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An Internet usage policy can protect your company
-- and its profits
By Pat Curry
Bankrate.com
Personal use of phones, copiers, faxes and the
like pale by comparison to the problems that can result from nonbusiness
or improper use of the Internet or e-mail.
While few employees would ever consider sending
personal letters out on company letterhead, that's exactly the result
when they use company e-mail to send personal messages.
And a recent Vault.com survey
of Internet use in the workplace indicated that more than half the
respondents send between one and five personal e-mails a day. Seven
percent send more than 21 nonwork e-mails -- every day. Without
an Internet use policy, your company is legally responsible for
every single one of them.
Companies pay for workers' online mischief
"Everybody should have a written computer usage
policy," says Terry Kawles, Vice President-General Counsel of Codex
Data Systems in Nanuet, Conn., which manufactures computer monitoring
and surveillance equipment. "Case law only comes into play when
someone 'oops.' That's what happened with company e-mail," Kawles
says. "Someone spent a ton of money litigating that when it could
have been taken care of with a simple policy. Word processing and
printing is a lot cheaper than litigation."
If the threat of litigation isn't enough to
make you start drafting, take a look at the bottom line. Employees
responding to the Vault.com survey reported using their company
computers during work hours to: read news, make travel arrangements,
shop online, look for another job, learn more about their hobbies,
check stock quotes, plan parties, send instant messages, download
music, play games, chat and view pornography.
Almost 90 percent of respondents said they do
nonwork surfing in the office, with answers ranging from a few times
a week to "constantly." About one in four is fooling around online
for an hour or more at a time.
A few lines of legal protection
The experts say an Internet use policy doesn't
have to be long and involved -- a page in the employee manual will
cover it. What it includes will depend on your company's philosophy
about the workplace, your employees' personal lives and where the
twain shall meet. It just needs to be clear and consistent with
specific consequences for violation.
The 70 employees at Sales Consultants of Sparta,
N.J., an executive search firm, know from the first job interview
that they can go online for personal use only during lunch. Employees
know the company uses software to monitor who used the Net, what
and when they used it for, the length of time they were online and
sending and receiving e-mail.
"We tell them, 'Before you quit your job, before
you start here, read this, sign off and say you have read it and
agree with it,'" says Harvey Bass, CEO of Sales Consulstants. "You've
got to lay it out -- it's one of the most widely misused business
tools out there now. At lunch time, knock your socks off as long
as it's not pornographic or obscene. If people say they can't buy
their Lands' End sweaters after hours, we say, 'Don't work here.'"
Another approach to the problem
That's a far cry from the situation at Trisys
in Florham Park, N.J., a company that manufactures software to monitor
computer and phone usage. Company President Mike Shevelev says he
thinks it's almost impossible to ban employees from using their
computers for nonbusiness purposes.
"We don't have a policy in place," he says.
"Our policy pertaining to anything is be fair, be reasonable, don't
take advantage, don't abuse the privilege. If someone spends a few
minutes a day checking out their stocks, it's not an issue. If someone
spends a few hours a day on eBay, we have a problem."
Bass admits the policy at Sales Consultants
is tough -- and it's not for every company.
"Maybe our policy is more strict that someone
else's," he says. "Whatever it is, it needs to be made aware to
the employees before they start work." His simple advice: If you
institute a new policy at an existing company, give people notice.
Combination of policies to manage Net usage
Many companies combine the policy with systems
that monitor Net usage or block access to certain kinds of sites,
such as porn, gambling or illegal activity. For more detailed information
on why and how to formulate a network usage policy, check out the
white paper, "Why
It Pays to Have a Network Usage Policy for Your Company."
Establishing a policy and requiring employees
to read it puts them on notice they can't have an expectation of
privacy. Make the notice stick -- remind employees during staff
meetings or put a pop-up on their screens when they log on. It's
important if an employee ever tries to sue for wrongful termination
over their use of company computers.
"Under both federal and most state statutes,
if employees consent to monitoring or are advised they may be subject
to monitoring, it's difficult for them to have an expectation of
privacy," says Jeff Johnson, a Denver lawyer who specializes in
labor law. "It's difficult for them to make that argument when the
monitoring is for legitimate business reasons -- making sure confidential
company information isn't leaked, bandwidth isn't used up, and making
sure sexual harassment policies aren't violated are legitimate businesses
uses. Then from a legal standpoint, it's much more defensible."
Pat Curry is a freelance writer
based in Georgia
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