Websense: Surfing the Web at Work May Be as Addictive as Cup of Coffee
Websense, the world’s leading provider of employee internet management solutions, today announced the results of its sixth annual Web@Work study, the company’s annual survey conducted by Harris Interactive. From February 21 to February 28, 2005, 354 U.S. IT decision-makers who work for organizations with at least 100 employees were interviewed online, and from February 28 to March 21, 2005, 500 U.S. employees who have internet access at work and who work for organizations with at least 100 employees were surveyed over the telephone on web and software application usage in their workplace. The 2005 Web@Work survey suggests that surfing the web may be more addictive than coffee. Fifty-two percent of employees surveyed who use the internet at work for personal reasons stated that they would rather give up their morning java than internet access at work, while only 44% would give up their internet access for coffee. Furthermore, internet usage at work is increasing—93% of all respondents said they spend at least some time accessing the internet at work. This is up from 86% in 2004, as reported in the 2004 Web@Work survey. As the blurring of work and play on the internet continues, 50% of employees surveyed who access the internet at work do so for both work and personal tasks. Among those employees surveyed who use the web during the work day for personal reasons, the most popular non work-related websites accessed are news (81%), personal email (61%), online banking (58%), travel (56%) and shopping (52%). Among those employees surveyed who access the internet at work, men are more likely than women to view online pornography at work. Whether it was by accident or on purpose, 23% of men surveyed who access the internet at work said they had visited a porn site on company time, while only 12% of their female counterparts had done so. Of those surveyed who admitted to viewing x-rated sites at work, 17% of men and 11% of women admitted it was intentional. Interestingly, in the 2004 Web@Work survey, of the women that indicated they had visited a porn site at work, all (100%) of them said their porn site visits were unintentional. In addition, the survey results indicated a major disconnect between how much time IT decision-makers believe employees are spending surfing personal sites at work versus the amount of time that employees admitted to spending online. For example, those IT decision-makers surveyed estimated that employees spend an average of just under six (5.9) hours per week on non work-related websites at work, but employees surveyed who admitted to personal surfing at work said they are spending only 3.4 hours per week, on average. “As the line between professional and personal usage of the internet becomes more of a gray area, many employees have started to rely on the internet to complete their job duties as well as perform personal tasks—during the work day. In addition, with the sheer quantity and variety of websites and applications readily available, many employees are either not admitting to, or most likely not aware of, how much time they are really spending on personal surfing,” said Curt Staker, president of Websense, Inc. “The solution lies in balancing employees’ needs for personal use of the web at work without draining overall productivity, morale or the company’s bottom line.” 2005 Web@Work Survey Results:
- COFFEE VERSUS THE INTERNET—when asked if they would rather give up their morning coffee or their ability to use the internet at work for personal reasons, 52% of employees surveyed who use the internet at work for personal reasons said they would rather give up their morning coffee, while 44% said they would give up their internet access.
- TIME SPENT—internet usage at work is increasing. Ninety-three percent of all employees surveyed said they spend at least some time accessing the internet at work (up from 86% in the 2004 Web@Work survey).
- PERSONAL SURFING—among the employees surveyed who access the internet at work, the average time spent accessing the internet at work is 12.6 hours per week. Among the employees surveyed who access non work-related websites at work, the average time spent accessing non work-related sites is 3.4 hours per week. However, IT decision-makers surveyed estimated that employees spend an average of just under six (5.9) hours per week surfing non work-related websites. These numbers are consistent with previous years’ surveys.
- INTERNET PERSONALITY—48% of the employees surveyed said they use the internet at work purely for work-related tasks. Forty percent utilize the internet for work-related duties and some personal tasks such as online banking. Ten percent of employees surveyed use the internet at work for both business and pleasure in equal amounts.
- WEBSITES ACCESSED—among those employees surveyed who access the internet at work for personal reasons, the most popular types of non work-related websites accessed at work are news (81%), personal email (61%), online banking (58%), travel (56%), and shopping (52%).
- GENDER DIFFERENCES—higher percentages of male than female employees surveyed who access the internet from work engage in personal surfing at work. Almost two-thirds (62%) of men admitted to accessing non work-related websites during work hours versus slightly more than half (54%) of women. Furthermore, significantly higher percent of ages of employed men than women surveyed who access non-work related sites during work hours access sports sites and investment sites. Men are 2.3 times more likely than women to visit sports sites during working hours, and men are more than three times more likely than women to visit investment and stock purchasing sites during work hours.
- ONLINE PORNOGRAPHY—higher percentages of male than female employees surveyed who access the internet at work view pornography at work. Whether it was by accident or on purpose, 23% of men who access the internet at work said they had visited a porn site while at work, while only 12% of women had done so. Of those respondents who admitted to viewing pornography sites at work, 17% of the men and 11% of the women admitted it was intentional.
- NON WORK-RELATED APPLICATION USAGE—listening to or watching streaming media (18%) and using Instant Messaging (16%) are still the most popular computer-based applications used at work at least once a week by those employees surveyed with internet access at work. However, playing games at work has decreased—only six percent of employees said they play computer games at work, down from 14% in 2004.
- INSTANT MESSAGING—of those employees surveyed who use Instant Messaging at work, 43% said that they either send or receive file attachments via Instant Messaging (IM) while at work (up from 37% in 2004). Twenty-nine percent admitted that they use IM primarily for non work-related purposes. According to the IT decision-makers surveyed, almost two-thirds (63%) of companies do not have corporate-sanctioned Instant Messaging.
- EFFECT ON DISK SPACE—IT decision-makers surveyed on average estimate that six percent of an organization’s total disk space is taken up by non work-related files, such as mp3s, photos, and movies. Two in five (40%) say that anywhere from one to four percent of disk space is taken up by non work-related files, another two in five (39%) say five to ten percent housed non-work related files, while more than one in ten (11%) say at least 11 percent of total disk space is taken up by non work-related files. Only one in ten (10%) indicated that none of their help desk support calls have to do with non work-related files.
Reproduced from an article published by noticias.info
© noticias.info
The original article can be viewed here:
http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComunicados.asp?nid=64431&src=0
Permalink Bookmark Digg this story
