Cyberslacking - how big a problem is it and what can be done to prevent it?

There is no doubt that the Internet has made employees working lives easier. E- mail has replaced lengthy phone conversations, file transfer and attachments allow several offices to edit documents without using an envelope, and business- to-business transactions such as ordering materials, to scheduling office supply, shipments, can be made without a phone call. All these time-savers have helped employees increase their output and productivity.

However, as the Internet has streamlined work processes, it has also given workers access to new and interesting avenues at their desktops. In fact, with entertainment, sports, shopping, and other activities available at the touch of a button, the Internet is a real temptation. Couple this with the limitations of Internet access at home with slow and expensive dialups it is obvious why workers use their company's connections for Web leisure.

Unfortunately, the problem looks set to get worse, as streaming video, shopping and music download technologies get much better, enticing more employees toward non-work activities. The trends are disturbing:

* 30 to 40 percent of employee Interact activity is non business-related and costs companies millions of dollars in lost productivity, according to IDC Research.

* Approaching 100 million employees have access to the Net at work, according to a leading Internet access management company. On average, each spends approximately 6 hours per week online.

* Charles Schwab reveals that 72 percent of its customers plan to buy or sell mutual funds over the next six months, and 92 percent of these plan to do so online during work hours.

* In May this year, Victoria's Secret online fashion show caused America to suffer more than $120 million in lost productivity as employees watched the 44 minute supermodel show, according to Websense. The lingerie show was on the Web in the middle of the day, when workers could use faster office computers to see the streaming video.

Legal Ramifications 

The Internet is clearly capturing employee eyeballs that should be focused on work-related activities. It is also creating an entirely different and potentially more serious corporate problem - hostile work environments. Employees today are accessing Web sites that promote hate groups, pornography and illegal activities. Viewed by an offended co-worker, any of these cyber-activities could bring lawsuits upon a company. Pornography, in particular, is a concern.

* According to SexTracker, porn sites receive more than 27 million hits per day, with top sites receiving a staggering 2.8 million hits per day, and 70 percent of all Internet porn traffic occurs during the 9-to-5 workday. This means that one in five workers access cybersex at work.

Although no major Internet lawsuits have been filed to date by employees against their employers there is evidence that that risk is increasing. In recent focus-group research of Fortune 500 companies by New York-based Strategic Surveys Intl., more than 60 percent of the respondents had disciplined or fired employees based on an Internet access issue. Understandably, upper management now believes there are only two options - fire offenders or risk lawsuits.

What Can Be Done?

The problem has moved beyond the information technology department, it is about corporate policy.

One key solution currently adopted by several Fortune 500 companies is creating an "acceptable use policy" for Internet usage. Included as part of an employee manual or signed during employee training, these types of policies outline in very clear terms what kind of Internet usage is permitted, what kind is not, and the consequences for violating the rules. These policies often include:

* a disclaimer that warns against the dangers of the Internet and preventing the company from being liable for any material viewed or downloaded;

* a summary of network use limitations that outlines appropriate and inappropriate uses of the computer network resources (i.e., no personal commercial uses, no illegal copying, communication of trade secrets, etc.);

* an agreement not to waste or damage computer resources that includes details on accessing the Internet through firewalls (to avoid viruses and hackers), avoiding frivolous use (i.e., downloading large personal flies, sending mass mailings, engaging in chat rooms, etc.) and notifying the administrator if one suspects a virus.

* a `no expectation of privacy' statement that waives privacy rights over any materials sent or created using the company's computer network, allows the company to monitor and or log Internet usage, and permits the company to block sites with inappropriate content.

Another solution for managing corporate Internet access - and the only foolproof way of enforcing "acceptable use" policies - is Web filtering software. Installed on a company's server, this type of software is able to filter inappropriate Web sites while still allowing useful ones to be accessed. Many of these programs have detailed categorization, allowing managers to block everything from pornography to stock-trading sites. And the latest versions of filtering software will offer the ability to block certain sites by certain users or groups, such as preventing the jobs board from Ernst and Young from being accessed by your company's own accounting department.

Are you unsure what your employees are accessing? A reporting tool - integrated in some filtering software packages - can tell you exactly how much company Web usage is being wasted in a variety of categories (pornography, entertainment, sports, etc.). Armed with data from weeks of logging and tracking, it then becomes very easy to advise upper management on what kinds of sites need to be filtered.

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