Netiquette Warning

Last updated: 19/10/2006 - 14:10

Survey highlights the dangers of ‘kiss and tell’ emails and inappropriate internet use.

More employees could find themselves being fired over inappropriate emails, according to new findings from The Work Foundation (formerly The Industrial Society).

Organisational Netiquette

A major netiquette survey has highlighted the dangers of inappropriate emails and internet use.

The survey of organisational netiquette reveals that employers concerned over ICT abuse, are increasingly turning to so-called 'Big Brother' technologies to monitor employee email and internet use and will sack staff breaking the rules.

According to the survey results 75% of responding organisations already have in place, or are working on netiquette policies. Of those, 66% monitored website access, 65% monitored incoming email messages and 43% monitored emails for inappropriate words or content. Nearly a quarter (23%) would dismiss an employee for breaching netiquette policies.

Covert

Most organisations communicate their policies to staff via policy documents, or on email messages. However, only 49% of organisations tell new employees about their netiquette policies as part of their induction process. While most respondents inform their employees that they are being monitored, around one in ten do not. This is particularly the case in small organisations - 19% with less than 100 employees do not give written notice of email monitoring is given, 17% also fail to give written notice of web activity monitoring.

Legal Responsibilities

The Work Foundation says that policies outlining acceptable email and internet use at work are a key part of managing the various legal and resource issues around ICT, but stresses that companies should also be aware of their legal responsibilities towards their employees.

"Clarifying acceptable ICT use should be an integral part of netiquette policies," says Theo Blackwell of The Work Foundation. “Legally, users do need to be informed when content is monitored. This includes instances when software is used for filtering and blocking. However, organisations must reconcile this against the expectation of privacy and workplace trust and try to strike the right balance between rights and responsibilities.

"It is vital that acceptable email use should be understood by employees from day one. Many employees are unaware of the potential damage a rogue email can do to an organisation: like exposing the firm to defamation, bullying or harassment claims. Clearer understanding of what is allowed - and what isn’t - is vital in today’s workplace."

Key survey findings include:

  • Netiquette policies are most likely to cover email (93%), web access (87%), disciplinary procedures for disregarding policies (78%) and virus eradication and virus liability (75%)


  • Organisations most likely to have policies on netiquette are the utilities (71%) and financial sectors (69%). The least likely to have formal policies are IT firms


  • In 46% of companies with policies, the IT department was responsible for netiquette. In 18% it was a human resource department responsibility and in 21% it was the joint responsibility of different functions within the organisation


  • Monitoring is more likely in larger companies. 62% of organisations with over 2,500 employees say they monitor emails for inappropriate content, and 52% monitor internal email messages

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