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The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

April - 2007 - issue > Cover Feature

BANNED at work

Vidya Balakrishnan
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Vidya Balakrishnan
Earlier this year, James Pacenza, a 58-year-old IBM employee based in Montgomery, U.S.A, was fired for visiting adult sites during work-hours. Pacenza, who had been with the company for 19 years, had logged in during his recess time of five minutes and was reported by his colleague at the next cubicle. Closer home, another software engineer in a small IT firm was axed for accessing a banned social networking site through proxy means while at work. The ousting of both employees is sending out strong signals about the seriousness of ‘Internet at work’ policies advocated by firms across geographies and sectors including IT firms, financial institutions, schools and media houses. According to a study by the American Management Association (AMA), 26 percent of firms fired workers in 2006 for misusing the Internet. Misuse included recreational as well as illegal instances.

In both the above cases, companies claim that the employees were previously warned about usage of Internet for personal use at work. However as stringent warnings turned futile and constant monitoring of employees’ personal purposes of the Internet began eating up into administration‘s resources, companies concocted another cure of doing away with the root cause: Ban Internet at work. World’s greatest invention has instigated a wrath in senior executives. But why block complete Internet access?

According to Stanford University’s nationwide study, 14 percent of computer users neglect work, school, families, food and sleep to use the Internet. Another study emphasized that 25 percent of Internet addiction happens at the work place. (Incidentally, Pacenza is suing IBM for $5 million, alleging that he is an Internet addict.) While the stats craft a strong contender, HR managers feel it affects three major factors at work: productivity, bandwidth and security.

“It encourages the employee into easy distractions,” says Laxman Badiga, Chief Technology Officer, Wipro Technologies. Wipro is among the bandwagon of IT firms in the country that provide Internet access only during a specific time period in the evening. Only staff above the ‘manager level’ is provided with Internet access by default. In their defense, the company provides cyber cafes with net connection within the campus, which can be accessed whenever the employee feels the need. An option that only some employees think suffice their Internet needs.

“However,” argues HR executive Srini Vudumula of Tavant Technologies “Internet is an integral part of an engineer’s daily work and banning it would mean affecting their research process.” Tavant allows 24-hour net access to all its employees. In fact, the employees are encouraged to blog regularly about their engineering projects and achievements. Contrary to belief, it does not encourage misuse of the net but instills in them a responsibility to act in a mature and professional manner. The trust factor is also huge, believes Vudumula. Chances are that blocking the net would affect employee morale and create a negative attitude in the workplace about not being trusted. At the end of the day, it is the employee’s duty to not allow the Internet affect their productivity.


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