Internet Access At Work

Abuse Of Internet Access At Work

This month we look at a question which is being asked

with increasing frequency. What are the issues of concern

around providing Internet access for government staff.

Problem

I am a manager in a government office that has recently

been “wired” so that each employee has access to the

Internet. At present staff can surf the net, and use electronic

mail. It has come to my attention that one of our staff has

been spending inordinate time on the Internet, and there

has been a suggestion that he has been accessing “adult sites”

while at work. Do you have any comments or suggestions?

Answer

More and more government organizations are installing

Internet access for staff, and this question will become more

common. How do you regulate usage without making the

technology useless. In fact, what degree of regulation is

appropriate?

In general terms, let’s remember that the Internet allows

communication and research to be done from the office.

Second, its valuable contribution will be in the ease that

communication can occur with colleagues, and members

of the public. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast set

of rules. In the situation described above, there are several

concerns. Probably the most serious is the possibility that

the Internet is being used to access pornographic material,

at the taxpayer’s expense. Clearly this is a serious concern

because of the additional responsibilities and obligations

public servants have, compared to other sectors. While few

are aware of it, access to web sites can be monitored, and

an individual who goes to such sites can be identified by the

web site owner.

Since most government staff have identifiers that indicate

they are government staff, we must realize that such

behaviour is not “secret”. There is a potential for public

embarrassment. For those reasons, even leaving aside

moral and ethical issues, staff should be clear that Internet

access brings responsibility. We recommend that an

Internet usage policy be drafted (usually called an

Acceptable Use Policy-AUP). As with any policy, staff

should be actively involved in determining what is and

is not acceptable behaviour on the Net. That is probably

the clearest of the issues related to the problem given.

The next issue is the lack of productivity that occurs if

staff spend inordinate amounts of time surfing the Net.

In the specific case outlined, the individual was spending

as much as three hours at a time, apparently doing

non-work related things. Some people advocate that

the employer become a policeman, monitoring access

electronically (which is technically possible), and enforcing

rules harshly. There are others that suggest that the real

issue lies elsewhere, and monitoring and enforcement

don’t address them. Putting aside the pornography access,

one obvious question that comes to mind is whether the

individual in question is able to meet his or her job obligations

while also spending a good deal of time on unproductive

activities. If the answer is no, then there is a clear

performance problem that should be dealt with by focusing

on the job tasks that are not getting done, or objectives and

deadlines not meant. This would be the same, if the person

was spending large amounts of time on the telephone,

on personal calls.

If the employee is able to complete all job tasks and still

“waste time” on the Internet, then the question shifts

to whether the individual has sufficient work to do.

And that, again, is an issue unrelated to the Internet, itself.