John Reed, executive director of Robert Half Technology stated, “Many companies monitor computer use, and excessive shopping is a red flag that could put someone's job at risk” (“Cybermonday shopping at,” 2010).
Employee usage of company networks for personal leisure has been an issue since the world wide web has become so widely available. This time of year with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, online shopping becomes one of the bigger reasons employees use company networks for personal gain. Who does not want to save a dollar or two? Cyber Monday is a widely known term for the Monday following Black Friday. The first Cyber Monday was November 28, 2005, when Shop.org released a press article entitled “Cyber Monday' Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year”.
Although Cyber Monday deals can be great, the excessive use of company network resources during work hours can reduce employee productivity. So what can a company do to keep their employees focused on the job? You may be surprised to find out many employers resort to blocking access to online shopping websites like Amazon and Ebay. Those employers who are not blocking access to these websites are monitoring how often their employees are leisurely surfing. Some companies have gone so far as to fire employees for wasting time surfing the Internet. For example, David Innes, 42, lost his job with Scottish and Southern Energy after bosses concluded he spent a "ridiculous amount of time" surfing the web (“Accountant fired over,” 2010). Employers are not only blocking these websites to keep their employees from wasting time, but also to protect their networks from malicious software. All it takes is for an employee to click a rogue link for a virus to be released or a hacker to be let inside.
Remember, the next time you see an email with a discount for that state-of-the-art ebook reader for 10 dollars off, is it worth your job? My suggestion is for everyone to read your companies Internet usage policy to ensure you are following the rules.
References
Accountant fired over internet use 'unfairly dismissed'. (2010, June 14). Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10313450
Cybermonday shopping at work closely monitored or blocked 635219. (2010, November 23). Retrieved
from http://find.galegroup.com.dml.regis.edu/gps/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A242732372&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=regis&version=1.0
4 comments:
Yes! 100% correct. The problem with the employees that I oversaw in a project was they felt the surfing was part of their benefit package.
Little did they know that everytime they accessed the internet they were putting not only their jobs in jeopardy (with the policies of no internet they signed off on) they were also putting the software we were trying to get implemented in jeopardy by their access of the internet at the incorrect time during uploads of information.
Many times the project was shut down due to viruses brought in from commerical accounts.
Even the union got involved but the employer won out we all should be careful the empoyer pays us to work not surf.
Yvonne H
I had to repair a computer today with many viruses from an employee that was surfing the net. I agree that someone people need to be let go due to the amount of surfing some do. Also, I feel that surfing the net was something that was going to happen once the internet got into every office in America.
Employees often do not think about surfing the web as using company time and also can lose track of how much time they have spent doing it.
Surfing the web at work today could be as innocent as flipping through the yellow pages. Or it could be the same as visiting an adult book store. The problem for organizations is identifying the difference. A clear and consitently communicated internet use policy is the best way t0 mitigate the risks associated with employee internet access.
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