
Issue No 63		21 July 2000

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News

Surfing Good for Productivity - Management Experts

A scare campaign by a web security company has been diffused by a string of business experts who say that employers who allow their staff to surf the web actually increase productivity.

A Perth-based technology company Livingstone Group - which markets 'anti-misuse softwear' - made headlines this week with claims businesses were losing millions in productivity because of office surfing.

But research from Workers Online shows the prevailing management ethos is that surfing is good - improving workers web-based skills and encouraging the sort of lateral thinking demanding in the information economy.

Anderson Consulting, one of the world's largest business consultancies, has published an article called 'The Web Police' - http://www.enf.uwaterloo.ca/~iwarrior/archives/V22115/SciTech/Point.html. Which critically analysies the monitoring of employees' use of the web.

It acknowledges that "strict-use Internet policies (including the implementation of large-scale Web monitoring and filtering systems) in the corporate sector could actually slow productivity.

"By providing their employees with unlimited web access, enterprises virtually guarantee that their workers can find a wealth of business-related information in a fraction of the time that a traditional (real world) search would take. Limiting employee access to the Web in general or via Web-monitoring and blocking tools can slow that free flow of information to a trickle."

It concludes that "savvy corporations will be careful to maintain an open dialogue with their employees about acceptable Internet use on company time.

"Most enterprises will eventually leran that, like the office telephone, the Web is a tool whose business benefits outweigh its drawbacks as an in-office (and company-funded) distraction."

Infoculture web-zine takes the argument further. It argues that workers who surf the net at work are actually adding to the value of the New Economy which their employers rely upon.

"By goofing off on the job and browsing the web you're stealing from your employer," it argues.

"But by stealing from your employer, you're supporting the technologies and the new economy that your company, like it or not, now depends on.

"So send an email, create a job or, at the very least, save a job in one of the traditional sectors of the economy that is benefiting form the increased investment in technology."

Of course, none of the media that carried the Livingstone PR/survey story explored these issues ...

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 63 contents

Interview: Paul Keating's Big Picture
The former Prime Minister is still painting on a broad canvass. He talks to Workers Online about the new economy, fair trade and political chi.

Unions: War in the West
Only six months after signing individual staff contracts, the gloss has worn off for some of BHP's Pilbara iron ore workers.

Environment: Farmers Fudge DNA Dangers
Farmers have missed the chance to have a meaningful debate into the use of genetically modified crops.

International: 'Dot Union' Proposal on the Table
ICANN, the global governing body of Internet domains, has released the following expression of interest in proposing a top-level domain for trade unions

Economics: Edge of the Abyss
Political economist Frank Stilwell argues that a constellation of events gives good reason to be worried about the Australian economy.

History: Taming the Tigers
Prominent labour historian, Dr Ming Chan, is visiting Australia to report on how workers are faring in the new Hong Kong.

Review: Music is Crap
It's already the second half of the first year in the new millenium. Who would have ever predicted a crisis in the popular music industry when we are at such an advanced stage ?

Satire: Last Kosovars Found Behind Couch
State Emergency Services personnel were called to a house in Brighton this morning, where the last five remaining Kosovar refugees have been found wedged behind a couch.

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