Date 12 September 2007
Facebook launched in the US in 2004 as a social network website for students, which allowed users to chat, post photographs and connect with fellow students with similar interests. Facebook has seen its popularity surge in recent months, with its number of worldwide subscribers doubling only since May 2007. There are now 21 million Facebook users worldwide with 100,000 new users joining every week.
Over two thirds of London businesses have now taken the step of either banning or limiting the amount of time that their employees are using Facebook, over fears that too much working time is being wasted.
So how is your business able to monitor its employees’ use of the internet, and what does it need to do to protect itself against excessive internet use?
Many businesses are understandably cautious in interfering with an employee’s internet use because of their right to privacy. Whilst a right to privacy does exist, a balance clearly needs to be struck between the rights of the employee and those of the business, to expect a honest day’s work. Provided that a business identifies a legitimate objective in monitoring employee activity; balances the effect that monitoring will have on the employee against the prejudice caused to the business; and does no more than is necessary to accomplish the identified objective, it will have a strong case for being able to justify its monitoring activity.
Even once a business starts to monitor its employees, the ease with which businesses can achieve a ban or a reduction in internet use is heavily determined by how well their employment policies are drafted and implemented. It must be remembered that it is all too easy for heavy-handedness with employees to land your business in an employment tribunal.
Employment legislation sets out a requirement for a business to provide information to its employees concerning monitoring activities. This is best achieved through an electronic communications policy.
The policy needs not only to inform the employees that monitoring might take place, but also clearly outline the boundaries of what will be considered acceptable use of the business’ IT systems. Some businesses prefer a total ban on internet use, while others are happy to allow employees to have limited internet use at lunchtimes. Careful thought needs to be given to the types of technology needing to be covered, and should include the types of internet sites visited; taking part in blogging or internet message rooms; downloading of software; and chain emails. It should also be made clear that abuse of the business’ electronic communications policy will be considered a disciplinary offence.
A business has only done half of its job by ensuring that its electronic communications policy is well-drafted - it also has to ensure that it is properly implemented via consultation with its employees, and is also properly policed.
Any changes to your business’ policies must be well-publicised, and time should be given to the employees to give feedback before the new policy is implemented. It is now relatively simple to use a pop-up message on an employee’s computer screen both to inform the employee about a proposed policy change, and to accept its terms by ticking a box.
Managers must be given appropriate training on how to recognise a problem, and what to do about it if such a problem surfaces. The policy must also be applied fairly and consistently to minimise the risk of unfair dismissal and discrimination claims.
Provided that your business takes appropriate action as outlined above, there is little doubt that banning or restricting internet use will improve the productivity of your employees, and ultimately the profitability of your business.
If you require any further information or assistance with any of the issues featured in this article, please contact Chris Cook on 01727 798017 or at chris.cook@salaw.com.
© SA LAW 2007
Every care is taken in the preparation of our articles. However, no responsibility can be accepted to any person who acts on the basis of information contained in them. You are recommended to obtain specific advice in respect of individual cases.