The explosion of the Internet into the workplace has empowered millions of employees, in a matter of keystrokes, to quietly commandeer company property for personal use. And ethical questions are mushrooming well beyond the propriety of workers frittering away a morning shopping online or secretly viewing pornographic Web sites.
This is a new spin on the old nuisance of employees making personal phone calls at work, but with greatly magnified possibilities. For one thing, the Web can be extremely seductive, lulling users to click screen after screen for hours at a time. Productivity can indeed suffer when dozens or hundreds of workers succumb to the temptation.
Boeing Co. . . . seems to accept the inevitable with a policy specifically allowing employees to use faxes, e-mail, and the Internet for personal reasons. But the aerospace and aircraft company also sets guidelines. Use has to be of "reasonable duration and frequency" and can't cause "embarrassment to the company." And chain letters, obscenity, and political and religious solicitation are strictly barred.
Other companies are more permissive, but make it abundantly clear that employees can't expect privacy. Saying it recognizes that employees may occasionally need to use the Web or e-mail for personal reasons, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. issues this warning in its "electronic communication" policy: "It is sometimes necessary for authorized personnel to access and monitor their contents."
But even if a manager is within legal rights to peek at employee e-mail, does that make any kind of digital fishing expedition ethical? What's an employer to do, for example, if such a search of an employee's e-mail reveals that he has an undisclosed drug problem or is looking for another job?...
Some companies and government agencies are trying to cling to "zero tolerance" policies, prohibiting the personal use of company equipment. One is Ameritech Corp., whose business code of conduct specifically states that computers and other company equipment "are to be used only to provide service to customers and for other business purposes," says a spokeswoman for the telecommunications company.
Solving the Dilemma
In the new world of virtual teamwork, companies will probably continually have to address the matter of how much to allow employees to use computers for personal use. How would you hand]e this?
1. I would handle matters on a case-by-case basis, firing employees I caught viewing online
pornography but just warning employees doing online shopping during business hours.
2. I would institute a no-exceptions policy in which employees first would be warned and
then dismissed for going online for any kind of personal use.
3. In the interests of keeping my employees happy and productive, I would tell them I expected
them to use work hours mainly for work, but that using company computers for personal uses
was acceptable ''if kept within reason~~ (whatever that might mean).
4. Invent other options. Discuss.