Stamp out cyberslacking
Despite the threat of lawsuits, a study from the Society for Human Resource Management found that among companies that monitor employees electronically, less than one-quarter do so to mitigate legal risk. Some 45 percent do it because they suspect employees are slacking.
"The problem is, people have seen too many Net Zero commercials and they think it's their God-given right to be on the Internet," says Lass. "People who wouldn't dream of removing a paper clip from the office think nothing of taking 20 minutes to check yesterday's baseball scores. It's not any different from stealing pencils or paper or anything else from the office."
There are two ways to remedy cyberslacking: monitoring Internet use (and making sure employees know you're doing it), and simply blocking sites deemed unrelated to work. Neither is an easyâ€"or bulletproofâ€"fix.
Email monitoring requires additional personnel and a significant amount of preparation and follow-up to be effective. And just blocking sites you don't want employees to visit is almost more trouble than it's worth: Clever employees will squander hours trying to crack the blocking codes or surfing for sites that slip through the filters.
If nothing else, a monitoring system with the right amount of follow-up can help employees realise how much company time they waste on the Internetâ€"and help get them back on track.
Howard Stewart, president of AGM Container Controls, had a feeling that one of his employees was using her PC for personal use a little too much. "When I talked to the employee, she denied she was using e-mail or the Internet for personal use," he says, explaining that the company has a written policy against using the Internet for anything other than work. "However, I knew that this policy was ineffective because a few of my employees had come to the realisation that I couldn't monitor their usage."
Stewart chose a simple program from Strategic Business Solutions called Resource Monitor. "Boy, oh boy! Was that employee ever surprised when I was able to point-by-point negate each of her denials that she was using the computer for personal use," Stewart says. "Was she ever shocked to discover that I could give her the exact dates and times she was on, and how long she had been at inappropriate sites. Up to that point, she had claimed that she didn't have enough time to take on additional projects at work."
