What Every Business Needs To Know About The Impact of Social Media On Security And Employee Productivity

If you are a CEO that is concerned about employees wasting time online using non-work-related web sites like Facebook or Twitter – OR WORSE, using company resources to access pornography, gambling sites, hate groups or more – then read on.

Why You Should Be Concerned

While it’s not uncommon for employees to waste a bit of work time on relatively harmless activities, such as shopping or visiting a favorite sports site, times have changed; employers are learning the hard way that employee use or abuse of a company’s Internet system can lead to significant liability and time wasted if not monitored.

For example, one business owner (who will remain nameless) shared that they received a panicked phone call from the office while traveling. The police had shown up and arrested one of their staff for soliciting a minor online. Since he was doing this during work hours from the office, that’s where the police showed up to arrest him – clearly a PR nightmare. And stories like this are happening EVERYWHERE.

Then there’s the wasted time. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are addictive. If your employees are constantly “plugged in” to those sites, they won’t be nearly as productive at work as they should be.

How To Solve This Problem

Protecting your company requires two simple steps at a minimum. The first is to have a written company policy that details what employees can and can’t do with company resources or during company hours. Next, you’ll want to have a content filtering system in place that will enforce your policy by automatically “policing” your company e-mail and Internet usage, blocking sites and content you don’t want your employees to access without hindering their ability to work online.

Free Productivity And Security Assessment

Mark Twain once said, “Supposing is good, but knowing is better.” If you want to know for sure how much time your employees are spending on non-work related surfing and what web sites they are accessing, call us for a free trial of our content filtering software. At no cost, we’ll install our monitoring software for a week and then provide you with an accurate report of what your employees are doing online while at work.

To schedule an FREE checkup, please call 650-961-1300