Firms toughen Internet-use policies

Employees who get caught surfing the Internet or sending personal e-mail at work may end up losing their jobs, according to a local survey yesterday.

A survey of personnel managers found that 77 percent agreed that employees who take care of personal affairs at work -- including using the Internet -- should be disciplined. Among them, over 15 percent endorsed the idea of firing such employees, while only 14 percent of respondents saw the office trend as acceptable.

The survey, conducted by 1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行), an online job-search firm, received responses by e-mail from over 10,000 middle-ranking managers in local companies' human resource departments in mid-August.

For those employees found violating the company's policies for using the Internet, 74 percent of respondents said that they would give verbal warnings to violators while 62 percent said violators' names would immediately be made public, the survey said. If the degree of violation escalates, 33 percent of company managers would file a discipline report in the employees' job performance record while 31 percent of them would give employees the sack. Another 14 percent said they would fine employees and take it out of their paychecks.

The survey also found that 73 percent of companies have blocked employee access to cyber games in the workplace and over 64 percent of companies prohibited the use of online audio-video systems in offices. While 48 percent of respondents said that downloading private software is not allowed in their companies, 43 percent was barred from online chat rooms, 32 percent was prohibited from logging onto the Bulletin Board System and 20 percent was not allowed to send personal e-mails from their offices.

"Most employers are taking a tough stance against Internet abuse. They believe they are entitled to restrict employees on the use of their properties -- computer and online access," Job Bank spokesman Wayne Shiah (夏瑋) said yesterday.

But some employees find the policies hard to accept.

"Companies like that are too arbitrary and inhuman. They should have trust in their employees," said a 32-year-old female staffer surnamed Huang at Videoland Inc (緯來企業) -- a local sports television station.

Huang, however, agreed that all employees should make work their top priority, saying her job requires a lot of Internet use and sometimes personal affairs become mixed in with business.

Shiah also said that young employees of the so-called e-generation usually disregard such rules, while senior workers may find them legitimate.

Another 33-year-old female worker surnamed Chao at the Infineon Technology Co (英飛凌科技) said that she has no difficulty following company restrictions on Internet use.

It's reasonable for the company to shut down employees' access to pornographic Web sites or check their e-mail for trade secrets that may be leaked to competitors, she said.

But Chao also said that the monitoring of her personal e-mails would be an infringement on her privacy. She also advocated strong disciplinary action against those that break the rules, saying she once supported a company decision to have fired an employee for circulating pornographic pictures via e-mail in the office. "Most female staff felt harassed," Chao said.

KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖), however, yesterday urged authorities to clarify the gray area between company management and protection of personal privacy. He said that companies should be entitled to check on employees' work performance, but personal privacy should not be invaded.