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Survey: More Than 90% Of Workers 'Surfing' On Company Time

Jan. 13, 2005

How many employees surf non-work-related Web sites while on the clock? In a recent survey, 90.3% of workers reported such surfing. And 31% of employers said they're monitoring or restricting employees' workplace Internet use. Sending and receiving personal e-mail at work is also becoming a hotter workplace issue. This week The New York Times fired 20 employees for e-mail related infractions. The Vault.com Survey of Internet Use in the Workplace reports that 83.6% of employees send personal e-mails during the workday. The survey of 1,244 employees and 1,438 employers also found:

37.1% of employees say they constantly surf the Web.

58.8% of employees say they've received sexually explicit or otherwise inappropriate e-mails at work.

24% of employees say they take measures to keep their employers from catching them surfing non-work-related areas.

51% of employers and 56.6% of employees believe that surfing such sites compromises productivity.

54% of employers say they've caught employees surfing non-work-related sites. Vault.com, The Workplace Network, a Web site for career information, did the survey to delve into practices and attitudes regarding the Internet's increasing presence in the workplace. Survey results are posted at http://www.vault.com; or for a copy of the survey, contact Kate Kaibni at [email protected].