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Should employers monitor the Internet use of employees? As a former manager forced to terminate a promising young trainee a few years ago as a result of his apparent Internet addiction, I would have to answer with a resounding, "Yes!"

Information technology (IT) literature is filled with studies outlining the ever expanding use of the Internet for non-business purposes during work hours. While employee productivity in the past was hindered by extended lunch, coffee, or cigarette breaks, personal conversations with co-workers or non-business related telephone calls, today the practice of "cyber loafing" is becoming increasingly widespread. Non-business uses of the Internet including pornography, gaming and online gambling sites are among some of the more troubling non-business uses which employers are struggling to address and control.

Numerous studies and surveys reveal shocking statistics such as 60% of online shopping activity and 70% of Internet pornography traffic occurs during normal business hours. A 2000 survey conducted by Vault.com indicated that 25% of employees reported spending more than an hour each workday visiting websites unrelated to their work. Some estimate that American corporations incur more than $63 billion in lost productivity annually due to inappropriate Internet use.

Does $63 billion sound like an exaggeration? It shouldn't, especially if you stop to consider that, unlike the two hour lunch, inappropriate Internet usage can and often does expose companies a host of very expensive ills. For example, employees spending inordinate amounts of time online for non-business purposes may undoubtedly download software, photos or other questionable attachments. This can expose company equipment and software to harmful viruses that can be expensive and time consuming to repair.

System performance may be adversely impacted as well as gaming sites or sites with complex graphics steal bandwidth from employees attempting to perform legitimate work.

Finally, employee blogs may create opportunities for the leaking of trade secrets to competitors and forwarding pornographic or offensive attachments can lead to sexual harassment lawsuits.

With all of these potential costs, monitoring employee Internet use offers a number of advantages including:

1. Increased productivity - employees who are aware that they are being monitored online are more likely to remain on task and will waste less time

2. Improved security monitoring helps guard against exposure to viruses

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