy at all, employers are only setting their employees up for disciplinary action.
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