Employees surf non-work related web sites quite a bit

Do you have access to the Internet at work? Do you surf the Net using that connection? What sites do you visit? It should come as no surprise to our readers that a recent survey has uncovered that people who have access to the Internet at work spend almost a quarter of their time online, using the Internet to access information that has nothing whatsoever to do with their work.

The study found that 61 per cent of people who use the Internet at work admitted to visiting non-work-related sites. All in all, people with Internet access at work spend an average of 12.8 hours online each week - and a good quarter of that is completely non-work-related.

Around half of the people interviewed said that they would much rather give up their morning coffee than their ability to access the Internet for personal use at work. Many felt that companies who block access to personal sites such as web-based e-mail run the risk of damaging workforce morale. But in this day and age of sophisticated viruses, spyware and the like, are companies right to try and limit their employee's Internet access?