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By FTDynamo FTDynamo, 22 May 2001 07:00

COMMENT First came the right for UK employers to monitor employees' email, internet use and phone calls. Now comes the possibility that UK employers will soon be rationing the amount of time employees can spend on the internet each day. The growing trend for 'e-breaks', where workers spend time surfing the internet looking at sites that are not work related, instead of taking a traditional tea or coffee break, are increasingly being seen by employers as an example of time wasting, resulting in low productivity at work, distracted staff and increasing infrastructure costs. Most companies now have some system of web and email monitoring in place, which allows businesses to ban access to certain websites and alerts them to any offensive or inappropriate material being circulated. Now two software companies, Websense from the US, and SurfControl from the UK, have gone one step further and developed systems which control and limit the amount of time employees can surf the net. The systems also allow managers to cut off employees' web access after a set time. Websense recently commissioned a survey looking at employee web usage that included data from 800 employees in France, Germany, Italy and the UK. The survey found that in the UK, employees spent an average of three hours a week using the internet for personal use, looking at travel, hobby and sports sites. For companies, the benefits of such a system are clear. Advances in technology have opened the way for information to be dispersed over a variety of channels at the click of a button or a mouse, and as distribution channels increase, so does the need to monitor them. Companies which give employees access to the internet have seen soaring telecommunications bills, and network managers have had to cope with an increasing number of network problems, as a result of overloaded internet use. But monitoring and restricting online activity is a delicate issue facing managers. On the one hand, controlling the amount of time employees use the internet can increase productivity, but on the other hand, it could be seen as an invasion of employees' privacy, and a sign of mistrust from managers. Companies need to ensure that their employees are aware of internet monitoring practices and do not object to their internet access at work being managed and monitored, and employees need to be informed about what sites - if any - are acceptable to look at during work hours. FTdynamo, the new management website from FT Knowledge, where the latest in business thinking is put into context and delivered to your desktop, is now live. Visit us at http://www.ftdynamo.com and register for a FREE two week trial subscription.