Employees are ignoring web policies

Staff are failing to follow their firm's acceptable internet use policies and are using the web and e-mail at work for personal reasons.

A survey of 300 employees shows 61% send personal e-mail, 40% use instant messaging to communicate with friends and family, and 23% use Skype to make personal phone calls.

More than 33% admitted spending over half an hour a day surfing non-work-related sites, and 22% spent more than an hour a day. Only 15% waited until lunchtime or after working hours.

Downloading music or videos at work was admitted by 33%, and 8% did so regularly. And 33% said they knew of people in their firm downloading pornography, the survey by web security company SmoothWall revealed.

"We recommend locking down corporate networks to all but essential business applications," said George Lungley, managing director.