How to deal with Internet misuse in the workplace

Accessing the internet daily has come true for most Brazilians and the digital universe is more important in people's daily lives.

No matter what social class, age or style, users connect and use the internet in different ways, for personal or professional purposes.

However, there is still much doubt when it comes to the use of the internet in the professional environment during the workday. On the one hand, there is the disciplinary, directive and regulatory power of the employer. On the other, the privacy of the employee.

Do you know which one should prevail? And when can the use of the internet at work resign?

See some important points to consider when it comes to the use of the internet at work in the next lines.

Common sense

Firstly, every employee who uses the internet in the workplace must have common sense to know that during office hours should not perform personal activities.

However, if the employee needs to check some kind of email or social network , it is important to have a balance.

Another care, perhaps greater, is with the use of mobile, because the misuse in the company can cause a dismissal for just cause .

If the employee makes good use of the internet for work, there is no problem. However, the employee may be using personal email services, instant communicators, accessing social networks and improper content sites, while performing, or should be performing activities related to their work.

It is at this moment that common sense must prevail.

The ideal is to set together the limits for the use of the internet to employees or even a specific time. In this way it is clear to the employee what, when and how they can use the internet for personal purposes and the employer maintains the right to monitor and penalize if the limits are exceeded.

It is even of great importance that the employee is made clear to the employees for the use of the internet, as this avoid misunderstandings or misinformation, which is important mainly in companies with a large number of employees making use of the internet.

Access control

If the company deems it necessary, it has the right to control , monitor, restrict or prohibit internet access for private purposes. However, it must first be informing employees formally.

The ideal is to add to the internal regulation and the individual employment contract that the use of the internet for personal matters during office hours is controlled and monitored by the company.

This control can be implemented through a document with guidance and training for employees, or using internet management services that control internet access to the workplace.

Access rules can be defined according to employer needs, and only access to malicious or improper content and social networks can be blocked.

internet access control software option in companies is Lumiun. With Lumiun it is possible to create flexible access rules and track use through reports and graphs.

See more information about the solution in the Internet Access Control Guide to companies .

The solution works differently than usual on the market, as the biggest goal is to be an easy solution to implement and managed. It is known that currently one of the biggest problems of companies is low productivity and lack of security and it is in this segment that Lumiun operates, simplified to small and medium companies.

Privacy

If the company chooses to allow its employees to use the internet for personal purposes and unrelated to work, it has no right to oversee email content or other personal messages. In this case, the privacy of the employee must be respected.

On the other hand, if internet access is allowed only to work activities, the company can monitor email account messages and instant communication programs provided by the company.

It can even control the entry of websites and services accessed on the Internet, provided that the employee is aware and previously informed, as already mentioned.

Moreover, companies have the right to take care of their image or brand on the Internet, and have responsibility for the attitudes of their employees in certain situations, as this is in Article 5, item X , of the Federal Constitution.

Penalties

If the Internet access rules and guidelines are disrespected by the employee, the company may apply disciplinary penalties and warnings, and may reach the dismissal for just cause , provided that everything is established in the contract and it is possible to prove the disrespect of the employee before the rules established for the use of the internet.

In the end, the most important points are balance and common sense by the company and the employee. The employer should seek the proper time to penalize employees and at the same time respect their privacy.

Otherwise, the company can also be responsible for damage caused by a possible invasion.

The employee should be aware of not using the corporate environment and working time to deal with particular issues. It is of great importance for the employee to be able to have this caution in using the internet.

Finally, it is also noteworthy that it would be convenient that the company, before starting to monitor emails and internet access, implement a regiment of use of these work instruments, predicting and leaving its employees clearly when and how they should use such instruments, so that it is clear that emails and access will be monitored.

I hope I have helped you in any questions about the undue access of the internet in the workplace.

If you have any suggestions on the topic, write below in the comments.

To the next!