The HR Space is edited by
Louise Béchamp,
Karen M. Sargeant and
Brian P. Smeenk.
It is now common for employees to have access to the
Internet at work. Many use the Internet for personal
reasons during work time. Many employers are concerned about
the loss of productivity resulting from excessive personal use of
the Internet.
A number of employers have attempted to characterize excessive
personal Internet use as "time theft", as a result of the
work hours lost. This is a concept historically used to describe
situations when employees claim to be at work but are not.
Two recent arbitration cases looked at this issue.
In Andrews v. Deputy Head (Department of
Citizenship and
Immigration)
(August 2011) (PDF), an investigation revealed that the employee,
Franklin Andrews, spent ½ to ¾ of his workday using
the Internet for non-work-related purposes, for significant periods
of time in 2008 and 2009. Much of Andrews' browsing time was
spent viewing pornography.
