In an ideal world, employees would use their company computers only for work.  They would not book flights to Maui, they would not update their Facebook status, and they would not answer e-mail from Great-Aunt Betty.  Realistically, most employees do some personal activity on their work computers every day; however, employee computer use should not be as rampant as to compromise productivity.  Instead of trying to rule the computer with an iron fist, a slightly more relaxed and straightforward computer-use policy may strike a compromise between high productivity and happy employees.

A reasonable computer-use policy should address the following areas:

• General privacy.  For starters, how about a little disclosure?  Make it clear that when using a company computer, employees should have no expectation of privacy.  From there, it’s up to them whether they want to browse that foot fungus website.
• Internet.  If your employees are never to use the internet for personal purposes during work hours, your computer-use policy should say so, although a sweeping policy is unrealistic and unlikely to be followed.  What’s better, allow employees certain times when they may access the internet for personal reasons, such as on their lunch and rest breaks.  Alternately, establish an amount of time (such as 30 minutes) that employees may use each day for personal browsing.
• Off-limits websites.  It should be common sense not to surf pornographic or gambling websites at work, but some employees need to be reminded.  The computer-use policy should list all categories of off-limits websites, which may include social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and even fantasy sports sites.  Rather than enforcing access to off-limits websites on a case-by-case basis, employers may find it easier to block these websites on the server end, so employees are restricted from entering the sites at all.  But again, be realistic: roughly 70 percent of Americans have a Facebook account, so if they’re not checking Facebook from their computers during work hours, they’re checking it from their smartphones.
• E-mail.  Again, it should be common sense not to use business e-mail addresses for personal correspondence, but many employees do, even for gray areas, such as personal e-mail between coworkers.  Like a sweeping internet-use policy, a strict e-mail policy may be difficult to enforce and may create disgruntled employees.  Rather than imposing a strict ban on personal e-mail, remind employees that any messages they write on the company computer are subject to monitoring and should not be considered private.  That includes messages sent from business e-mail addresses, and depending on how the use policy is written, may also include personal messages sent via web-based e-mail accounts, such as Gmail or Yahoo, or instant messengers.
• Files.  Many employees don’t realize that a thorough computer-use policy will address all information created, accessed, or stored on the company computer.  Typically, the policy states that such information is the property of the company and that it is subject to monitoring.  Also included in this area is copyrighted material, which employees should not be illegally downloading.
• Consequences.  Clearly outline the consequences for violating the computer-use policy.  This should include penalties for the first and subsequent violations, and whether penalties will differ depending on the type of breach (for example, surfing a porn site versus messaging Great-Aunt Betty).

It’s important to keep employees focused on productivity, but it’s also important to recognize that today’s personal internet time is yesterday’s personal phone call.  While most employees can be trusted to balance their workload with the occasional personal “sanity break,” a clear computer-use policy will set uniform expectations company computer use, and will establish a procedure everyone can understand and follow.

If your company’s computer-use policy is still on dial-up, the HR consultants at YES! Your Human Resources Solution can help.  We’ll help you devise a policy that fits your company’s culture and business goals.  We’re happy to answer any questions you might have about computer use or any other HR-related matter.  Contact us today to see how we can help your unique business thrive into the future.  Be sure to take advantage of our free consultation!