By Eddie Glenn
TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS (TAHLEQUAH, Okla.)
TAHLEQUAH, Okla.
May 02, 2006 04:41 pm
—
Internet-surfing, time-wasting, potentially productivity-lowering workers all over America can breathe a sigh of relief, after an administrative law judge in New York last week declared Web-surfing acceptable behavior in the workplace.
According to Judge John Spooner, a New York City Education Department worker was unfairly penalized by being fired for browsing news and travel Web sites on company time.
“It should be observed that the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of communication and information that most employees use as frequently in their personal lives as for their work,” Administrative Law Judge John Spooner wrote in a statement.
Spooner – noting that city agencies allow workers to make personal phone calls as long as they don’t interfere with their work performance – recommended Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education, be punished with only a reprimand.
Choudhri's lawyer called the ruling “very reasonable.”
“Everybody does it,” said Chandra Spencer, who works at a Tulsa call center. “If you’re not actually working at the time, if there’s downtime, I think it’s a good way to keep people from getting bored to death. My job would be a lot more boring if we didn’t have Web access.”
But Jeff Perkins, who works for a cell phone company, said his company limits Web access.
“I have Web access because part of my job is to keep up with the weather, in case we have to evacuate,” said Perkins. “We have an intranet and the Internet, and employees can access the intranet, but not necessarily everything on the Internet. For example, if they’re on the [cell phone company] Motorola Web site, that could be considered part of their work, as opposed to a porn site, which probably wouldn’t be work-related.”
According to a 2005 report by Websense, a provider of employee Internet management solutions, Internet misuse in the workplace costs American companies more than $178 billion a year – more than $5,000 per employee annually.
Eweek.com reported last week that two other studies – one by the Hudson Employment Index and another by Internet management solutions company Burstek – indicate that 6 percent of workers admitted to spending more than 30 minutes a day on personal matters online, and 72 percent visit sites defined as “employee productivity draining."
The Burstek study also found 9.5 percent visit sites that pose security threats to computer networks. But as John Harbuck pointed out, who’s to say what’s work and what’s misuse?
“I think that [ruling by Judge Spooner] is a good ruling,” said Harbuck. “If your work involves using the Internet in any way, how much more time does it take to get from a Web site you’re supposed to be on to one where you’re checking up on the news or checking your e-mail? I could understand someone getting in trouble for spending all day on e-Bay shopping, but if companies fired people for occasional surfing, we’d all be unemployed.”
Northeastern State University Director of Public Relations Nancy Garber said the university does have a policy about Internet use. But, as she pointed out, at an institution of higher learning the policy has to be very liberal.
“We have what is called the ‘acceptable use policy for NSU Net and Internet,’” said Garber. “It stipulates what kind of use we expect from our personnel.”
After getting on the Internet for a few minutes and researching the New York case, Garber addressed the issue further.
“We agree with the judge in New York that the use of the Internet is part of our daily lives,” she said. “We expect, because we’re in an academic community, employees will use it responsibly. As long as people are using it responsibly, and still getting their work done, there really isn’t a problem.”
Eddie Glenn writes for Tahlequah (Okla.) Daily Press.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.