Track Employee Web Use / Block certain Websites

[coetzeeh]

Limiting internet access will have the exact opposite effect on morale and productivity - as someone mentioned before be proactive and engage with staff & make them feel more valued - that will get positive results.

My place of work (multinational) we have wide screen TV's on the floor with sports channels on - free to watch what you want.

People don't take the urine - quite the opposite. Cut them some slack and they will pay you back over and over.

Porn is a no no though.

[Soov535]

coetzeeh said:

Limiting internet access will have the exact opposite effect on morale and productivity - as someone mentioned before be proactive and engage with staff & make them feel more valued - that will get positive results.

My place of work (multinational) we have wide screen TV's on the floor with sports channels on - free to watch what you want.

People don't take the urine - quite the opposite. Cut them some slack and they will pay you back over and over.

Porn is a no no though.

Yeah this. Really.

[V8mate]

Soov535 said:

coetzeeh said:

Limiting internet access will have the exact opposite effect on morale and productivity - as someone mentioned before be proactive and engage with staff & make them feel more valued - that will get positive results.

My place of work (multinational) we have wide screen TV's on the floor with sports channels on - free to watch what you want.

People don't take the urine - quite the opposite. Cut them some slack and they will pay you back over and over.

Porn is a no no though.

Yeah this. Really.

Even the porn bit?

[shep1001]

coetzeeh said:

Limiting internet access will have the exact opposite effect on morale and productivity - as someone mentioned before be proactive and engage with staff & make them feel more valued - that will get positive results.

My place of work (multinational) we have wide screen TV's on the floor with sports channels on - free to watch what you want.

People don't take the urine - quite the opposite. Cut them some slack and they will pay you back over and over.

Porn is a no no though.

The company I work for actively encourage the use of social media channels (mainly for work) without having to read the IT policy the key no-no's are going to be looking at grot or any other dodgy sites that would get your door kicked in early in the morning. Posting offensive stuff would also see you in trouble too. I can't remember the last time anybody had their collar felt at our place for breach of IT policy

[Funk]

V8mate said:

jonamv8 said:

Seems like for tracking purposes we'll need a separate machine, or could we use one of the Directors machines?

Again. You cannot do this secretly.

The company has to make clear their internet use policy and ensure that everyone understands what they can and cannot use the company's internet access for.

If they intend to monitor access, they need to further make clear how that will be done, who in the company will have access to the monitoring data, how that data will be kept secure and what the repercussions will be for people who fall foul.

I agree with this also.

Make sure the AUP is in place and make users aware that everything they do on a work machine will be tracked and logged. I have customers who compromise and open things up at lunchtimes etc which seems to work well.

[sideways sid]

shep1001 said:

Why not just issue a set of business rules that tell the employees what they can & can't do with the companies internet access provision? They are adults aren't they? so they should understand actions & consequences if they get caught and besides you can't go all secret squirrel on them without having a policy in place anyway!

This seems like excellent advice.

Presumably, the directors perceive a problem with employees not working enough/efficiently/effectively, and see internet usage as a problem. Addressing why people are not working might be a better use of time and management resource.

A sensible attitude to acceptable internet use should encourage more professionalism. Anything draconian will drive people away from work onto their smartphones.

[sooperscoop]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

We've had interviewees ask if Facebook is blocked and actually turn down offers when it was. It's not blocked anymore.

[jonamv8]

Client has decided a simple email reminding employees that personal calls should be saved for break and lunch times unless an emergency. Same applies to personal internet use, re-phrase - FACEBOOK!!

[madzo14]

The internet in my work is heavily restricted, can't even access Google/BBC. Can access a few car websites and oddly Facebook. There are a few staff members have full internet access not including the managers. Thank god for smartphones!!

[TurricanII]

The IT policy should set out expectations, as has been posted above, otherwise you might struggle to start a disciplinary procedure.

Blocking sites is advisable to reduce the risk of infections as much as illegal use/time-wasting. Infections can immediately encrypt company data, give data access to remote hackers, enable remote hackers to abuse your network to distribute illegal/pirated material or hack others' systems. Infections often cost money to have them sorted out.

Viruses and dodgy links have been distributed by Facebook.

Virus emails used to have attachments but more often these days they contain a link to dodgy websites that a web filter might be able to block. Blocking non-work categories of websites is another bit of defence.

In the IT policy you could make it clear that there is no draconian ban on social networking in the office using personal mobile phones/data contracts, if that is what you want. You might set up a laptop/tablet/computer/employee WiFi that is segregated from the business network for such things.

[Funk]

Am I the only person that finds it weird that people seem to do so much personal surfing in company time? I check PH at lunchtime at my desk but the rest of the time I have a job i'm paid to get on with, not checking PH, news sites or Facebook.

[Countdown]

Funk said:

Am I the only person that finds it weird that people seem to do so much personal surfing in company time? I check PH at lunchtime at my desk but the rest of the time I have a job i'm paid to get on with, not checking PH, news sites or Facebook.

Nope, me too.

The "let employees surf the net at will as it increases productivity" school of thought is "interesting" to say the least.

[Funk]

TurricanII said:

The IT policy should set out expectations, as has been posted above, otherwise you might struggle to start a disciplinary procedure.

Blocking sites is advisable to reduce the risk of infections as much as illegal use/time-wasting. Infections can immediately encrypt company data, give data access to remote hackers, enable remote hackers to abuse your network to distribute illegal/pirated material or hack others' systems. Infections often cost money to have them sorted out.

Viruses and dodgy links have been distributed by Facebook.

Virus emails used to have attachments but more often these days they contain a link to dodgy websites that a web filter might be able to block. Blocking non-work categories of websites is another bit of defence.

In the IT policy you could make it clear that there is no draconian ban on social networking in the office using personal mobile phones/data contracts, if that is what you want. You might set up a laptop/tablet/computer/employee WiFi that is segregated from the business network for such things.

I have customers who have found their systems being used to host malicious stuff and some who've been hit by things like cryptolocker.

The security of the network must take precedence over the 'right' of a few employees who want to sit and spend company time surfing. On top of that, most EUs also need to be protected from themselves. They may be adults, you may wish to treat them as such however it doesn't mean they're savvy enough not to introduce risks to the network and company data...

Edited by Funk on Sunday 30th August 01:34

[bitchstewie]

Funk said:

Am I the only person that finds it weird that people seem to do so much personal surfing in company time? I check PH at lunchtime at my desk but the rest of the time I have a job i'm paid to get on with, not checking PH, news sites or Facebook.

I'd say it depends on the nature of your job.

I work in IT and if you walk past my desk you're very likely to see me looking at a personal website (such as this) during working hours.

You're also just as likely to see me at home at 9pm VPN'd into work because something needs doing and it's an ideal time to do it.

My boss knows that the business by far and away gets the better "deal" out of this because the focus is on maintaining a service which doesn't always happen with "solid graft" between 9am and 5pm.

Of course in another environment this may not be practical.

[bitchstewie]

jonamv8 said:

Hi,

One client, SME, small team of circa 6-8.

Wants to get a little more strict with employee web use and block some social media sites to improve efficiency. I know that this is possible and used but lots of businesses but I wondered if anyone on here had any recommendations or experience with any particular piece of software?

Preferably a piece of software that is installed after hours on certain employees computers and runs in the background without their knowledge but enables the Directors to have a check every so often to see internet use and also to block facebook etc.

Any advice or experience appreciated.

Cheers

You won't improve efficiency.

You'll ps off your staff because it says you don't trust them, and the things they were doing on social media, they'll keep doing, they'll just use their mobile phones to do it, unless you ban those which will piss them off a little more.

Personally if there is an issue around employee performance my advice would be for managers to manage rather than to delegate the job to a piece of hardware of software.

On a technical level as others have said, you need a Computer Use Policy.

Make it clear what staff can and cannot do, and make it clear if personal use is permitted, and make it clear what information is logged.

You can have a policy that forbids personal use.

What you can't do is have no policy and then just install software that monitors what people are doing i.e. if they logon to their personal banking and you're capturing screenshots or other info that is totally unacceptable and almost certainly illegal under data protection legislation.

Get a decent NGFW and it will allow you to do URL filtering and log what applications are used by each user.

If you're going to block stuff block it on grounds of security i.e. block malware, block adult websites, block sites where people can download software.

Blocking social media on grounds of security is stretching things a little, and of course if you're doing it on the basis of security your directors should not be immune.

Oh and if you really want to piss your staff off, once you've done all of this tell them that the directors aren't subject to the policies you've just imposed on them - that'll do wonders for productivity.

[0000]

TurricanII said:

Blocking sites is advisable to reduce the risk of infections as much as illegal use/time-wasting.

Yeah, who cares about firewalls, patching, intrusion detection, just don't visit Facebook and you won't have any IT security issues.

[TurricanII]

0000 said:

Yeah, who cares about firewalls, patching, intrusion detection, just don't visit Facebook and you won't have any IT security issues.

You are being silly aren't you? Do you seriously think that I hold the blocking of Facebook to be the be all and end all of security? The topic is about URL blocking/monitoring, not a request for help devising a multilayered defence.

[TurricanII]

Don't be a dick, treat your employees like adults, and they might just start behaving like adults.
[/quote]

Funnily enough, the older adults are more likely to respect the need to separate work and non work computer use. It's the young uns and work experience kids who spend several paid weeks per year on their smart phones instead of working. In my day, spare time was spent 'playing' with new systems and finding out how we/I can improve.

If you don't spell out the risks for them, they end up posting photo's and inappropriate comments about clients on t'web.

[bitchstewie]

TurricanII said:

It's the young uns and work experience kids who spend several paid weeks per year on their smart phones instead of working.

Which is precisely why it's a management issue and in most businesses even if you allow social media you won't find the people who take the piss are doing it on a company computer.

[jonamv8]

bhstewie said:

Funk said:

Am I the only person that finds it weird that people seem to do so much personal surfing in company time? I check PH at lunchtime at my desk but the rest of the time I have a job i'm paid to get on with, not checking PH, news sites or Facebook.

I'd say it depends on the nature of your job.

I work in IT and if you walk past my desk you're very likely to see me looking at a personal website (such as this) during working hours.

You're also just as likely to see me at home at 9pm VPN'd into work because something needs doing and it's an ideal time to do it.

My boss knows that the business by far and away gets the better "deal" out of this because the focus is on maintaining a service which doesn't always happen with "solid graft" between 9am and 5pm.

Of course in another environment this may not be practical.

The employees in question are not expected to conduct any business activities outside of work time. Hence when they are at work the management want them to work.

I know in my job i can work at any time so if i want to conduct personal activities during work time then I will for the reasons you have said above