UK clamps down on internet use at work

Australian Facebook addicts beware. Users who spend too much work time on social networking sites risk losing their jobs if Britain's experience is anything to go by.

Research by one of the country's top newspapers has shown how strongly employers are cracking down on inappropriate use of email and sites like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

Figures obtained by The Guardian, and obtained under freedom of information laws, showed that in the past three years at least 1,722 public employees were disciplined for internet or email misuse.

Of those, 132 were sacked, 41 quit, 868 got formal warnings and 686 received other forms of warning or punishment, such as a reduction in rank or a fine, the paper said.

The data came from 65 government departments, police forces and local councils.

Government departments were leading the British clampdown, with many attempting to ban sites considered to be inappropriate.

But the crackdown has angered unions, which are demanding clearer guidelines on internet use at work, which some studies suggest costs Britain up to STG130 million ($A299.78 million) in lost productivity every day.

A spokesman for the TUC - the Trades Union Congress with member unions representing more than 6.5 million workers - told the paper: "Social networking at work is a recent problem and it's growing at a phenomenal rate.

"But employers are often not setting a standard as to what level of internet use is acceptable."

The paper cited several specific cases, including one involving Metropolitan police officers who got into strife after posting a series of video clips on Facebook.

A posting by one man said he loved his job because "I get to hit people with a stick".

 
 
Date Posted: 13 November 2007 Last Modified: 13 November 2007