If you are a firm administrator that is concerned about employees wasting time online using non-work related web sites like Facebook or Twitter – OR WORSE, using company resources to access pornography, gambling sites, hate groups or more – then this article is for you.
While it’s not uncommon for employees to waste a bit of work time on relatively harmless activities, such as shopping or visiting a favorite sports site, times have changed. Employers are learning the hard way that employee use or abuse of a firm’s Internet system can lead to significant liability and time wasted if not monitored.
For example, one firm's managing partner, who I won't name, shared that they received a panicked phone call from the office while traveling. The police had shown up and arrested one of their staff for soliciting a minor online. Since he was doing this during work hours from the office, that’s where the police showed up to arrest him – clearly a PR nightmare. And, stories like this are happening EVERYWHERE.
Then there’s the wasted time. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are addictive. If your employees are constantly “plugged in” to those sites, they won’t be nearly as productive at work as they should be.
Protecting your firm requires two simple steps at a minimum. The first is to have a written company policy that details what employees can and cannot do with your firm's resources or during business hours. Next, you’ll want to have a content filtering system in place that will enforce your policy by automatically monitoring your company e-mail and Internet usage, blocking sites and content you don’t want your employees to access without hindering their ability to work online.
Mark Twain once said, “Supposing is good, but knowing is better.” If you want to know for sure how much time your employees are spending on non-work related surfing and what web sites they are accessing, call us for a free trial of our content filtering software. At no cost, we’ll install our monitoring software for a week and then provide you with an accurate report of what your employees are doing online while at work.
Some things that our FREE productivity and security assessment will reveal are:
- What web sites employees visit and how much time they spend there
- If your firewall, anti-virus and other security settings are set up properly to protect you from a hacker or malware attacks
- How you can put simple automated tools in place to watch over your firm's e-mail and Internet connection
So for your FREE security assessment, give us a call at (678) 926-9192
Or click here (www.LFITS.com/bettersupport) to fill out a form requesting more information.