Most UK businesses are opting for selective bans
oninternet activitiesrather than
complete bans or allowing unrestricted access, according to a
survey of more than 2,000 workers commissioned by IT services
providerDimension Data.
The survey, conducted by YouGov, found that 46% of UK employees
were allowed selective internet access, compared with 14% who had
no access at all and 38% who had unrestricted access. The remaining
2% said they did not know what level of access they had.
The greatest number of total bans were in the banking, financial
and insurance sector, the highest level of partial restriction was
in the public sector, and the most unrestricted access was in the
media, publishing and entertainment sector.
"UK businesses are coming to terms with the fact that internet
and related applications such as instant messaging are sometimes
used by employees for personal purposes," said Alastair Broom,
security business manager at Dimension Data.
"By accepting this and working towards a compromise with
employees, be it monitoring web usage, a ban on certain web sites
or open access only at certain times, they can mitigate risks while
maintaining a happier, productive workforce," he said.
The study found that almost half (46%) of those with internet
access at work were using it for online banking and nearly one in
five (19%) it for accessing social networking sites. Other uses
included instant messaging (18%), file sharing (13%) and
downloading media files (10%).