One in three workers do ‘whatever they want’

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A survey has revealed that many workers are using vital bandwidth on non-work related applications, with one in three workers allowed to do ‘whatever they wanted’ on the web.

The Easynet research also showed that just under a third ( 32 per cent) of small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) had no policies when it came to the personal use of the internet.

Just half of those surveyed said they employ a formal internet policy. This means that non-work related applications and web browsing could be limiting the finite resources available for core tasks and systems.

Easynet's managing director Chris Stening said that it was important to make sure web-based core applications were not compromised by personal applications.

But he added that a complete ban (which 18 per cent of SMBs had chosen to implement) was not the answer and compromises with employees needed to be reached as they had legitimate needs to use the internet.

He said: “While some internet users can consume a lot of resources by downloading movies or engaging in IP telephony, most simply wish to check their emails or do some online banking, which consumes less bandwidth."

Another survey from the National Office of Statistics also revealed that British broadband speeds still leave much to be desired, with around 42 per cent of UK connections at a speed lower than 2 Mb/sec.

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