Most companies have policies about employees’ access to the Internet and use of electronic devices. The dirty little secret is that most of those policies don’t work.
First, to illustrate the problem, here’s a story about a company that tried a strict Internet-use policy.
The company’s IT manager tracked employees’ access to nonwork-related Web sites and reported the pattern to the company president, who was shocked by how much Web surfing went on. Knowing that it was nearly impossible to stop all nonwork Internet use, the president issued what he thought was a Solomon-like edict: Use of the Internet for purposes other than work shall be limited to 30 minutes a day.
A few weeks later, the IT manager again tracked nonwork Internet use and found that just about every employee was surfing for exactly 30 minutes – even employees who previously hadn’t wasted any time on the Web before the rule.
Avoiding the fatal flaw
That’s an example of just one of the many mistakes a company can make when trying to limit nonwork use of computers and other electronic devices. And it illustrates the fatal flaw of many such policies: they try to micro-manage the issue.
What’s the alternative? The Privacy and Data Security Law Journal provides some good guidelines:
1. Inform employees that the company not only has the right to, but will, inspect, monitor, and review employee use of employer provided or paid for technology, including but not limited to e-mail, Internet, and cell phone records – including text messages (if paid for by the employer).
2. Instruct employees as to what type of conduct constitutes a violation of the policy. For example, is all personal use prohibited? Is limited personal use allowed? Does the company prohibit inappropriate and excessive use? Provide examples of objectionable misuse as well as acceptable use.
3. Instruct employees that use of technology in any way that violates the law or is prohibited by other company policies, such as sexual harassment or a violation of a confidentiality policy, is a violation of the policy and is strictly prohibited.
4. Inform employees about the consequences of violating the policy – that a violation will be cause for discipline up to and including termination of employment.
Click here to see a PDF of the full report.
