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Three weeks a year lost to web surfing at work
Web surfing in the office by almost half of the UK workforce is costing employers dearly, as each web-addicted worker wastes around three hours a week - or a staggering eighteen days a year online.

By Chris Holbrook

Published: Thursday 19 April 2001

The latest study by Taylor Nelson Sofres found that 90 per cent of workers feel it is the addictive properties of the web that result in this surprisingly high figure.

More than half of those questioned owned up to booking their holidays on the net in office hours 41 per cent researched a hobby 27 per cent watched a sports webcast and 28 per cent visited shopping websites.

The survey also uncovered the fact that the majority of European companies are failing to address web abuse as their employees are increasingly distracted from their jobs by the bright lights of the internet.

However, Websense, who commissioned the survey of around 800 employees across a variety of European office-based businesses, found UK companies were more likely to reprimand staff for inappropriate net use than their continental counterparts.

Geoff Haggart, vice president of European operations at Websense, said: "Companies are definitely not managing net access - only 67 per cent of companies in the UK have something in place which is minimal. However, this is much lower across the rest of Europe."

Simon Davies, director general of internet privacy campaigner Privacy International, believes the figures are on the high side when it comes to web use at work.

Davies said: "It sounds a very dubious figure - an amateur job compared to similar reports I've seen.

"Web surfing times are usually over-exaggerated by anxious IT bosses trying to get something done about it."

Davies added: "Any company that allows a downtime like this isn't managed properly. I can't see any sensible manager allowing this amount of inappropriate web surfing."

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