Louis CPA specializing in health care, says he has encountered two medical practices where employeesincluding a female office managerwere discovered visiting pornographic Web sites.

Besides wasting time, personal Web surfing can increase your system's exposure to viruses and other forms of 'malware.'Īnd naughty online pictures can expose you to a lawsuit.

It's easy to justify such a tough stance. One employer in five forbids employees to surf the Internet for anything other than business-related purposes, according to a 2001 survey by the American Management Association, The ePolicy Institute, and US News & World Report. You can exercise that rightand avoid or beat invasion-of-privacy lawsuitsas long as employees know this policy upfront, says Nancy Flynn, executive director of The ePolicy Institute in Columbus, OH.ĭefine Web privileges. It's your equipment, so you have the right to access any information an employee sends, receives, or stores on the computer system. Here are some basics your computer policy should cover.Įliminate the expectation of privacy. Good policies will maintain productivity, safeguard software and hardware, and keep you out of legal trouble. Harris studied companies with 25 or more employees.Ĭyberslacking is just one reason why medical practices need dos and don'ts for employeeand physicianuse of information technology. The average Joe or Jane with Internet access spent 8.3 hours a week visiting Web sites unrelated to work, according to a survey of companies conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Websense, a company that makes Internet filtering software. Be prudent, but dont create a climate of fear.Īn employee in front of a computer may look busy, but, unfortunately, she might be busy reading the news, buying clothes, or playing solitairefor a long time. Software can monitor and regulate employee Web use.

Good policies will maintain productivity and safeguard software and hardware. Don't play solitaire, and other office computer rules

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