How much Internet distraction is too much for work?

CEDAR RAPIDS - A quick online purchase, a 30-second cute pet video or a scroll through a newsfeed are tempting distractions for many in the workplace. Streaming Netflix, working on a resume or even pornography are a few clicks away.

What some employees don't realize is how often they go online can be monitored by their bosses, who have technology - and the law - on their side.

'The reality people don't get is it's not their computer,” said Mark Hudson, a lawyer who practices labor and employment law at Shuttleworth & Ingersoll in Cedar Rapids. 'If you don't want it to be found, don't use your work computer ...

You just need to be smarter about it.”

The challenge is the Internet is critical to more jobs for research, communication and organization, so it is right at employees' fingertips. But the issue often is not a matter of using the computer but of lost productivity, Hudson said.

A few recent unemployment cases highlight where some employers draw the line with computer use. A supervisor at Kirkwood Community College, for example, was concerned an employee was taking longer to complete tasks and her productivity had decreased.

A two-week audit of the worker's computer found she was spending 46 percent of her work time using the computer for personal reasons, including for personal email, Pinterest and Facebook, and transactions for her side business.

While Kirkwood allows limited personal use of work computers, the employee was fired for improperly using company property and using the computer for personal gain, in violation of the school's computer policy.

Administrative Law Judge Debra L. Wise sided with Kirkwood in denying benefits, calling it workplace misconduct.

In another case, the information systems department at a Von Maur store found a security guard's broadband use exceeded company guidelines, which prompted an internal investigation.

During a one week audit, the guard - whose job included watching security cameras for theft - spent more than 16 hours on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social sites, streamed video from Netflix for more than 8 hours and spent two hours on her email.

Several times when a supervisor accessed her computer directly, the web search history had been cleared, according to the unemployment file.

The employee was fired for violating Von Maur's code of conduct and electronic communications policy, which allows no personal computer use. Administrative Law Judge Julie Elder sided with Von Maur in denying benefits.

A fine line

Non-business related Internet use, including social media, is the greatest time-waster at work, according to a 2014 survey of executives by Robert Half Management Resources, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based consulting company.

Lost productivity, not so much web use, was the main problem in both the Kirkwood and Von Maur cases, and it's not a new issue, said Hudson, who advises employers on company policy and speaks about computer use in the workplace.

On Feb. 26, he will deliver the keynote address at the Iowa Society for Human Resource Management in Altoona.

'We've always had productivity issues,” he said. 'It's not a brand-new issue, What used to be the smoke break or the coffee break, people now use the Facebook break ...

The problem is when it becomes so easy to become less productive.”

Joseph Ugrin, assistant professor of accounting at Kansas State University, and John Pearson, associate professor of management at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, studied what they call cyberloafing.

They found that 60 to 80 percent of time spent online at work has nothing to do with work. They also found that company use policies are not enough, and they needed to be consistently enforced to be effective.

Hudson though said how companies manage computer use is a fine line.

The question employers must ask is how much time and money they want to spend monitoring, and then how to step in when necessary. Too stringent a policy could make employees feel as if they aren't trusted,

'They can work with you on how you can be productive versus addressing how much time you spend on the Internet and pulling your computer record,” Hudson said. 'From a legal standpoint, it's their right. But the moment you pull records, the employee feels like their privacy is being violated.”

It sets a different tone, he said.

Depending how much is spent on software, employers can see what the employee sees, run reports on which sites are visited, how much time is spent and when a Web page is up in the background versus active use.

Tami Young, a partner and human resources consultant at Cedar Rapids-based Skywalk Group, said she part of the problem is Internet use is increasingly a tool in the workplace.

Some clients shut off access to Facebook, Twitter and sports sites, she noted, but will leave news sites unlocked, while some block the Internet all together.

She said she sees policies becoming increasingly lenient as long as work is being done.

'More and more companies are allowing the lines to cross between work and personal,” Young said of Internet use. 'I see it more and more loosening up, being in moderation, and focus it on business research.”

Hudson and Young agree clarity about the policy, whatever it is, is key to compliance.