As any employer knows, the internet is replete with time-sucking distractions that can ruin your employee's productivity and potentially cost you tens of thousands of dollars in lost productivity. Indeed, by some estimates, as much as 40 percent of all internet use at work is non-work related. Here's a quick look at why you should keep an eye on your employee's online usage during work hours.
It Improves Efficacy
As noted above, large chunks of time are lost to non-work-related internet use. This can cost you big dollars in lost productivity and may even force you to hire more employees to handle the workload that your already existing employees can't seem to get their arms around. Monitoring your employee’s internet use can improve their efficiency because you can discover when there are potential time-sucking activities and address those with employees as the need arises. Furthermore, if an employee knows that their internet activity is being monitored, they are far more likely to regulate their own behavior and spend time using the internet for work-related purposes, after all, we all think twice about our behavior when we know someone else may be watching.
Improves Employee Relations
One of the unfortunate and ugly side effects of the rise of the internet and internet accessibility has been the increase in harassment. A lot of workplace sexual harassment actually happens online, and you can help reduce this type of harassment by monitoring your employee's internet use. This strategy is twofold. First, it ensures that any online harassment which occurs during work hours can be discovered, regulated and punished appropriately. Tight internet controls can help stop bad internet behavior in their tracks. Secondly is the psychological effect. Monitoring your employee's internet use can help to ensure that you are creating a psychological wall between work and personal lives by limiting the number of personal communications that an employee can conduct during the workday. This can help to limit opportunities for them to engage in bad behavior.
It Helps Protect Your Company
Unfortunately, in today's litigious society, it is possible that your company can be held liable for actions that your employees engage in from work internet, during work hours. This means that your company absolutely must have a policy in place which monitors and regulates employee internet usage. Remember, this is a preventative measure, the last thing your company wants is to discover the need for such a policy after an employee has violated it so egregiously that you wind up in court.
As a business owner, you simply cannot afford to ignore how your employees spend their time during the workday. You would never allow an employee to spend 40 percent of their time by the water cooler or out of the office shopping, and the unfortunate truth is that this is more or less what happens when it comes to internet usage. You have an obligation to your other employees and your own business to ensure that all employees are using the internet responsibly. Thankfully, these types of monitoring can be set up relatively easily, and you should absolutely look into doing so today.
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