Personal Internet Use

RuthG

Where do most companies stand on allowing their employees to use the internet for personal use on the company computer? Not at all, only on breaks, or no policy prohibiting or limiting it at all?

bevhunt

You can prohibit personal use, but it is almost impossible to enforce.  We have a policy stating that "reasonable" personal internet use is allowed on breaks and lunch, but we have only disciplined one person for Interent use and that was during March Madness week.

GoPatsNH

It's important to have a policy but, when it comes down to it, as long as your employees are doing a good job and getting their work done, who cares if they spend time on the internet during the day? Sometimes you just need a distraction. Unless of course, it's inappropriate - like porn or gambling or something like that.

Richard3

We allow personal use during lunch hour and breaks. But that's it. Our work areas are pretty open, so it's not that easy to surf the net during work hours.

kyliefan

I second what GoPatsNH says--really, if you have employees who are spending too much time on the internet then it would stand to reason that they are not getting all of their work done, or performing as well as they should, which would reflect itself in their overall performance. Otherwise, it really can't be "too much" time on the internet if it isn't having a negative impact.