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Facebook, Bebo and Other Misdemeanors

Bosses Crack Down on Internet Abuse at Work

The office computer is designed for work, but the longer the workday gets, the more it tempts us to play. Recreational Internet use costs employers a lot of money and it's costing ever more Brits their jobs.

Most of the recent headlines about the social networking Web site Facebook have related to its astonishing financial success and the fact that, following a recent investment from Microsoft, the Internet startup has been valued at €10.3 billion ($15 billion.)

But what is a boon to Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg is a bane to others. Facebook and similar sites like MySpace and Bebo have become more than a minor distraction at the workplace and employers are becoming less and less amused.

As the British Guardian newspaper reported on Monday, over 1,700 public employees in the United Kingdom have been fired or disciplined for misusing the Internet over the past three years.

Based on figures collected from 65 institutions -- government departments, police forces and local councils -- the British daily reports that employers are showing an unprecedented lack of tolerance for Internet time-wasting, which is estimated to cost an estimated 130 million pounds (€184.4 million) in lost productivity every day. Many are now resorting to banning sites they deem inappropriate. Government departments are proving the most ruthless; the Justice Ministry has sacked 30 employees while the Work and Pensions Ministry has disciplined 313. At the Justice Ministry, personal Internet use is only allowed if permission is explicitly granted by a manager.

A Local Government Association spokesman is quoted as saying: "Councils will take a no-nonsense approach to anyone who uses the internet in work time to download inappropriate or offensive material. Councils have a duty to ensure that employees are working for the council taxpayer as that is who pays their wages."

Offences include using Web sites or e-mail to excess, viewing pornography and other inappropriate Internet content and forwarding offensive mails. Trade unions, seeing a steady rise in the number of disputes over recreational Web site and e-mail use, are demanding clearer guidelines to proper usage.

And in defense of the offending employees, Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University, reminded the Guardian that "Britain has some of the longest working hours in the developed world. Employers have created this culture. It's natural for people to have to use work computers for organizing their personal life."

A spokesman from Facebook, which has over 5 million regular users in the United Kingdom, didn't want the Web site to be reduced to a misdemeanour. "While we respect the decision of employers to put Web site policies into place," he told the Guardian, "we also encourage them to consider the important role Facebook plays in people's daily lives."

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