Introduction
The computer revolution has caused so much change
in the workplace to such an extent that work often
interferes with our personal lives. Often we see
people carrying work to home. While employers
do not seem to mind their employees working out
from home, none seems to be happy about the employee
trying to attend to his personal needs from the
office. In fact, the demarcation between tasks
that are considered as personal and official has
been widening over the years. With the advent
of the Internet, the debate on the ethical use
of IT resources has become a hot topic for debate.
Often employees accuse their employees of misusing
the office resources while employees contend that
the hectic schedules force them to mix personal
and official duties. Often managers will have
to cope with the problem by adopting more than
one approach and any retribution by the manager
will result in the employee getting dissatisfied
of his working atmosphere. The problem of misusing
resources in the office assumes much greater significance
within the office than seen from the outside,
and is a multidimensional problem that requires
much effort, diplomacy, and tact to be resolved.
It leads to many debates on the sentiments of
the employee, and his belief of ownership within
the company. It is also difficult for managers
to classify misuse because often the thin line
between misuse and productive use of resources
is separated only by a thin margin.
Analysis
The classification of use and misuse of certain
company resources in certain cases is arbitrary
and dependent on the valued judgment of the management.
However, there are some other official resources,
the definition of misuse of which is clearly defined
under the company law or a higher legal body.
For example the use and misuse of email and the
Internet can be clearly demarcated according the
usage pattern of an employee. In fact, the employee's
browsing pattern and online behavior is enough
to determine whether he has been using the resource
in an irresponsible manner. The irresponsible
use of email and the Internet can pose serious
losses to the company while it can be a great
productive tool if used responsibly. For example,
irresponsible use of the Internet can cause the
company to lose its precious data and encourage
hackers to mount serious attacks on the firm.
Further, the company may lose its technological
processes, proprietary information, and even years
of data that can seriously affect the future performance
of the firm.
The Internet has evolved over the years as a
very cheap alternative to other forms of communication
and entertainment. Often employees misuse the
Internet and the email systems because they are
not aware of the cumulative costs that may accrue
to the company because of its misuse. Most employees
believe that misuse encompasses only viewing objectionable
material available on the net. In fact, there
are many other ways in which the Internet may
be misused within an office setting.
Decreasing cost of access and increasing workloads
The misuse of the internet and email is in part
due to the popularity of this medium. Computers
have had a strong influence in the life of the
average individual. The information technology
revolution has made its most powerful impact in
our lives only recently. While the advent of the
computers was a great advantage to the millions
of users of the e-age, it had its own set of problems.
It was soon realized that people who got carried
away by the advantages of the computers were soon
falling victims to the multitude of hackers on
the net. The hacking community, which so far had
to be content with the realms of academic and
scientific domains, was soon active in the domestic
computer segment, and was gaining a new reputation:
perhaps for the first time in the history of modern
man, technology breakers were being given much
more importance than the technology makers
Rapid computerization is the norm of the day
and many companies are resorting to computer technology
to boost its operations. With the use of computers,
various cost cutting measures could be adopted
by the company, and in the final cost analysis
the cost which is incurred is returned multiplied
by many times as profits to the company. It is
ironic to note that the issues of privacy became
more important as the technology that was being
used to access the net grew in leaps and bounds.
A naive, cost conscious computer user with a normal
dial up connection was much safer than a nerd
with a permanent connection to the net. It was
soon established that the time one was exposed
to the net was a big factor that compromised the
security and privacy of a person. Perhaps the
rising number of hack victims in the recent years
when cable internet and high speed connections
have become ubiquitous, is an eye opener to the
fact that computer users who surf more are more
vulnerable. In addition, the falling price of
the cost of access also has seen the increase
in the number of personal computer hacks in the
recent years. Hence, the plummeting costs of hardware
combined with increased work load have increased
the possibility of employees mixing personal and
official objectives.
In the UK, a recent survey revealed that internet
misuse is proportional to the access rights that
employees enjoy. For example a survey revealed
that in large companies in the UK, as much a 98%
of the employees enjoyed Internet access. In these
companies problems arising due to misuse of the
Internet are as high as one incident per week,
on an average. While only 69% of the employees
had access to internet in medium companies in
2002, many of the medium companies today have
given access rights to at least 89% of their employees:
a trend that proves that access rights needs to
be regulated to prevent misuse and subsequent
problems for the company. One in five of all businesses
reported misuse of the internet largely because
of the use of personal mails or viewing objectionable
sites [Malim, 2004]. In the US, the use of Internet
is much higher. For example independent research
suggested that in the year 2002, the use of Internet
in the office increased by 17% from 2001, and
in 2002 alone, the number of employees using the
Internet at the office was a staggering 46 million.
Men spent more than 31 hours a month on the Internet,
while women followed suit at 27 hours a month.
In addition, research found that between 10 am
and 12 PM, more than 86 percent of the total internet
traffic originated from the offices in the USA
[Saunders, 2002]
Spam and the heavy costs that it inflicts on
the company
Corporate leaders agree to the fact that spam
is one of the major threats that take a toll on
the bandwidth usage of the company, and also could
pose significant troubles in terms of security
breach and virus infections [Leonard 1999]. It
has been seen that employees provided with unmonitored
and in some cases, even monitored internet connections
almost always visit sites that have obscene content.
Such sites often track the user and his email
ids, which is often sold to spammers for a price.
Hence, it is very easy for the company id to go
into the hands of professional spammers. Pornographic
content is just a lure to attract the employee
who inadvertently opens up his company to the
risk of outside attack. Spam can inflict huge
damages because it invariably eats on the resources
of the company. For example, huge graphic files
that may come as attachments will consume significant
bandwidth and also computing power because they
will have to be scanned by the anti-virus systems
that are running in the company. With the increasing
number of users within a company, the number of
spam increases proportionately posing serious
degradation of the company's internal as well
as external networks
Even though the internet and emails are efficient
tools to maximize the profits of a firm, they
are grossly misused these days and in some cases,
are considered to be a reason that degrades the
efficiency of the employees. Statistics in some
of the major countries show that employees are
often tempted to misuse the power, speed, and
facility offered by the net and often mix their
personal requirements with official tasks. Even
when they are attending to their jobs at the office
many employees are being accused of being engaged
on the net simply because of the lure offered
by this medium. For example, In a study conducted
in the US, about 10% of the participants agreed
that the Internet was the reason for their lower
productivity, while another 13 per cent held the
Internet responsible for their inability to stay
focused on work[Krasny and Meade, 2001]. Similarly,
In the US, recent studies found out that employees
prefer to surf for personal uses at the office
than at home, which shows that employees prefer
to use official resources for personal needs.
On an average, employees in the US spend at least
37 hours a month at the work place viewing news,
visiting shopping malls and spending time on indecent
sites. These statistics include some of the best
known blue chip companies in the world: an indicator
that the Internet usage policy is lax in many
leading companies [Ginty, 1999]
There are other ways in which the Internet or
the email systems can be misused to affect the
productivity of an office in a bad way. For example,
often official resources are used by employees
as a tool for sexual and racial discrimination,
or harassment. This assumes significance because
the company may have to face losses because of
harassment charges, as well as loss of productivity
and man hours. In addition, the company may have
to spend a reasonable time defending itself and
the employees who may be involved
The solution
Legal counsel on monitoring the employee's internet
and email usage is divided and arbitrary. Many
experts believe that the employees must be warned
beforehand that his or her email and internet
usage will be tracked by the employer. Most problems
arise in companies where the employees are either
not aware that their activities are tracked, or
the company does not take the trouble to communicate
to the employees that their Internet usage is
being watched. Experts believe that the need for
privacy decreases as soon as employee is aware
that his or her actions are monitored. Hence,
the mere fact that their actions are being monitored
encourages many employees to stay away from online
actions that could compromise the efficiency of
the firm. Similarly, when the company makes it
known that the employee’s emails and internet
usage patterns will be monitored; the employee
ceases to expect a fair degree of privacy from
the official resources. Hence, the mere information
that the network is being monitored prevents employees
from indulging in activities that could harm the
interests of the company.
Some suggestions for effective management of
online resources:
• The email and internet policy within a
firm must be enforced strictly and given similar
importance as other policies like conservation
issues, sexual harassment policies, privacy issues
etc.
• The management must be able to foresee
issues and take adequate actions if they anticipate
trouble. For example many firms encourage their
employees in the "bench" to take paid
holidays, or deploy them in some social projects
that keep them busy and prevent their misuse of
the net. Confronting these employees by not allowing
them to access the net would on the other hand,
create confusion and resentment in them.
• The company also must use legal counsel
and educate employees on issues about which they
would have a wrong notion.
• Companies also need to have well set rules
and regulations for dealing with activities that
could reduce its efficiency and productivity.
For example, many companies have well set guidelines
that explain how resources must be recycled or
how certain technical issues must be handled.
• The company must make it clear through
policies that the employee is within the purview
of official scrutiny even if he or she is accessing
a private email account from the company's network,
since they are using the company resource for
personal use.
• The company must provide time slots for
employees when they can access their personal
mails and attend to their personal needs through
the net. This would greatly reduce their tendency
to use the net for personal needs during peak
office hours.
• A problem solving team must be instituted
that can judge each instance of violation of company
policies subjectively
• The management must conduct periodic internet
and email audits to ensure that the business practices
and procedures followed by employees are in line
with the existing official policy. The policy
must also be periodically reviewed so as to ensure
that timely changes in procedures are addressed.
|