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Have you read about the most recent academic study on employee productivity? It’s an interesting one. University researchers in Australia recently concluded that workers are more productive when they take short, periodic web surfing breaks at work. That might seem counterintuitive, but the researchers determined that taking a mental break by surfing the web allows employees to get back to work refreshed and refocused.
Now, keep in mind that we haven’t done a peer review of this study, but it does raise some thought-provoking business issues: how much Internet access do you allow employees to have, and do you filter or monitor any of it? It’s all fine and good for people to check a news site every now and then, or maybe even update their status on Facebook, but you know as well as anyone that there are issues to be aware of with employee Internet usage.
The wide reach of the Internet and sheer mass of content available are both positive and dangerous. It’s great to be able to find an obscure statistic to complete a TPS report, but it’s also possible to find material that is offensive to people or downright illegal. Foremost among those issues is the fact that the company may be legally liable for content on company computers, whether it is offensive material or a pirated movie or song. And there’s also a risk of viruses and network intrusions.
But before you go uninstall the web browser from every computer in the office, it’s good to take a step back. It may not be the best idea to fully restrict online access—after all, people can be more productive with the Internet—but it might be a good idea to have some type of filters and other protections in place to protect the company.
There are many options: content filtering, firewalls, intrusion prevention, “parental” controls, antivirus, antispam and the list goes on. If you already have measures in place to help protect the company if something happens, make sure you regularly update and maintain those products and services. If you’re not already prepared, there are many great products out there that can help protect your company, resources and employees. The issues these products help you avoid are well worth the investment.
Whether or not you agree that letting employees watch YouTube videos at work can help increase productivity is up to you. With the right Internet security services, it’s also up to you to decide how much of the Internet your employees have access to and how much risk your company is willing to assume.
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