Web 'misuse' at work: jobs, houses, weddings
Research by security company ScanSafe, who have been helping employers snoop on their workers’ Internet surfing habits, suggests that 1 in every 50 pages viewed is to a house hunting or job search web site, which they claim is a ‘significant drain on productivity’.
They also compared US and UK workers. finding that we’re six times more likely to sort out accommodation, but US workers are six times more likely to look for a new job. And we’re twice as likely as US workers to visit wedding-related sites.
“Getting married, finding a job and looking for a home are three major life-changing events and it is interesting to see how these affect work habits between the two cultures,” said Eldar Tuvey, chief executive and co-founder of ScanSafe.
“The bigger picture is that businesses need to develop an acceptable use policy for the internet and have a web security solution in place that can effectively enforce it.
ScanSafe also found that over a quarter of its corporate customers block access to job sites (spoilsports) and 20% restrict access to property and house hunting sites.
I think it’s a little harsh to call any personal Internet use at work ‘misuse’ but it can become a problem particularly if there’s no proper policy in place.
Apart from Tech Digest, what do you spend your time surfing for at work (go on, you can tell us)
