Internet is an office tool,
workplace perk for employees

A new survey of Web use in the workplace confirms what many employers have long suspected: Workers access Web sites unrelated to work while at work.

In its seventh annual Web@Work study, Websense Inc., a provider of Web security and filtering productivity software, found that 61 percent of employees surfed nonwork-related Web sites an average of 3.06 hours a week — or almost a quarter of the time they spent online at work.

Where are they spending that time?

To the relief of human resource managers everywhere, the survey found that most employees travel to fairly pedestrian online destinations, with the top three nonwork-related sites accessed relating to mapping (83 percent), news (80 percent) and weather (76 percent). Of the 12 percent who admitted visiting porn sites while at work, 95 percent said their visit was accidental.

The survey also revealed that the age of the blog has arrived in the workplace, with 11 percent of employees reporting that they have visited blog sites during work hours and 31 percent of those saying they visited them occasionally or very frequently.

Other Web-related tools being put to work for nonwork purposes included:

• Streaming media, with 24 percent of employees using the technology in a nonwork-related capacity at least once per week.
• Instant messaging, with 17 percent of employees using it at least once per week at work — with 29 percent of those using it primarily for nonwork-related purposes.
• Downloading nonwork-related files, with 18 percent of employees having downloaded MP3s, personal photos, video clips or movie clips on their work computer or network.

Another important finding of the study is how important such Internet use is to employees, with 50 percent of those who use the Internet at work for personal reasons saying they would rather give up their morning coffee than their Internet use.

That’s right, half would rather forgo their morning Java jolt than lose the ability to check the news, book a vacation or glance at traffic cams online.

So, what does this mean for managers who don’t want to trample on employee morale but are concerned about personal Web use decreasing employee productivity?

Everything in moderation. The same computer technology that is enabling employees to e-mail friends and check on tomorrow’s weather forecast while at work is the same technology that is enabling them to accomplish more work more efficiently.

It doesn’t have to be, nor should it be, an all or nothing scenario.

— Kimberly Hilden, SCBJ Assistant Editor