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Employees just want to have fun…

16 March 2009

Some 80% of UK employees believe that they should be given full access to social networking websites at work, according to recent research from internet security company 8e6 Technologies.

Currently, the same research shows, more than half of UK workers (52%) are actively using such sites and 35% spend at least an hour of every working day on personal Internet use.

According to Vice President of Marketing Eric Lundbohm, "While there are many strategic business reasons why employees are on social networking, news and streaming media sites, IT must be aware that there are also security and regulatory risks associated with employee Internet use."

While over half the businesses involved in the survey have an Internet Use Policy, few respondents had received any training in it, and under 3% had been disciplined in any way for violating it.

According to 8e6 Technologies, this is a "potential productivity drain and security hole". It points out that the risks involved extend beyond lost productivity to the danger of spyware, viruses and other malicious code being downloaded, as well as potential liability issues caused through employees visiting inappropriate sites.

If you would like advice on formulating an Internet Use Policy please contact one of our employment lawyers.