Curb - Don't Block - Employee Web Surfing

For anyone who runs a business, employees who surf the Web instead of doing their jobs can seem like an absolutely maddening waste of company time and money. That often leads to the temptation to block employee access to the Web so they have no choice but to buckle down and get back to work.

One recent survey claims the average worker wastes two hours a day online! That's why many big businesses invest in software and services to block, control, or monitor Web usage.

But as it turns out, this approach can actually HURT employee productivity. Survey after survey shows that allowing workers to do at least a limited amount of Web surfing, even on "company" time, makes workers more productive, not less.

That may seem counter-intuitive, but it's really not. If workers can use workplace Web access (and the phone, of course) to deal with the little things in their personal lives that always seem to crop up during the day, they'll also have more freedom to concentrate on their jobs instead of personal problems that didn't get solved. Researchers also suggest that short "Net breaks" can help workers refresh themselves to attack work tasks with more enthusiasm.

Then there's the whole back-end technology problem. It costs money to install blocking software and services, and they don't do much good unless you take the time to read -- and then act on -- the fancy reports they create. Many small businesses find the whole process is more trouble than it's worth.

As Charlotte Jensen pointed out (See ), there are also more subtle -- but perhaps more important -- reasons not to drop the hammer on employee Web access. No one likes to be micro-managed or feel like their employer doesn't trust them. Employees who believe their boss is taking a Big Brother approach to Web use can suffer from lowered morale and decreased job satisfaction.

There may even be legal issues with monitoring your employees Web habits without their prior consent. And you may learn things about your employees that aren't illegal, immoral, or harmful to your company, but that you really didn't want to know...

Finally, remember that many workers have valid, work-related reasons to surf the Web, and you don't want to get in the way of that, do you?

Of course, that doesn't mean you should let your employees run hog-wild all over the Internet. Smart small businesses take a reactive approach.

Typically, that begins with a clearly communicated Internet Usage Policy. The typical policy allows some casual surfing, personal email, social networking, and shopping, but it outlaws porn, betting sites, and other . Those sites may be actively blocked. The policy should also warn employees that their Net usage may be monitored. That in itself is often enough to discourage misuse.

But unless there's some sort of red flag, most small companies don't bother to actively monitor employee surfing. If a problem surfaces, then they take a closer look and deal with any issues directly.

The ability to take that kind of personal approach is one of the benefits of running a smaller, more flexible organization. It would be a shame to squander that flexibility in favor of rigid rules and draconian bans on Web surfing that may do more harm than good.