How Do You Keep Your Employees from Surfing the Net While at Work?

Our store is pretty technology friendly. I’ve created a small office with two workstations that allows our staff to send emails to their customers, work on their special orders and so forth. This allows those not on the floor to keep up with the clientele they’ve developed. Now, I can’t and don’t want to be looking over my staffs shoulders all the time but I’m worried that my staff may be surfing the Web a good deal of time—some are probably sending emails to family, friends, and coworkers while others are: shopping, banking, or planning a trip. Reality is that most workers with Internet access don’t see anything wrong with pursuing a little bit of personal business while at work. I have to admit—when I wasn’t busy with customers (this is when I worked at The Gem Collection in Tallahassee FL, while attending FSU)—I did do quite a bit of Web surfing myself.

Being that I was an employee who surfed the Web quite a bit I see both sides of the spectrum. Some might say—if you have 30 people surfing the net for 30 minutes a day, that’s 15 hours lost. Some don’t see anything wrong with 30 minutes a day and go as far as saying, “It’s well within their rights as an employee.”

I think it’s smart to have built in some tolerance for your employees to take a few moments during lunch or breaks to e-mail their kids, check news sites, etc.—though when it takes place on company time, it can have serious and costly consequences for business owners.

Here are some ways you can keep an eye on and discourage Web-surfing employees:

1.      Draw up a computer-use policy for all employees and spell out prohibited activity.

2.      If you simply want employees to stay off the Internet, consider offering some alternatives such as allowing them to listen to music while they are working. Or set up specific times or limits for personal usage.

3.      If you allow them to surf then limit personal computer time just as you would personal calls. Internet monitoring software, which watches all the PC and internet activity happening on work computers and laptops, can come in handy.

4.      You can selectively block access to certain sites, such as shopping, auction, or sports Web sites.

Do you allow your staff to surf the net while at work…that is—when they’re not busy with customers?