Progressive companies can easily justify the expense of delivering
Internet and e-mail access to every desktop around the enterprise.
However, this new-found efficiency has introduced opportunities for
staff to be seduced into misuse of company time and
resources.
Alistair O'ReillyOpinion
Due to the way Web sites are constructed with multi-layered
indexing, business surfers who want specific information have to
navigate 100 irrelevant topics before they find what they are
looking for.
This time-consuming search gives someone 100 opportunities to be
seduced by information, adverts or even gateways to chatrooms.
Staff do not expect to leave their desk whenever they please, to go
shopping or have a chat. Yet personal surfing eats up as much
time.
E-mail is a blessing and a curse. It is useful to share, in
seconds, a snippet of customer or supplier information with
colleagues who can benefit by knowing it. Indiscriminate mass
circulation of business information is a waste of everyone's
time.
E-mail is seductive. Most employers are happy for staff to take
or make the occasional private phone call during working hours, on
an exceptional basis. But with e-mail, it is too easy to enter into
correspondence with colleagues, friends and family while sitting at
your desk, especially when different friends converse in an e-mail
group.
There have been many cases in the press about firms held liable
for the e-mail sent by an employee: e-mail that the company does
not condone or agree with and yet is held accountable for, often
with expensive consequences.
One of the dangers is that messages written in frustration or
anger are sent while the blood is still racing instead of being
reviewed either when the anger has cooled down, or by a
colleague.
People who talk angrily or in frustration on the telephone can
easily call again and say sorry - the damage is limited and there
is normally no record. The written word is easily kept and
subsequently used in evidence. Suddenly, innocent gossip or a laugh
between colleagues becomes bullying or slander - the stuff court
cases are made of.
Companies have a responsibility to educate staff in appropriate
and acceptable use of the Internet and e-mail. As well as the legal
aspects, this must include education in the costs of usage when
multiplied by the number of staff.
- Educate users to send only serious and relevant e-mail and then
only to those who need the information, thereby reducing traffic
affecting bandwidth
- Prevent e-mailing of large groups of addresses until messages
have had content and address list vetted
- Think of the high level of thought and proofreading you apply
to the hard copy company newsletter, annual report and accounts.
Apply the same diligence to every mass circulated e-mail
- Make the Internet and e-mail accessible to staff for personal
use in free time but in a controlled manner.
- Forge a partnership between management and staff, in which all
agree to random e-mail and Web monitoring.
- Distribute a weekly report to line managers, detailing time
spent online by the teams. This allows managers to grant or deny
Internet access for personal surfing, according to how responsible
their team is. Senior management can review trends and averages
team by team and for the whole company.
As long as measures are carried out openly, you should meet no
resistance from staff, as they will have been made aware of the
issues and will know the organisation is acting to protect the best
interests of them and the company.
Alistair O'Reilly is managing director of Access
Accounting,www.access-accounts.com