A new study from no less than the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and powerhouse IBM finds that workers who maintain online connections to their bosses produce more than those who don’t.

The surprise finding: Not only were people who frequently communicated online with their manager more productive, but those who avoided their managers online were much less productive.

The researchers (two of them from MIT’s Sloan School of Management) analyzed a wide range of electronic communication channels, including e-mail, buddy lists and social networking activity of 2,600 workers over 12 months to come up with their conclusions.

Employees who maintained constant electronic communications averaged an increase in revenue of $588 per month over the average; the luddites who didn’t produced $98 per month less than the average.

The researchers concluded that the under-performers probably felt pulled in too many directions with no clear leadership or direction.

As the modern workforce becomes more geographically dispersed it’s become a challenge for workers and managers to stay connected and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Using electronic tools to forge stronger bonds and communicate tasks, objectives and feedback seems to be a key way for companies to keep everyone connected and productive.

To read the details of the MIT/IBM study, visit here.

Shelley Sawers, wife of the new head of the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6, opened a Facebook account and posted photographs of her family, the location of their home and the identities of several close family friends and associates.

Her husband must’ve been pretty surprised to learn his wife had posted such personal information (as well as pictures of him in his swim trunks) on a social networking site, given that MI6 employees are bound by strict secrecy guidelines.

Mrs. Sawers’ family will most-likely need to be moved and her children may now need extra protection.

The move was not only an embarrassment for her husband, but the British government, which just announced its new “strategy for cyber security,” a cross-government program to address the UK’s cyber security issues.

You may not be head of the Secret Intelligence Service, but how important do you think it is to keep personal information or pictures off social networking sites?

Judge B. Carlton Terry, Jr., of North Carolina was recently reprimanded by the state’s Judicial Standards Commission for “friending” a lawyer on Facebook.

At some point during a pending child custody case, Terry found Charles Shieck, the lawyer representing the defendant, on the site and added him to his list of friends.

The two “friends” posted messages about the case to each other, the Lexington Dispatch reports. Comments included a discussion about proving whether the plaintiff had been having an affair and Terry’s statement that he had “two good parents to choose from.”

Eventually, Terry was disqualified from the case and a new trial was granted. He was then reprimanded by the state — interacting with counsel during a pending trial violates the state’s judicial code of conduct.

Most obvious are the cost savings that come with cutting energy use. But according to a recent survey, upper management is also seeing positive effects in other areas — for example, 47% of execs believe going green can help their companies attract and retain employees, according to a recent survey by Buck Consultants.

Also, 12% of HR pros say green initiatives at their companies have increased employee productivity, according to a 2009 Society of Human Resource Management study. That’s up from 6% last year.

More than 60% of companies have adopted the goal of reducing environmental impact, according to the Buck Consultants survey. The most popular changes companies have made:

• 78% have used teleconferencing to cut back on business travel
• 77% have put HR and benefits documents online, rather than printing them
• 76% promote a reduction in paper use
• 68% have implemented wellness programs
• 57% offer telecommuting opportunities, and
• 52% help employees find carpool partners.

How exempt employees use their computers while they’re forced to stay home.

Employers have to pay exempt employees for weeks in which they spend any time working — and that may include even small tasks, like checking and responding to e-mail and listening to voice messages.

To avoid getting stuck paying those employees, attorneys recommend having a strict policy against performing those tasks while home. Also, they suggest employers hold on to any BlackBerries, laptops and other devices issue to workers and have managers emphasize that they aren’t expected to check into the office while on leave.

Several court cases have been raised in which companies are accusing ex-execs of stealing or tampering with electronic info on their way out the door, the National Law Journal reports.

For example:

• Liska v. Motorolla, Inc. – Former Motorolla CFO Paul Liska is suing the company for wrongful termination. Motorolla, on the other hand, is accusing him of destroying evidence related to the firing that was contained on his work computer. The company’s asking the court to force him to reveal what he destroyed, what evidence he has and with whom he shared it.
• Microsoft Corp. v. Mullor – Microsoft is accusing a former employee of stealing trade secrets from a company laptop. The employee was allegedly gathering evidence illegally in order to pursue a patent infringement suit.
• Lasco Foods, Inc. v. Hall – Two Lasco employees quit their jobs to start a competing company. After they left, they refused to return company-issued laptops for several months. Lasco alleges they were copying proprietary information from the computers.

Bottom line: Tampering can come from surprising places.

To prevent electronic theft or sabotage when employees are shown the exits, it’s important for HR to communicate with IT quickly so the tech people can remove user access and complete other key security tasks.

Many companies use “keylogging” software or hardware to monitor employees’ computer use. But they might be in trouble, according to this recent court case.

Keystroke logging (often called “keylogging”) is a process in which everything someone types on a keyboard is recorded, by either a piece of software or a hardware device installed between the keyboard and CPU.

Hackers often spread viruses that install keyloggers on victims’ computers to steal bank passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive information. But they’re also regularly used by businesses to monitor what employees do on their office computers.

And that might violate the law, according to a recent court decision:

After Metteyya Brahmana was laid off, he had a dispute with his former boss about back wages he claimed he was owed. During the conversation, the supervisor allegedly made reference to an e-mail Brahmana had sent to an attorney with his personal e-mail account.

Brahmana concluded that the boss had accessed his e-mail. He also learned from a former co-worker that the company monitored all employees’ activities with keylogging devices.

He sued his former employer. His claim: The keylogging violated the federal Wiretap Act, which makes it illegal to “intentionally intercept … any wire, oral or electronic communication.”

The company tried to have the case dismissed. But the judge didn’t buy it.

The court ruled that accessing the e-mail didn’t break the law (because the law covers “intercepting” communication, not accessed stored messages), but that the keylogging itself may have been against the law.

The judge let the case move forward to trial, saying more information was needed to decide if the ex-employee has a case. We’ll keep you posted.

Either way, employers should be warned about the potential for keylogging and other monitoring tools to violate laws on privacy and electronic communication.

Cite: Brahmana v. Lembo

More than half (53%) of employees say their managers shouldn’t be able to view what they put on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, according to a recent survey by Deloitte. For workers 18-34 years old, that number jumps to 63%.

But most managers disagree — 60% say they deserve to know what their reports do online. The main reason: Monitoring and protecting the company’s reputation. Social networking gives users a chance to make details of their lives public — and work is a heavily discussed topic. Browse any Facebook profile or Twitter account, and odds are you’ll find something about the person’s job.

Managers might have a real cause for concern: One-third of employees admit that they never consider how their employer will be affected when they post material online. Almost 75% admit that social networking sites make employers more vulnerable to damaged reputations.

What do you think — do supervisors have the right to check out employees’ online personalities? Do managers at your company search for folks on the Web? Let us know in the comments section below.

If you caught an employee breaking your Internet use policy, you’d discipline or fire him. But would you also call the police?

That’s what one Ohio employer did after it learned a worker was browsing pornographic sites and uploading nude photos of himself.

Richard Wolf worked for the Shelby City Wastewater Treatment Plant. In April 2006, the plant’s superintendent was deleting old files from the computer network when he stumbled upon a photograph of Wolf in the buff.

Wolf’s computer was searched, and more such images were found, along with more than 700 other pornographic images and several sexually suggestive e-mails.

When confronted, Wolf admitted that he’d joined an online community called “Adult Friend Finder” and used his work computer to upload the self portraits and send them to potential “friends.” He also admitted to viewing porn sites during work hours and, all in all, said he’d spent about 100 hours conducting “personal business” on his work computer.

As you’d probably guess, Wolf was fired. But here’s the twist: He was also arrested.

After the search, the plant superintendent called the police, who charged Wolf with violating a federal law prohibiting users from “exceeding the scope of their authorization to access a computer.”

He was also charged with one count of “theft in office,” in violation of an Ohio law prohibiting the waste of government money by public employees.

Wolf was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison, fined $5,000 and ordered to pay the city of Shelby $2,392 in restitution for wages he received while browsing porn.

Justice served?

It’s clear Wolf deserved to be fired. But do you think fining him and throwing him jail was the right outcome? Should the superintendent have even gotten the police involved?

Share your opinion in the comments section below.

Either way, one thing’s for sure: Stories like this highlight the need for employers to monitor computer use and train managers on what to do when they discover violations.

Cite: State v. Wolf

Twitter.

For those who don’t know, Twitter is a social networking site that lets users post short updates about what they’re currently doing or thinking. Naturally, work is a common topic.

But poking around the site shows many users don’t understand that what they say can be read by not only friends and colleagues, but also bosses and HR. Updates range from the simple “goofing off at work” to more serious admissions.

Here are some examples of most ridiculous workplace Twitter gaffes, according to the online resume service ResumeBear:

1. “I used a new Autosend email feature last night on my boss. Completely fooled him! He called me this a.m. to thank me for working so late!”
2. “I’ve been sleeping with my boss for years and haven’t gotten a promotion yet. It’s not worth it.”
3. “I am currently trying to decide which disease to fake so I can leave work early.”
4. “Work was crappy today, my boss is a stupid idiot.”
5. “I lied about being sick on Friday, now I really am sick.”
6. “I hate the fact that they have Twitter blocked at my job … Gotta do it from my phone.”

What would happen if a manager at your company found a quote like those on an employee’s Twitter page? Is it grounds for firing? Or should the boss look the other way? Let us know in the comments section below.