e-scapades - employee fun or business risk?

There's no doubt that the internet has evolved to be an invaluable tool for communication, research and entertainment and for today's teens and tweens, even a lifestyle necessity. In our fast paced world it is a necessary element of most Australian businesses. However, businesses that allow unrestricted internet usage to their employees can leave themselves wide open to serious business and legal risks, including lawsuits, possibly huge internet charges, productivity issues, disclosure of confidential information and bad publicity.

Obviously we cannot simply unplug ourselves from the internet. Instead businesses need to focus on effectively managing their staff’s access in order to limit these issues. This article outlines some key risks arising from employee internet access and suggests a multi-faceted approach to enable businesses to effectively filter, monitor and manage employee internet use.

Internet use in the workplace has grown phenomenally over the past decade and has brought with it a corresponding growth in internet misuse and abuse by employees. Businesses are increasingly realising that the risks posed by employees’ use of the internet are not merely hypothetical, but a serious issue.

As a business owner you should be aware that, as the power and scope of communications technology grows, so does the range of ways in which employees can use these technologies in an inappropriate manner.

Whether it’s online gambling, excessive personal emails, instant messaging, web based games or other personal activities, reduced productivity caused by personal internet use can have significant flow-on effects to the efficiency and profitability of your business. A survey carried out earlier this year in the UK yielded some alarming statistics.

Security firm CLEARSWIFT, found that over 70% of UK workers under the age of 30 access social networking sites like blogs, YouTube, MySpace and Bebo several times per day – and almost 30% spend three or more hours a week accessing these sites when at work.

In addition to the time wasted by employees using the internet for personal activities, significant legal and public relations consequences can arise when employees disclose sensitive or confidential information over the internet. Everyday examples of these issues are well known - internal emails getting forwarded outside the company; employees uploading sensitive photos of confidential documents; discontented workers blogging about their employer – and the risks that these activities can present to businesses is obvious.

The banner of ‘inappropriate content’ covers all manner of things, including pornographic material, viruses and spyware, copyright infringing material and so on. Employees who view inappropriate content at work expose businesses to significant risks. For example, where an employee is viewing material that is pornographic or otherwise objectionable, businesses who rely upon this as grounds for terminating employment but fail to take timely and appropriate action can leave themselves open to a range of claims (for example, personal grievance claims for unjustified dismissal).

Your capacity and cost issues can also cause concern when it comes to internet usage. If you do not have a ‘flat rate’ internet connection you could be stung with big charges arising from heavy personal use by employees.

Even though most of these issues are well known and seemingly obvious, many Australian business owners are still too casual in their approach to employee internet access. The ubiquitous nature of the internet, and the broad range of information and services available on it, exposes businesses to significant risk. You can and should take appropriate steps to protect your business.

Even if you do not currently have any measures in place for governing employee internet use, there are some simple steps that you can take including:

ensuring that you have a clear written policy on the computer and internet use that makes it clear that disciplinary action may result if the policy is breached;

• ensuring all employees sign the policy showing they have read and understood it;
• providing clear notice to your employees that their computer and internet use may be monitored;
• controlling internet use - by blocking certain image searches and websites, blocking popup advertisements, throttling bandwidth for streaming media and scanning for viruses and spyware in email and on workstations;
• establishing and maintaining a monitoring system that is appropriate for your business in order to determine whether your policies are being followed;
• developing and following a clear procedure for dealing with instances of inappropriate internet use, so that management can deal with  these issues consistently and fairly when they arise;
• ensuring your monitoring systems and processes are flexible and broad enough to effectively deal with new internet-based technologies, services and activities.

There is no single mechanism for protecting your business from inappropriate employee internet use, but you can greatly reduce your exposure to risk by maintaining a formal, consistent and multi-pronged approach. It is also a proactive idea to consult with a lawyer to make sure that your employment agreements, policies, monitoring and enforcement procedures are both reasonable and legal.