We are all time wasters now
Brit bosses get tough on net abuse
'Frivolous' workers fritter away time online
By Tim Richardson
Published Thursday 22nd July 2004 11:42 GMT
British office workers are spending almost half their day surfing the Net and sending emails, according to employment law firm Peninsula.
Its nationwide survey found that the problem is getting worse, with workers spending, on average, three hours a day online, compared to two hours in 2003.
The legal firm reckons this "frivolous employee behaviour" is having a "serious negative effect on firms' productivity". And while the problem hits all businesses, the effect it has on small businesses is even more acute.
Quizzed about their surfing habits, a whopping 97 per cent of the 3,250 workers surveyed said they used the Net at work for their own personal use.
Employers are simply unaware of the amount of time workers' are spending online with nine out of ten clueless of their employees' "massive overuse of company email and Internet facilities".
One in ten of the 746 firms surveyed said they monitored their employees' use of the Net at work.
Said Peter Done, MD of Peninsula: "The implications of using the email and Internet facilities in the workplace for employees own personal use is a major problem for employers. Employers are losing resources like time and money in order for employees to check their emails or surf the Net to find something of interest.
"This means that productivity in the workplace has decreased somewhat since personal Internet usage has stretched across to all ages and cultures.
"The results prove that employers are unaware as to how significant the problem is for their businesses and depending on the size of the company; the problems may alter in real significance from bad to severe," he said.
Employers need to raise employee awareness of the company's Internet access policy and procedures, and consider ways to monitor Net abuse, Peninsula advises. ®
Back to Top
Published Thursday 22nd July 2004 11:42 GMT
British office workers are spending almost half their day surfing the Net and sending emails, according to employment law firm Peninsula.
Its nationwide survey found that the problem is getting worse, with workers spending, on average, three hours a day online, compared to two hours in 2003.
The legal firm reckons this "frivolous employee behaviour" is having a "serious negative effect on firms' productivity". And while the problem hits all businesses, the effect it has on small businesses is even more acute.
Quizzed about their surfing habits, a whopping 97 per cent of the 3,250 workers surveyed said they used the Net at work for their own personal use.
Employers are simply unaware of the amount of time workers' are spending online with nine out of ten clueless of their employees' "massive overuse of company email and Internet facilities".
One in ten of the 746 firms surveyed said they monitored their employees' use of the Net at work.
Said Peter Done, MD of Peninsula: "The implications of using the email and Internet facilities in the workplace for employees own personal use is a major problem for employers. Employers are losing resources like time and money in order for employees to check their emails or surf the Net to find something of interest.
"This means that productivity in the workplace has decreased somewhat since personal Internet usage has stretched across to all ages and cultures.
"The results prove that employers are unaware as to how significant the problem is for their businesses and depending on the size of the company; the problems may alter in real significance from bad to severe," he said.
Employers need to raise employee awareness of the company's Internet access policy and procedures, and consider ways to monitor Net abuse, Peninsula advises. ®
Back to Top
By Startups.co.uk
Published Monday 1st September 2003 08:11 GMT
One in three small business owners and managers are setting a bad example to their workforce by wasting time on the internet and sending humorous emails rather than working.
The new survey, by Bibby Financial Services, reveals that 34 per cent of company bosses admitted to browsing various websites for their own entertainment and sending jokes and social messages by email during work hours.
Owners and managers in the Greater London area were the biggest time wasters, with 53 per cent owning up to surfing the Internet for pleasure rather than getting on with their job. East Midlands bosses are the best behaved in the UK, with just 11 per cent owning up to Net time-wasting.
Bibby's survey comes in the wake of recent efforts by many firms to clampdown on excessive Internet use.
An estimated 231 million working hours a week are lost lost due to workers surfing the web or sending emails to friends.
A recent government report states that this lost time costs the British economy a massive £158 billion a year, with the average worker wasting two hours 45 minutes a day.
Bibby’s research also found that 30 per cent of business bosses admit to switching off their mobile phone to avoid taking an incoming call, with those working in agriculture the biggest offenders – nearly half of farmers and their workers reach for the off switch when faced with a tricky call.
Technology has also become a convenient scapegoat for many managers, with 13 per cent of those quizzed admitting to shifting the blame for poor performance onto ‘missed’ emails or mobiles that suddenly lose reception.
According to David Robertson, chief executive of Bibby, these findings beg the question of whether technology is, on the whole, a help or a hindrance to the UK business sector.
“Many firms are losing precious working hours as a result of email abuse and it would appear that business owners and managers, like their employees are not immune to the lure of the worldwide web.
“That said, information technology has revolutionised the way in which firms do business and owners and managers, if they are to meet the demands of their customers and suppliers and keep pace with the competition, need to fully embrace the opportunities that the information superhighway brings them,” he said.
Back to Top
Published Monday 1st September 2003 08:11 GMT
One in three small business owners and managers are setting a bad example to their workforce by wasting time on the internet and sending humorous emails rather than working.
The new survey, by Bibby Financial Services, reveals that 34 per cent of company bosses admitted to browsing various websites for their own entertainment and sending jokes and social messages by email during work hours.
Owners and managers in the Greater London area were the biggest time wasters, with 53 per cent owning up to surfing the Internet for pleasure rather than getting on with their job. East Midlands bosses are the best behaved in the UK, with just 11 per cent owning up to Net time-wasting.
Bibby's survey comes in the wake of recent efforts by many firms to clampdown on excessive Internet use.
An estimated 231 million working hours a week are lost lost due to workers surfing the web or sending emails to friends.
A recent government report states that this lost time costs the British economy a massive £158 billion a year, with the average worker wasting two hours 45 minutes a day.
Bibby’s research also found that 30 per cent of business bosses admit to switching off their mobile phone to avoid taking an incoming call, with those working in agriculture the biggest offenders – nearly half of farmers and their workers reach for the off switch when faced with a tricky call.
Technology has also become a convenient scapegoat for many managers, with 13 per cent of those quizzed admitting to shifting the blame for poor performance onto ‘missed’ emails or mobiles that suddenly lose reception.
According to David Robertson, chief executive of Bibby, these findings beg the question of whether technology is, on the whole, a help or a hindrance to the UK business sector.
“Many firms are losing precious working hours as a result of email abuse and it would appear that business owners and managers, like their employees are not immune to the lure of the worldwide web.
“That said, information technology has revolutionised the way in which firms do business and owners and managers, if they are to meet the demands of their customers and suppliers and keep pace with the competition, need to fully embrace the opportunities that the information superhighway brings them,” he said.
Back to Top
By John Leyden
Published Monday 10th November 2003 17:31 GMT
Britain's bosses are getting tougher with workers who disobey Internet and email use and abuse policies.
Almost half (45 per cent) of employers in a study by IRS Employment Review said they had punished workers for such reasons in the last year.
Less than five per cent dealt with more than six cases, but one UK employer had punished 10 workers for Internet and email misuse.
Of the 90 per cent of respondents who answered policy questions in the survey, all cited "accessing pornography" on the Internet as forbidden, with almost all (96 per cent) also citing the sending of obscene emails as proscribed behaviour.
Other forbidden activities include: emails that denigrate colleagues (63 per cent), Internet gambling (63 per cent), using Web-based email (45 per cent), Internet shopping (31 per cent) and sending non-work related emails (14 per cent).
Two thirds (66 per cent) of the organisations quizzed offer access to email facilities to all employees but wider Internet access is more tightly controlled. Just over half (57 per cent) of the organisations polled give Net access to all employees, but 24 per cent limit it to office-based employees and just under five per cent restrict Internet access to managers alone. Approximately, two-thirds of the survey's respondents operate an intranet.
Employers need policies in place to manage the risks involved to their reputations and productivity, and to protect themselves against the possible legal consequences of misuse, according to IRS Employment Review.
Most organisations (90 per cent) surveyed have formal policies setting the boundaries of acceptable use, but compliance with other aspects of good practice - including training and the labelling of non-work related emails - is less rigorous. IRS Employment Review favours wider use of censorware technology at work.
Mark Crail, IRS Employment Review managing editor, said: "Employers are increasingly concerned at the many different ways people can abuse work access to email and the Internet. But our research shows that they may be concentrating on the wrong issues. Companies can block access to inappropriate websites using sophisticated screening software, but many try to address this issue through employment policies instead."
According to Crail, employers should insist that staff should use the same level of formality in external emails as they would use in a letter.
"One lesson we should all learn from the Hutton inquiry is that any quick message dashed off in an email may well be used at a later date in a rather more public forum," he said.
The survey, conducted in July 2003, is based on responses from 63 private and public sector employers, with a workforce of 97,275 across the economy. ®
Back to Top
Published Monday 10th November 2003 17:31 GMT
Britain's bosses are getting tougher with workers who disobey Internet and email use and abuse policies.
Almost half (45 per cent) of employers in a study by IRS Employment Review said they had punished workers for such reasons in the last year.
Less than five per cent dealt with more than six cases, but one UK employer had punished 10 workers for Internet and email misuse.
Of the 90 per cent of respondents who answered policy questions in the survey, all cited "accessing pornography" on the Internet as forbidden, with almost all (96 per cent) also citing the sending of obscene emails as proscribed behaviour.
Other forbidden activities include: emails that denigrate colleagues (63 per cent), Internet gambling (63 per cent), using Web-based email (45 per cent), Internet shopping (31 per cent) and sending non-work related emails (14 per cent).
Two thirds (66 per cent) of the organisations quizzed offer access to email facilities to all employees but wider Internet access is more tightly controlled. Just over half (57 per cent) of the organisations polled give Net access to all employees, but 24 per cent limit it to office-based employees and just under five per cent restrict Internet access to managers alone. Approximately, two-thirds of the survey's respondents operate an intranet.
Employers need policies in place to manage the risks involved to their reputations and productivity, and to protect themselves against the possible legal consequences of misuse, according to IRS Employment Review.
Most organisations (90 per cent) surveyed have formal policies setting the boundaries of acceptable use, but compliance with other aspects of good practice - including training and the labelling of non-work related emails - is less rigorous. IRS Employment Review favours wider use of censorware technology at work.
Mark Crail, IRS Employment Review managing editor, said: "Employers are increasingly concerned at the many different ways people can abuse work access to email and the Internet. But our research shows that they may be concentrating on the wrong issues. Companies can block access to inappropriate websites using sophisticated screening software, but many try to address this issue through employment policies instead."
According to Crail, employers should insist that staff should use the same level of formality in external emails as they would use in a letter.
"One lesson we should all learn from the Hutton inquiry is that any quick message dashed off in an email may well be used at a later date in a rather more public forum," he said.
The survey, conducted in July 2003, is based on responses from 63 private and public sector employers, with a workforce of 97,275 across the economy. ®
Back to Top