In any business, time is money — so when your employees are spending time on non-work related items while on the clock, they are in fact wasting your money.
Before going any further, ask yourself this one question:
What personal business is acceptable for your employees to be doing during work hours?
Are people sending a quick text occasionally, or are they spending hours online shopping, or on Facebook for a good part of the day? Are they sending personal emails or playing online games?
The truth is, if your employees are using a lot of company time doing personal things, then they are not working; they are stealing company time.
The following are some startling facts you may not be aware of:
The average worker admits to frittering away 3 hours per 8 hour workday.
The most common distractions from work include:
- Web surfing 44%
- Socializing with coworkers 23.4%
- Spacing out 3.9%
- Applying for other jobs 1.3%
64% of workers admit to using the internet for personal reasons during the workday.
Luckily, there is a way to ensure your employees are staying on task — activity-based reporting allows you to see what and who is doing what during the work day.
This type of reporting will give you the information you need to determine whether you should block a website or app such as Facebook with your firewall. If you suspect your employees are using their smartphones as a workaround, you can also limit wireless access to their phones as well.
But really, one of the biggest reasons you should know about what your employees are up to while on the clock is that oftentimes conducting personal business on the clock can open your network to vulnerabilities, such as viruses and the like, commonly found on non-business related web sites and apps. For instance, employees can easily download a virus from a personal email account or an untrusted website.
If you’re interested in activity-based reporting and enhanced endpoint control, North Shore Data Services has the tools and products to help bolster employee productivity. Contact us today by calling 978-988-0201 or by opening a ticket with our help desk at www.ns-data.com.
