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The survey, which was conducted by Websense International and Personnel Today magazine, found that 72 percent of the firms had dealt with Internet misuse in the workplace and that 69 percent of all such related dismissals were associated with on-line pornography. The study reported on the responses of 544 human resources managers and officers who worked for UK corporations employing an average of 2,500 employees each.
Although dismissals related to Internet misuse is fairly common in British companies, the survey found that it is rarely discussed publicly. Fifty-six percent of the companies prefer to deal with the issue by having a quiet word with the offender, 29 percent prefer to issue a verbal warning and 23 percent chose to dismiss the employee.
"This survey shows it is not enough for employers to have a policy on Internet abuse. If companies want to stop staff from downloading pornography or other offensive material they have to make sure they communicate their policy clearly and regularly," said Noel O'Reilly of Personnel Today magazine.
The next most common complaints after pornography were Web chat rooms and personal e-mail browsing, which accounted for 26 percent and 23 percent of complaints respectively. Forty percent of all complaints were brought to human resources by co-workers unhappy with their colleagues wasting time on the Internet.
"Dismissing an employee for Internet misuse is a substantial cost to the employer," said Jonathan Naylor, a barrister in the employment, pensions and benefits group of in the Morgan Cole law firm. "While there are the obvious costs of advertising for new hires, recruitment, training and supervision, there are also additional financial burdens caused by the interruption to work patterns, the damage to morale and the negative publicity to the organisation as a result of the dismissal."
A study in 2001 by IDS Brief found that the costs of replacing key staff could be as much as one and a half times the employee's annual salary. In situations where the employee is perceived to have suffered an injustice through their dismissal the organisation could also face employment tribunal proceedings, incurring further management time and costs, Websense said.
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