Q: How can an employer best guard against misuse of internet and e-mail services provided to employees?
A:
Providing employees with access to the internet and an e-mail account may result in abuse. Employees may spend too much time using these facilities for non-work related purposes. More worryingly, these facilities could be used inappropriately by employees leaving the employer open to legal claims from other employees or third parties and potentially resulting in damage to the company’s reputation.
Clearly there is no easy solution to this problem. However, employers can minimise the risk of misuse of internet and e-mail services by putting in place a carefully considered internet and e-mail use policy and making sure that employees are fully aware of its contents. Further, to ensure compliance with such a policy, employee use of the internet and e-mail could be monitored by the employer.
