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Benefits August 27, 2002
Workers Addicted to Web
August 27, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Employees may
not be hiding liquor bottles under their desks or ducking
into a restroom for a furtive snort of drugs, but the latest
workplace addiction could be just as serious a
problem.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
According to a recent survey for Websense, while only 8% of employers say they’re aware of an office cyber addiction, 25% of US workers describe themselves as addicted to the Internet, a Silicon.com news story reported.
In fact, the Websense survey indicated, the workers devote more than a whole workday each week on non-work Web sites with news, shopping, and porn destinations the most popular.
Many workplace Web surfers even make no bones about it. The survey found 67% of workers admitted to getting on news sites while 37% hit shopping and auction sites at the office – both for personal reasons.
What are companies doing about it? Some 78% of employers block employee access to pornography, only 47% block access to gambling sites, 20% block shopping and auction sites and 4% block cyber news.
The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive, which polled 305 employees and 250 human resource managers from US companies with up to 38,000 employees.
Websense makes software to control employee Internet use.