Antitrust and Monopoly; International Business Law

Employee Use of Internet at Work: Policy Proposals

Mary Heather Pruitt

(MGT320) – The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business

Colorado State University – Global Campus

Jamie Smith, CSU Global Adjunct Professor

January 19, 2018

Employee Use of Internet at Work: Policy Proposals

Internet use in an organization can sometimes present unprecedented challenges. Many employees spend the organization’s time logged on to social media sites. As a result, the management may face difficulties in keeping employees focused on organizational tasks. Also, there are challenges ensuring that the employees are engaged in ethical and legal activities while on the Internet (CIPD, 2017). This policy paper will propose effective ways of eradicating non work related issues and any potential liability concerns that may come along with the policy. Also, it will explore the potential privacy rights issues that may arise as a result of the policy. Most importantly, there will be two policies: one for the Board of Directors and a second one for the employees.

Currently, the employees are spending much of the organizations time logged onto their social media accounts. This is because they are bored and lack motivation. According to Mello (2012) morale can drop if employees are engaged in boring and less challenging tasks. As a result they may spend most of the time on social media sites. Furthermore, employees can decide to spend much of their work time on the internet if they feel unhappy about their bosses and can potentially post negative messages harming both management and the organization. However, Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) advise companies against taking away all internet privileges. This is because employees may want to visit the company’s website or work related websites. For this reason, the policy paper will propose that the company should allow employees to visit all work related websites and block inappropriate websites or searches. Furthermore, the employees should be allowed to visit social media sites on their free time to avoid work related stress.

References

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. (2017). Internet and social media use and misuse. Retrieved from https://www.cipd.ie/knowledge/emp-law/data-protection- technology/internet-social-media

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53, pp. 59-68.

Mello, J. A. (2012). Social media, employee privacy and concerted activity: Brave new world or big brother? Labor Law Journal, 63(3), 165-173.