E-mail and Internet misuse at work...

A number of stories have been appearing in the press recently which have caught our eye. In this month alone, it's been reported that

• Portsmouth City Council has blocked access to Facebook after it found that its staff spent up to 572 hours a month on the social networking site (we're presuming collectively and not individually);
• Staff from PC World and Currys.digital, perhaps unwisely, have been busy flooding a Facebook Group with messages labelling their customers “stupid”; and
• A memory stick infected with a virus wrecked Ealing Council’s IT system, leaving it with a bill for £½ million in emergency IT work and lost revenue. Ouch.

The common denominator - misuse of IT. The potential liabilities to employers are enormous - lost productivity, lost income, repair bills, legal action for harassment and defamation... it's enough to make your toes curl into Turkish slippers. An IT policy can help prevent problems arising in the first place by making it clear what employees can and can't do and the potential consequences for transgression. And if things do go wrong, it can help defend claims when they do arise. So, if your workplace relies on computer systems and hasn't devised and implemented an IT policy governing their use, why not...?