Occupational Problems
Internet misuse among employees is a serious concern among managers. One survey from the nations top 1,000 companies revealed that fifty-five percent of executives believed that time surfing the Internet for non-b u sin ess p u rp o ses is u n d erm in in g th eir em p lo y ees’ effectiv en ess o n the job (Robert Half International, 1996). New monitoring devices allow bosses to track Internet usage, and initial results confirm their worst suspicions. One firm tracked all traffic going across its Internet connection and discovered that only twenty-three percent of the usage was businessrelated (Machlis, 1997). There is growing availability of such monitoring software as employers not only fear poor productivity, but they need to stop the use of valuable network resources for non-business related purposes (Newborne, 1997). Managers have been forced to respond by posting policies detailing acceptable and unacceptable Internet use.
The benefits of the Internet such as assisting employees with anything from market research to business communication outweigh the negatives for any company, yet there is a definite concern that it is a distraction to many employees. Any misuse of time in the workplace creates a problem for managers, especially as corporations are providing employees with a tool that can easily be misused. For example, Evelyn is a 48 year old executive secretary who found herself compulsively using chat rooms during work hours. In an attempt to deal with her "addiction," she went to the Employee Assistance Program for help. The therapist, however, did not recognize Internet addiction as a legitimate disorder requiring treatment and dismissed her case. A few weeks later, she was abruptly terminated from employment for time card fraud when the systems operator had monitored her account only to find she spent nearly half her time at work using her Internet account for non-job related tasks. Employers uncertain how to approach Internet addiction among workers may respond to an employee who has abused the Internet with warnings, job suspensions, or termination from employment instead of making a referral to the co m p an y ’s E m p lo y ee A ssistan ce P ro g ram (Y o u n g , 1 9 9 6 ).