Businesses are losing money because of the Internet

A news from www.news.com.au on August 30, 2007 said:

“Walk into any large office, and you will most likely hear the telltale computer bleeps of chat programs and online games, accompanied by furious mouse-clicking.

Studies worldwide suggest employees spend about a fifth of their work shifts engaging in personal activities. Their favourite time waster? The internet.

A recent survey by online compensation firm Salary.com showed about six out of 10 employees in the United States acknowledged wasting time at work.”

It is a fact, this is happening everyday! Businesses are losing money because of the Internet!

What can you do?

You can use computer software to monitor web activity and block certain sites or servers.
You can punish those employees who play online games on his or her computer at work.
You can fire those employees who visit adult sites or chat room at work.

Have you thought another way to stop employees doing improper use of computer?

If you have not, it is important, that is to get your computer usage policies informed!

If you get these policies well informed, employees should understand these policies, they should have guidelines for using computers, they should understand the consequence of improper use of computers. As this is a positive approach, you can reduce conflict between staff and managers or employees and employers, you can make the workforce more productive.

How can you get policies well informed?

It is easy and it will not cost you a fortune. Please visit www.edeclaration.info for more details.

Squares Solutions Company

I agree. I couldn't believe it when i first came to do two weeks work experience for a finance company...how much time they spent on msn messenger and playing online games. I'm not sure whether the boss allowed it, or whether they hid it. I did notice however when using the bosses laptop that as soon as you powered it up msn signed in automatically. So i presume he does it too. I would have thought there would have been plenty of other more important things they could be doing!

Totally agree. Messenger is the most provoking one for owners. Employees often don't give attention to what their boss says, instead they stay focus to their online chat.

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Many companies use instant messenger for actual work, so saying they're messing around just because a messenger comes up is missing a complete paradigm of communication in today's business world. However, many employees do use IMs to communicate with people regarding topics that have nothing to do with work.

The solution? If IM is a requirement for your business, implement a private IM server and block IM protocols on your border firewalls. Jabber is a popular, free, open source solution. All it costs is set up time and hardware (running some version of Linux) to run it on. Some employees will still require access to public IM servers, such as salespeople, but these can be designated into their own network and firewall policies applied accordingly.

As for playing games: Games shouldn't be installed on workstations and any internet game sites should also be blocked at the firewall/proxy server.

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i totally agree with you all that IMs, emails and games provide for the most immediate distraction for employees. i have been working in employment services for many years and i have noticed an increase of complaints from employers with regards to their employees slacking at work because of personal emails, IMs and games.

i do not think there is any IT solution to the slacking/procrastinating problem at work. they will always find a way to kill time at work.

i think the more appropriate question should be: are your workers working less because they are bored, lack motivation, or lack work itself? is the quantity of time spent working an assurance that the quality of work will be up to par as well?

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Skye: Good point. People often deviate from work chores because of lack of motivation, interest and often lack of work. Pulling the plug isn't necessarily go fix things either except to.... Employees often finish their assigned tasks quickly just so they can read and respond to email, play games or surf the internet. I know, I have been guilty of doing this myself, and now I am kicking myself in the butt for it.

well, i cannot help it for i need to stay in touch with my client over the internet.

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Yes, i can see how this will greatly affect a workers output. There is software that can block this kind of activity, but people can usually get a way around it.

I work for myself, so this doesn't affect me (fortunately)