What’s an easy way to make sure employee computer policies backfire?

Answer: Give super-specific guidelines.

That’s the word from a report by The Privacy and Data Security Law Journal. According to a study, if a company tells its employee they can only engage in personal Web browsing for 30 minutes a day, almost all employees will use the entire 30 minutes.

That includes employees who wouldn’t have done any personal surfing before the policy was announced. Including a specific time limit basically tells employees they’re expected to waste that amount of time.

Also, many companies shy away from listing specific types of sites or technologies that are prohibited. Why? One you have a specific list, employees will believe anything that’s not on it is allowed.

The general route might be the best option. For example, say something like, “A significant amount of personal use is prohibited.” Also, make sure you mention that existing company policies (like those against harassment, for example) apply to technology use, too.

You can read the whole report here.

Tags: peronal Web surfing, Privacy and Data Security Law Journal