HR or IT – someone has to tackle porn

The pornographic misuse of work computers presents many problems for managers. Not the least, is deciding who should be responsible for stopping it.

It’s a major business issue because the implications for employers are enormous:

• Loss of skilled personnel,
• Potential sexual harassment,
• Unfair dismissal claims,
• Productivity losses,
• Recruitment costs, and
• Damage to corporate reputation.

Despite all the publicity and despite the fact that an estimated 1000 Australians have lost their jobs, it seems that pornography at work is still a growing problem.

The scope of the issue is illustrated by the findings of the American Management Association (AMA), in its Annual Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance Survey.

The AMA found that nearly three-quarters of major U.S. firms report that they record and review their employees' communications and activities on the job, including their phone calls, e-mail, Internet connections and computer files. This is a figure that has doubled since 1997, driven by a dramatic increase in employer interest in what employees are doing on their computers.

One out of four US companies say they have dismissed employees for misuse of telecommunications equipment.

In Australia, most organisations are by now well aware that workplaces need internet policies and systems to deal with the problem of misuse. And that mostly, misuse relates to pornography.

Yet, because it is such a difficult area, there are some organisations that have continuing problems about whether porn is an IT or HR issue. Rome burns, yet people can’t decide what to do.

In some medium and smaller organisations, if a ‘case’ has not yet come up, then the whole issue remains in the ‘too hard basket’.  Confusion exists between HR and IT about who should be training employees, while employees are unsure who to turn to about internet misuse.

Unfortunately, there are numerous high profile cases that have gained dramatic media coverage. One unfortunate case that gained national prominence took place inside Australia Post. Apparently, up to 50 Australia Post managers and staff were caught sending pornographic e-mails from their work computers, some depicting children engaged in sex acts. At least four people resigned, two were sacked and dozens suspended. (“Post office in porn probe”, Launceston Examiner, 5 December 2003, p.5)

Of course, many people would say it’s not all that surprising that porn at work is a continuing issue. There are apparently a staggering 5-million porn sites, which is around 12 percent of the total amount of web sites in existence. One-quarter of total daily search engine requests, or 68 million, are for pornographic material.

Part of the reason that internet misuse has become a significant disciplinary issue for HR departments and companies, is the sheer volume of unwanted content that is pushed to workers without their consent and outside of their control.

Unsolicited commercial e-mail or spam now makes up more than one third of e-mail. Fifty per cent of spam content is illegal in nature in that it contains pornography, get rich quick schemes and offers for prescription medicines such as Viagra that can be acquired over the Internet without a prescription.

In many cases, workers only need click accidentally on a hyperlink to find themselves browsing an offensive web site, and when they try to leave, their PC is bombarded by web pages containing similar content.

In company network logs, this activity can appear as though a worker has been actively surfing porn sites. In fact, the worker may be just another victim of spam. Whatever the case, such spam creates risks for both employers and employees.

When discussing the protection of employees from internet and email misuse, many HR professionals indicate that they direct their enquiries to the IT department. Most IT departments grudgingly accept the role because part of the solution is a technical application. But in the main, IT believes employee internet misuse is an HR problem.

For some organisations it can be a difficult one to resolve. But it is a decision that must be faced up to.