Monitoring Employee Computer Use in the Workplace

Lost worker productivity is a significant issue facing business leaders today. Arguably one of the major factors contributing to this is the personal use of company computers by employees - a trend that has evolved from today’s tech savvy generation of workers who view this as a right versus a privilege. In response, growing numbers of employers are turning to sophisticated technology to monitor computer activity on the Internet, use of electronic mail, and computer file transfers.

The benefits of an effective computer monitoring system cannot be overlooked as the following example shows: Recently I received a call from a business owner in our local area who was interested in having our company serve as their IT service vendor. During our initial discussion I inquired about whether he would be interested in having us provide computer monitoring services as a part of the agreement. Sensing that he was a bit uncertain as to the value of this, I offered to “throw in this additional service” just to see what we might find. What the first report revealed was beyond what he could have ever imagined: employee visits to porn sites, on-line dating services, e-shopping portals, and even resume update sites. Eventually we discovered that this was just the tip of the iceberg relative to the inappropriate web destinations being accessed during work time.

Recent studies show that this is not an isolated trend. According to an Accountemps Network Appliance, Inc survey, U.S. employees spend an estimated 56 minutes each workday on personal Internet activities. This study also found that an estimated 64 percent of employers surveyed monitor employee Internet activity at least somewhat closely and that a surprising 70 percent of employees say that their employer has a right to monitor their Internet activity.

Implications For Companies