Policies and procedures to manage employee Internet abuse

Industry analysts estimate that billions of dollars in lost revenue were attributed to employee Internet abuse. Trends also suggest that lost job productivity and corporate liability have emerged as new workplace concerns due to growth of new online technologies and mobile computing. Such employee Internet misuse creates new management dilemmas on how to respond to incidences of such misuse as well poses network security risks and drains on network bandwidth. Within an organization, it is imperative to ensure that employees are using computing resources effectively and appropriately. Utilizing the previous literature in the field, this paper proposed a revised framework to manage employee Internet abuse. The former model proposed did not account for new digital media and recommended screening applicants for Internet addiction, using more of a clinical test than a job performance test. This new model describes both prevention and intervention methods to address incidents of online misuse in the workplace and refocuses hiring decisions into post-employment training. It also examines the new hiring concerns with the new iGeneration of college graduates and it examines how organizations should best utilize acceptable Internet use policies with clear methods of Internet monitoring to enforce that workers are complying with company policies. This paper also talks about the potential benefits of rehabilitation approaches to manage employees who abuse instead of terminating them to decrease job turnover and improve job retention. Implications for current management practices are also discussed.