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Over a third of employees spend in excess of an hour a day emailing friends and relatives during working hours, according to latest research from internet security group Clearswift.

In a survey of 4,500 workers based in the UK, Germany and US, Clearswift also discovered that more than three quarters of those questioned believed their employers would be unconcerned by this ‘time-wasting’. Those employed in the IT sector were particularly blasé with regard to their bosses’ opinions with at least 83 per cent in each country convinced there was no problem.

Unsurprisingly, given the nature of its findings, the survey concluded that ‘company productivity rates could be improved by about 7% if employees redirected the time they currently spend using the company email system for personal reasons’.

In a typical 100-person company “almost 1,700 working days each year are lost because people are using corporate email systems for non-company purposes,” notes Clearswift chief executive David Guyatt. “That’s equivalent to about seven new full-time staff.”

“Using the company systems for personal email use is just one of many email abuses faced by the corporate sector,” said David Guyatt. “Added to other issues such as loss of confidential information, inappropriate email use leads to personal harassment, compliance challenges, spam and viruses.

“Companies need to set the ground rules with employees on web and email usage through clear policies to ensure productivity does not suffer.”

(25/2/05)

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