In good times and bad, it seems the Internet continues to reign. Despite the unsavoury nature of the employment market today, employees have not been deterred from goofing off at work, courtesy of their corporate Internet access. At first glance, it seems like a small matter, but figures show that corporations the world over lose billions annually in lost productivity, legal liability and bandwidth bottlenecks.

Here's why your company should be concerned:

LOST PRODUCTIVITY
Studies show that at least 65% of employees have dabbled their hands in at least one act of Internet abuse in the form of shopping (41 percent); using company email for personal reasons (39 percent); playing computer games (34 percent); doing job searches (17 percent); and copying software for personal use (nine percent).

Given the fact that employees spend a disproportionately larger time in the office than at home, the extended usage of the Internet for non-work related activities can directly translate into lower productivity and lost profit.

LEGAL LIABILITY
There are several legal implications for employees who participate in Internet abuse and employers who allow such abuse.

• Inbound abuse
  This offence occurs when employees download illegal or inappropriate, for example, child pornography material or copyright protected music/software files. These examples both pose a legal risk to employers, who can then sue employees in turn.

• Outbound abuse
  This abuse encompasses a range of offences:

  1. Uploading illegal materials to a public web site

  2. Illegally gaining access to a network, server or individual computer by hacking or cracking passwords

  3. Sending out computer viruses or denial of service attacks to the Internet

  4. Sending illegal material such as child pornography to co-workers, email hate letters or slanderous letters over the Internet

  5. Posting unverifiable corporate rumours on stock market bulletin boards to swing a company's stock price

  6. Sending offensive/sexual emails that may offend co-workers

Apart from the mere burden of legal liability, companies risk a leak in confidential corporate data. Last year, a particularly memorable virus sent out private files found on computers' hard disks to the user's personal mailing list. Corporate documents and agreements were being sent everywhere.

BANDWIDTH BOTTLENECKS
For all the hoopla broadband capabilities have been given, it is not exempt from becoming bottlenecked. As broadband applications become increasingly popular, corporate networks are squeezed for space as streaming media, mp3 music files, video and audio files, large graphic files and increased surfing time jammed data pipelines with inordinate amounts of data resulting in slower networks and increased network crashes. For many IT-related companies, this can prove debilitating in the battle against fierce competition.

SO WHAT'S AN EMPLOYER TO DO?
Big Brother
The Big Brother version of control is usually termed the Internet Access Policy. This requires employees to sign a basic contract clarifying acceptable Internet use at work, informing employees that their online access will be monitored and that violation of acceptable use is grounds for termination. However, the efficacy of this solution is dependant upon regular reminders and enforcement. When I was with a large multinational earlier in my career, I remember getting a mass broadcast email report on the top 100 email users in the company. It served to embarrass these individuals and curb usage - but not without some resentment.

Advocates like Mark Wong, IT manager at a local software company, say: "My former company's monitoring brought to our attention visitation by staff to inappropriate websites, how long people were on the Web generally and that some will abuse that privilege in any large organisation. I don't believe it is an issue of "big brother" watching as the company and its shareholders have a right to know that people are working productively and that abuses aren't occurring."

Shout out the company policy
"Many companies do tell their employees there's a policy but they're very quiet about it. You have to make enough noise and let people know they're being watched. Spell out what's acceptable, and what's seen as an offensive joke. If you want to be tough, you have to be very specific," Sherry Ng, a HR manager said.

First, you will need more than a memo or two to make the message sink in. Develop background material for managers and supervisors - make certain that you frame it as a business issue, using the 4P approach to internal communication - What is the Big Picture? What is the Purpose of this? What is the Plan? What is "My" Part in it?

Secondly, face-to face communication is a must: to management and from management to their staff. Complement these verbal communique with other media (newsletters, email broadcasts etc.) covering the same issues. Be certain to develop messages that will be received positively and be clear about the kind of behavioural changes you seek. Measure your results and share those results with staff. Most importantly perhaps is, do not assume the problem will go away after your initial communication - keep the topic live with regular reminders and updates.

Don't Fight It, Benefit From It
Perhaps, we may also be too quick to frame Internet use as an abuse in the workplace. I find that having staff surf the Net - even if it is not seen as a direct business activity - can have a very positive effect. The Internet exposes people to myriad information, ideas and issues - and we have found that by engaging people in discussions about what they are experiencing on the web, and linking that to their own job/workplace, they are able to find ways to increase performance, service, process improvements, and identify trends and issues early on. To do this successfully, it is important to develop organisational and manager/supervisor listening and facilitation skills. It is also important to think through the overall process in some detail.

Live With It
Another approach, which I personally advocate, is to treat employees like trusted adults. Allow use of all equipment (phone, fax and Internet) for personal use during breaks, lunch and after work - apart from obviously banned sites such as pornography, extremist groups, online job sites. Conduct some monitoring to assure compliance to this and if there is evidence of abuse, address it as a performance issue. Think of it this way, when employees carry a cell phone, log in from lap tops and monitor voicemail when they're out of the office on travel or vacation, why should we not give the same flexibility in allowing them to do minor personal tasks at work. What is the difference in them reading The Star online or at their desk; picking up the phone to order flowers for a birthday or ordering them online? I have found that this approach works well when carefully thought out and executed.

IS THE REAL ISSUE THE INTERNET?
And then, there is a whole new perspective we can take on this. Maybe it is not so much about monitoring and enforcement, or the Internet per se. Perhaps the question we should ask is if the individual in question is able to meet his or her job obligations whilst also spending time on non-work related activities.

If the answer is yes, perhaps the Internet is not a hindrance but an aid in researching for information, or a good break in a stressful day. Alternatively, it might mean a reassessment of the individual's job scope to see if he or she is being fully utilised. If the answer is no, then there might be a clear performance problem that should be dealt with by focusing on the tasks that fail to be completed, or objectives that are not met.

HAVE A LITTLE FAITH
Throughout my time working for technology companies or using the Internet for my freelance career, I have found the Internet invaluable for my job. Whilst unrestricted licence to pass your days in an Internet stupor is not encouraged, choking access to the Internet and treating professionals as kids may prove counterproductive. The more we impose and enforce restrictions, the more resources are locked into policing the issue. Barring extreme cases of abuse, it may be that we have to make sure there is a simple, straightforward policy in place, and then trust that staff will abide by that. No one wants to work for a company that makes them feel untrusted.

Have a little faith in your people, and it might just pay you back for it.