Social networking has become part and part of most of our lives over the last few years. What started off as a slight infatuation with the online world has become somewhat of an obsession for many. It’s not simply a “phase” people are going through which will end sometime soon. It’s a ongoing trend affecting everyone these days and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by business leaders.
A new study by Robert Half Technology has found that many businesses are actively creating work policies in relation to the growing presence of online networking in their employees lives, yet the majority aren’t reacting positively!
The study, which was based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CEO’s across the US, has revealed that just over half of those asked have policies that completely ban their workforce from accessing sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Loopthing.
- Prohibited completely - 54%
- Permitted for business purposes only - 19%
- Permitted for limited personal use - 16%
- Permitted for any type of personal use - 10%
- Don’t know/no answer - 1%
The reasons cited by those on the majority side indicate that most tend to see social networks as a distraction, something that diverts their employees attention away from more pressing and important matters.
The study also reveals that nearly 1/5 of businesses believe that social networking can be a positive thing, but only for work purposes.
It’s not hard to see what the majority of organisations are not allowing employees engage online. Social networking sites are pretty secure on the technical side of things, but it’s the people who use them that are a cause for concern within an organisation. Productivity, viruses, phishing, bandwidth usage, the disclosure of private information and brand damage are just some of the points that a company would think about when choosing to either allow access or implement a social media ban.
Software such as WebSense can be used to monitor web activity, so remember the next time you’re dying to update you’re online status, check first whether you’re company allows you to do so or you could end up in hot water. Or just use your iPhone!
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