Ms. Career Girl

Top Menu

  • Home
  • Media
  • About
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • PR and FTC Disclosure
  • Subscribe

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Careers
    • Productivity
    • Career Confessions
    • #SideHustle
    • Job Search Advice
    • Resume Optimization Tool
    • Job Board
  • Lifestyle
    • Life After College
    • Health & Beauty
    • Style
    • Money
    • Travel & Leisure
    • Product Reviews
  • Relationships
    • Dating
    • Marriage
    • Working Moms
  • Specials
    • Real Career Girls
    • Style Your Life
    • Book Club
    • Giveaways
  • Home
  • Media
  • About
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • PR and FTC Disclosure
  • Subscribe

logo

  • Home
  • Careers
    • Productivity
    • Career Confessions
    • #SideHustle
    • Job Search Advice
    • Resume Optimization Tool
    • Job Board
  • Lifestyle
    • Life After College
    • Health & Beauty
    • Style
    • Money
    • Travel & Leisure
    • Product Reviews
  • Relationships
    • Dating
    • Marriage
    • Working Moms
  • Specials
    • Real Career Girls
    • Style Your Life
    • Book Club
    • Giveaways
Work
Home›Work›Personal Internet Use at Work

Personal Internet Use at Work

By Ms. Career Girl
Dec 16, 2008
17132
0
Share:

I’ve always wondered what IT Managers really track when it comes to employees’ personal internet use at the office.  So I got in touch with an IT Manager who has a lot of experience at both large and small companies, and here is what he had to say.

“In my current (smaller) environment, we do not track or restrict internet usage.  We have a department that serves as the IT staff for small businesses. Liberal internet usage is somewhat required, and even encouraged for research and sales/marketing development. We also promote a flexible workplace. Often our staff will work from home on nights/weekends with full access to the tools they need, because of this, they will sometimes spend time while at the office sending personal emails, chatting, and social networking. As long as assigned tasks get completed, nothing that isn’t inappropriate (pornography, gambling, etc.) is ‘out of bounds.’

In my previous larger/corporate environment, we tracked all internet usage with software (SurfControl), and blocked instant messaging. Reports of each month’s top-10 users, and users who used the internet to look at pornography were created and submitted to HR. Due to the nature of their jobs requiring a lot of internet usage (routinely researching issues and communicating with various technical support avenues), and actually unbeknownst to upper management, the IT department exempted themselves from these reports.  Rarely did anything but a slap on the wrist occur to the most severe abusers. It was widely believed throughout the IT department that it was merely a scare tactic, and a tool to use when looking for an excuse to fire someone. If not, we could have just blocked pornography. Make sense?”

Personal internet use seems totally normal and hard to live without for corporate Gen Y’ers.  My advice is to make sure you’ve read and understand your company’s Code of Conduct policy as every company’s is different.  If you are afraid of being laid off, consider keeping your personal internet use to a minimum so that your manager can’t pull your records and come up with an excuse to fire you.  I know someone who got fired for Instant Messaging at work.  Ouch!  Not a fun thing to talk about at your next interview.

The more obvious question here is, why would you even have to worry about this anyways?  If you’re on the internet all day, then you are probably not in a challenging enough position.  Or, perhaps it is challenging but you are bored to tears because it isn’t something you enjoy.  If you are reading this article because you are paranoid about “getting caught” or afraid that your popsugar addiction is effecting your work, then consider where you are and where you want to go in your current career.

Tagsbusinesscareergen yquarterlife crisisthoughts
Previous Article

Make it a Great Week!

Next Article

Customer Service or No Customers.

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
Avatar

Ms. Career Girl

Ms. Career Girl was started in 2008 to help ambitious young professional women figure out who they are, what they want and how to get it.

Related articles More from author

  • Career ConfessionsLife After CollegeSelfWork

    A Tale of High Achieving Career Ladies

    Oct 24, 2013
    By Ms. Career Girl
  • work in sales
    Life After CollegeSelfWork

    Why an entry level sales job is a great way to kickoff your career

    Dec 15, 2013
    By Ms. Career Girl
  • #SideHustleLife After CollegeSelfWork

    Get a Modern Day Career Path Dream Catcher

    Feb 7, 2014
    By Ms. Career Girl
  • #SideHustleSelfWork

    Get Your Creative Juices Flowing Today with a Creative Project

    Nov 15, 2013
    By Ms. Career Girl
  • DatingLife After CollegePlus OneSelfWork

    Are Your Expectations Realistic?

    Nov 13, 2008
    By Ms. Career Girl
  • MoneySelf

    Eww… Credit Card Debt

    Dec 22, 2013
    By Ms. Career Girl

  • Career ConfessionsLife After CollegeSelfWork

    A Tale of High Achieving Career Ladies

  • work in sales
    Life After CollegeSelfWork

    Why an entry level sales job is a great way to kickoff your career

  • #SideHustleLife After CollegeSelfWork

    Get a Modern Day Career Path Dream Catcher

Subscribe

Job Search

As seen on

career advice blog badge oriel badge

Featured On

  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Resume Optimization Tool
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
© Copyright 2021 Ms Career Girl