Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 14671471

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh

Policies and procedures to manage employee Internet abuse

Kimberly Young *
School of Business, St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure, NY 14778, USA

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Available online 23 May 2010
Keywords:
Employee relations
Employee Internet abuse
Internet addiction
Risk management
Internet use policies
Employee monitoring

a b s t r a c t
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 eld, 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 benets 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.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

2. Literature review

Internet abuse in the workplace is an issue among organizations. Statistics show that employees who use the Internet during
work hours for extensive personal use cost companies signicant
losses in job productivity and increase their risk or corporate liability. Previous research has described various methods to control
employee Internet abuse through acceptable Internet use policies
and software monitoring, and in extreme cases, employee termination. In this expanding eld, this paper revises a former model utilized for managing employee Internet use. Incorporating previous
trends identied in the literature, this paper proposes a revised
framework for organizations to follow that would manage employee Internet misuse examining both prevention and intervention
with incidents of abuse. The framework takes both proactive and
reactive approaches to the problem such that the model discusses
ways companies can handle employee Internet misuse before it occurs and how companies could handle incidences of Internet misuse after they occur. Implications on current management
practices are discussed.

Research on employee Internet abuse has shown that workers

who misuse the Internet during work hours translates into billions
in lost revenue for employers (Holahan, 2006). Internet abuse could
be dened as performing personal research, using personal banking
activities, using chat rooms to talk with friends, using Facebook or
Twitter, or career searching activities. Early estimates suggest that
employee Internet abuse costs $54 billion annually in lost productivity (Stewart, 2003) and job loss among workers who are caught abusing Internet technologies at work (Young & Case, 2004). The Society
for Human Resource Management had estimated that online shopping, stock trading, car buying, looking for a new house, and even visiting pornographic sites have become daily practices for about 25% of
the workers; costing companies $5.3 billion in lost productivity due
to recreational Internet surng (SHRM, 2006).
If left unsupervised or restricted, Internet abuse in the workplace can hurt a companys reputation for quality and service. As
wired workers surf the Internet during work hours, they are slower
to respond to customer needs, unable to meet deadlines, and fail to
complete tasks (Grifths, 2003). This translates into poor quality
and customer service, which eventually hurts corporate credibility
and customer satisfaction. Organizational efciency is compromised because the rm is unable to meet consumer needs and/or
deliver quality products, and over time, these factors will create

* Tel.: +1 716 375 2076.

E-mail address: kyoung@sbu.edu
0747-5632/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.04.025

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K. Young / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 14671471

a negative brand image as the reputation of the company becomes

tarnished and the rm is labeled unreliable and unresponsive
(McCausland, 2004). Poor quality and service can be especially
troublesome for organizations during these difcult economic
times. Beyond todays economic conditions, the new iGeneration
of workers often feel it is their right to be online (Rosen, 2010), creating new hiring concerns with a generation of employees expected to misuse online technologies, or worse, be unable to
monitor them as they utilize their personal mobile devices. As Rosen describes in his book, Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn, the former Net Generation is the
new iGeneration named after all the available devices with an i
iPod, iPhone, iTouch, iEverything.
From the management information systems perspective,
employees who utilize the Internet for other than job tasks also
place a signicant drain on network resources only to decrease
responsiveness of the system for job related functions (Young &
Case, 2009). Internet access costs money, either in fees to support
servers, Internet Service Providers, or in hardware costs necessary
to accommodate increased network trafc and data storage. In this
way, an employees inappropriate use of the Internet may negatively affect other employees speed of access or storage space for
work product. Or worse, system slowdowns can result in network
malfunction or failure due to overload.
From a management perspective, employees who misuse the
Internet at work has also forced companies to adopt acceptable
Internet use policies to combat unproductive use of the computer
(Mirchandani & Motwani, 2003). Three-quarters of companies
monitor employees website connections in large part due to concern about inappropriate Internet surng, according to a survey by
the American Management Association (AMA, 2008). It is estimated that two-thirds of the US companies have an acceptable
Internet use policy to combat employee misuse, yet the effectiveness of these policies have been questioned as a 2007 survey by
the AMA found that over half of employees have been red for
email and Internet abuse. The study found that 28% of employers
who have red workers for email misuse did so for the following
reasons: violation of any company policy (64%); inappropriate or
offensive language (62%); excessive personal use (26%); breach of
condentiality rules (22%); and other (12%). Legal liability can also
occur when an employee downloads illegal or inappropriate, for
example, child pornography material or copyright protected music/software les. Employees can also upload illegal materials to
a public web site or illegally gaining access to a network, server
or individual computer by hacking or cracking passwords. These
are more malicious forms of employee Internet abuse.

3. A revised framework
Within the literature, several remedies have been suggested to
help deal with employee Internet abuse. The majority of remedies
focus on companies developing acceptable Internet use policies. A
review of this practice shows that adoption of acceptable Internet
use policies alone to combat unproductive use of the computer is
ineffective (Johnson & Ugray, 2007). The important area of concern
is to make sure that companies communicate and enforce such
policies. Early on, a model rst conceptualized by Case and Young
(2001) outlined a comprehensive theoretical framework to manage
employee Internet abuse explained as a range or continuum of approaches (Fig. 1).
Based upon this model, employee Internet management was approached from the extremes of a proactive perspective to a reactive
perspective. Four management behaviors included practices relating to hiring, prevention, enforcement, and termination/
rehabilitation.

Proactively, hiring practices that incorporate screening prospective employees for Internet addiction in the form of a clinical
assessment tool was used to assess for the potential for online
abuse among new hires. Also from a proactive response, the model
outlined that companies should then utilize acceptable Internet
use policies as a form of prevention. Moving along the continuum,
enforcement examined the technological infrastructure within the
rm. Aspects included electronic monitoring of networks, ltering
that blocked inappropriate web sites, and layered computer security to track employee Internet use. Finally, termination/rehabilitation examined the effects of ring an employee for an incidence of
Internet misuse. The model suggested rehabilitation instead of termination as a way to reduce corporate liability and job turnover.
From an academic standpoint, the framework is useful in providing
research direction in a presently fragmented area. From a practitioner-orientation, results may be used to manage employee Internet abuse to maximize productivity, limit risk, and minimize
negative behavior.
The model, while comprehensive, focuses signicantly on the
screening of job applications for Internet addiction. Internet addiction is a new term that many companies fail to recognize. It also
utilizes clinical examinations, which are not routinely used among
companies. Until recently, standardized assessment instruments to
measure the potential of Internet addiction were not available.
However, Widyanto and McMurren (2004) introduced the rst theory-driven, validated scale to measure problem Internet use. The
Internet Addiction Test (IAT) was constructed to measure symptoms of Internet addiction which are mutually shared with other
established compulsions, such as to gambling, food, and sex; and
to also evaluate specic symptoms unique to this client population.
The IAT provides an assessment tool for clinicians to measure the
severity of Internet addiction among their clients; however, it does
not support multiple business applications and could not easily be
converted into a pre-employment screening device to identify job
candidates who are likely to abuse the Internet in the workplace.
The second problem with the model is that it does not account
for new digital technologies such as mobile computing. With a new
generation of younger, technology-savvy users, it may be necessary for rms to employ more aggressive methods. It may also be
helpful to examine how training methods should include psychological aspects of Internet usage. In much the same way that chemical dependency seminars and workshops are offered to employees
to help raise their awareness of the inuence of substance abuse,
perhaps companies should consider implementing awareness
training about employee Internet abuse. The premise was that
employees who abused alcohol and drugs at work was costly to
companies, but it was even more costly for them re each employee who abuse substances at work. Companies started to offer training to help employees identify if they had a problem with
substance abuse. Overtime, companies also started to offer treatment to such employees as a way to reduce job turnover and improve job retention. This is the same logic with Internet misuse
in the workplace. If companies can reach out to employees, especially the new iGeneration, they are more likely to help them identify if they have a problem and encourage them to obtain
treatment if the situation is severe.
The revised model incorporates the ideas that policies should be
the rst level of prevention (Fig. 2). Hiring decisions made using
clinical assessment is broad leap and could raise legal liability of
a rm if they deny a job applicant employment using new clinical
methodologies. The revised model removes the issue of screening
during the hiring process. The new model refocuses emphasis on
Internet use policies, especially those that take into account new
digital technologies that keep current with trends. The new model
also adds the component of employee training as a more aggressive way to communicate policies to employees, especially to

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K. Young / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 14671471

Hiring

Policy

Enforcement

Proactive

Rehabilitation

Reactive

Management Approach
Fig. 1. Framework for Internet management from proactive to reactive approaches.

Internet use
Policies

Proactive

Training

Enforcement

Management Approach

Rehabilitation

Reactive

Fig. 2. Revised framework for Internet management from proactive to reactive approaches.

new, younger hires. Given the younger generation of workers are

more likely to feel validated using their own personal mobile devices at work such as iPhones or Blackberries, having some kind
of educational programs are likely to prevent future incidences of
Internet misuse at work.

icies to incorporate these new applications. However, corporations

upgrade workplace technologies without updating policies, leaving
themselves at corporate risk if an employee abuses the new technology and no specic policy is in place that mandates its abuse
(Johnson & Ugray, 2007).

3.1. Internet use policies

3.2. Training

Many employers have recognized that unrestricted use of the

Internet by employees has the potential to drain, rather than enhance productivity. The solution is to implement a policy outlining
the permissible parameters of Internet use, or an acceptable Internet use policy.
According to the Society for Human Resource Managers, attorneys advise companies to write policies on email and Internet
use and electronic monitoring procedures (SHRM, 2006).
They outline that a formal Internet use policy serves as a written agreement that establishes the permissible workplace uses of
the Internet. In addition to describing permissible uses, an effective
Internet use policy should specically set out prohibited uses, rules
of online behavior, and access privileges. Penalties for violations of
the policy, including security violations and vandalism of the system, should also be covered. Anyone using a companys Internet
connection should be required to sign the policy, and know that
it will be kept on le as a legal, binding document. SHRM also advises employers should regularly alert employees that their online
activities may be monitored and that inappropriate use may result
in disciplinary action.
Most rms, according to the American Management Association
(AMA) utilize some form of an Internet use policy (AMA, 2008).
Policies help combat such abuse, shield the employer from possible
harassment suits, prevent drains on network resources for frivolous use, and mitigate liability in the event of legal action taken
by an employee terminated for abuse.
In the past, companies relied upon written communication
alone to convey the importance of appropriate Internet use within
the workplace. However, as statistics reveal, employee Internet
abuse is on the rise despite the implementation of an acceptable
Internet use policy. Another difculty that companies face is how
to communicate policy updates that stay current with new technologies in the workplace. For instance, a rm moves from Intranet-based email access to a wireless system, supplying
employees with Blackberry Palm devices to access web accounts.
The corporation must then modify its Internet acceptable use pol-

Another proactive response to Internet misuse in the workplace

is the implementation of employee training. Through training, corporations can effectively communicate and update policies to
employees. Some early data show that corporate training regarding
employee Internet use and its potential for abuse is an effective
means to communicate polices and aids in the prevention of Internet abuse (Case & Young, 2002). Corporate training programs are
akin to sensitivity training for sexual harassment or diversity training, all designed to increase employee awareness of the issues, reduce occurrence of future incidents, and decreases corporate
liability.
Ultimately, corporate seminars offer a proactive response to aid
in prevention and education of central issues on how to use technology responsibly. Firms that employ educational initiatives cover
such topics as dening what are acceptable and unacceptable
Internet uses, identifying the warning signs of abuse in the workplace, and identifying risk factors in an employees life that may
contribute to Internet abuse (Young, 2004). In one instance, a
mid-level technology rm initially found educating employees on
the dynamics of online abuse helped to complement written policies with didactic instruction that reinforced the message and provided training to long time employees as well as new hires increase
employee compliance with acceptable Internet use policies. With
continued use, education and training can help increase employee
accountability and ethical integrity when online, enhance employee interdependency with workplace technologies, and reduce corporate risk and liability when violations occur.
Furthermore, the issue of how the company will respond to
incidents of abuse should be covered by employee training. This
does two things, rst, it makes rms discuss and outline how they
wish to approach violations of acceptable Internet use policies. For
instance, should a rm simply suspend an employees Internet
privileges or take more drastic measures and re the employee
to set an example? If they re the employee, how will this impact
employee morale? How much will customer and investor good will
be impacted if the media reports on the rings? Secondly, this lets

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K. Young / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 14671471

employees know the seriousness of policy violations. If told upfront, employees are more likely to be compliant. Also, this helps
corporations reduce liability by explaining to employees, especially
new hires, that violations will not be tolerated. Managers today
must carefully shape and structure decisions related to employee
Internet management to cultivate a positive corporate culture that
will maximize productivity and reduce liability.
3.3. Enforcement
Once policies are appropriately communicated, employers must
monitor employee Internet to enforce Internet use policies. After
all, what is the effectiveness of having an Internet use policy and
communicating that policy through training that a rm is unable
to enforce? Corporations have begun to rely upon ltering software
and rewalls to block access to inappropriate areas of the Internet.
Filters are a deterrent as they disable an employees ability to access sites that the corporation nds unproductive or objectionable.
In the past, the main target has been blocked access to online pornography sites; however, any problematic web site or area of the
Internet can be ltered. Filters are not full proof however as computer-savvy and even not so computer-savvy employees can disable the lter or pass through the rewall with ease.
Software also allows employers to monitor employee Internet accounts generating usage reports that tracks an employees online
activities such as web sites visited. Excessive time spent at gambling
sites, sport sites, news sites, or gaming sites can be detected or visits
to adult web sites can be tracked. Here again, a computer-savvy employee may be able to apply software that erases their Internet tracks
to wash away traces of inappropriate or objectionable online use.
Employee monitoring is often expensive, especially among large
rms (Mirchandani & Motwani, 2003). Management must then
evaluate how best to maintain records and manage databases collected from employee monitoring. Managers must also consider
how monitoring will increase overall organizational efciency
and what projected impact this will have on production, sales,
and revenue for the business. Ultimately, management must consider its funding limitations to select a monitoring software package that will provide maximum utility for the least long-term cost.
The additional funds in hardware, software, and labor to install and
maintain these monitoring systems are considerable. Many companies try to cut corners, especially in a down market, only to install a system that does not provide adequate employee
monitoring or blocking capability. While this may save on initial
costs, corporations may end up spending more on network upgrades because the current monitoring systems are ineffective.
Enforcement of policies once in place and communicated is a
necessity among todays rms. They must have a way to regulate
Internet usage, given the costs of implementing the technology
and the widespread use among employees. Managers must consider a range of factors in order evaluate the data received by employee monitoring efforts before taking any disciplinary action.
Factors to evaluate include: How long has the abuse occurred? Is
the abuse just a one-time event or is the abuse chronic? How long
has the employee been employed with the rm? Has the employees Internet misuse signicantly reduced his or her job performance? What is this employees work history? If the employees
work history has been below average, then most likely the employee has always been a slacker and abusing the Internet is just another way to waste time. But if the employee has shown
exemplary performance in the past, then he or she may be dealing
with a new problem, a recent divorce, a death of a loved one, or
problems at home, and turning to the Internet as way to escape.
It is important to place the violation in some sort of context so that
management can make the best and most informed disciplinary
decisions.

3.4. Rehabilitation
Earlier hi-prole cases examined how several rms red
employees for misusing the Internet at work. Brokerage rm Edward Jones has red 19 employees and gave warnings to 41 more
for sending jokes and nonbusiness-related messages by electronic
mail (Newsbytes, 1999). Xerox terminated 40 workers for spending
work time surng pornographic and shopping sites on the Web
(Adschiew, 2000). Dow Chemical red 50 employees and suspended another 200 without pay after an e-mail investigation
uncovered hard-core pornography and violent subject matter (Collins, 2002). Merck dismissed multiple contractors for inappropriate
Internet use (DiSabatino, 2000). When confronted with cases of
overt Internet abuse, many managers quickly react with job suspensions or dismissals. While these actions put an end to an employees abuse of the Internet, they generate hidden costs for the
employer such as increased turnover rates and recruitment and
retraining expenses. These actions can also create a climate of fear,
distrust, and resentment in the workplace that will undermine productivity and cooperation among those workers who are using
their Internet accounts properly in the workplace. Also, with this
type of negative publicity, if it goes public, customers can become
less trustful of the integrity of the company.
In a similar manner as alcoholism or drug dependence is handled in the workplace, employers may choose to rehabilitate rather
than terminate the employee. Before taking any direct action,
employers should consider a referral to the rms Employee Assistance Provider to assess the employee for the presence of an underlying addiction to the Internet. Employers must consider the costs
involved in such rehabilitation efforts and the costs of possible
litigation.
Early studies estimate that nearly 6% of online users suffer from
Internet addiction (Greeneld, 1999) and the condition can lead to
signicant occupational, social, familial, and psychological problems (e.g., Grifths, 2002). However, to those who use the Internet
for work purposes only and even to those who sometimes use the
Internet to unwind, Internet addiction may seem a little farfetched. An employer may be willing to acknowledge the legitimacy of Internet addiction, and may even be prepared to implement fair and appropriate strategies to offset productivity losses
caused by inappropriate use of the Internet, rather than imposing
zero tolerance policies that alienate employees and leave the employer susceptible to litigation. The problem then becomes a lack
of information about how to successfully create and implement
an Internet use policy that incorporates rehabilitation. Managers
must clarify their position on treatment and rehab for a condition
that is relatively new. This may not be easy but for some rms, the
option of rehabilitation over termination of an employee who
abuses the Internet may save them money. This is the same theory
used to rehabilitate employees who suffer from alcoholism and
drug addiction. Rehab is often more cost effective among rms.
In one instance, a Fortune 500 company employed the use of
detailed record forms and reporting methods to monitor critical
incidences of employee Internet abuse. Factors such as an employees work history, length of employment, and job status were used
to evaluate the action taken against an employee for a violation.
Employees that had greater longevity with the rm and positive
performance appraisals in the past were offered job redesign options and clinical rehabilitation through the corporate Employee
Assistance Program (EAP). Job redesign was offered in the form
of new duties that did not entail use of the Internet and selected
monitoring of online use was initiated with the employee after
receiving treatment from the EAP. Over time, by offering rehabilitation as an alternative to termination, the rm was able to reduce
potential job turnover, reduce recruitment costs, and better protect
themselves from possible legal risk.

K. Young / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 14671471

4. Implications
Employee Internet abuse has created signicant productivity,
nancial, and legal problems among organizations. Having a clear
system in place that incorporates both policies and procedures allows managers to handle incidents of employee Internet abuse more
efciently and more swiftly. Developing a comprehensive framework to help organizations implement and integrate new technologies in the workplace will help reduce both human resource
concerns. As a new iGeneration of tech-savvy millennial enter the
workforce, organizations will need to place greater attention on
how address employee Internet misuse and abuse in the workplace.
Developing acceptable Internet use policies, providing employee
training, monitoring Internet usage on networks, and offering rehabilitation for incidents of abuse are all ways that companies can protect themselves from the problems created by employee Internet
abuse. Given the new generation of wired college students who live
and breathe using cell phones and mobile devices, employee training
and education initiatives to increase employee compliance with
Internet use policies might aid in early detection of employee Internet abuse. Early detection is important in limiting potential incidents Internet abuse to prevention of future problems.
More important, companies need to have an effective plan to respond to employee Internet use. In the past, companies terminated
employees who misused the Internet. This proves expensive when
considering recruitment and turnover costs to replace terminated
workers. Companies may need to implement rehabilitation provisions that maintain the employee while treating an underlying
psychological addiction to the Internet (Young, 2004).
In a precedent-setting case, James Pacenza, a former IBM employee, led a $5 million dollar lawsuit for wrongful termination
(Holahan, 2006). By his own admission, he was spending too much
time in Internet chat rooms, in some of them discussing sex. He
called his interest in inappropriate web sites a form of addiction
stemming from Post-Traumatic Stress disorder he had suffered
since returning from Vietnam. His chat-room habit cost him his
job. After 19 years at IBM, Pacenza was red in May, 2003, after
a fellow employee noticed discussion of a sex act on a chat room
open on Pacenzas computer. IBM maintains that logging onto
the web site was a violation of its business conduct guidelines
and a misuse of company propertyand that it was well within
its rights to terminate Pacenzas employment.
On the surface, the case may appear to be open-and-shut. He
logged onto the chat room at work and company policy provides
for the termination of employees who access inappropriate web
sites. Cases like Pacenzas, which involve Internet misuse, may no
longer be quite so simple, due to a growing debate over whether
Internet abuse is a legitimate addiction, akin to alcoholism. Attorneys say recognition by a courtwhether in this or some future litigationthat Internet abuse is an uncontrollable addiction, and not
just a bad habit, could redene the condition as a psychological
impairment worthy of protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This would open the door for further lawsuits
and increase the need for rehabilitation.
Implementation of technology in the workplace is expensive,
especially when purchasing hardware, software, and telecommunication systems to maintain and upgrade networks. Costs should
reect an increase in productivity, enhancing a rms ability to stay
competitive in the global marketplace, rather than be the cause of
employee distraction and poor job performance.
It is vital that managers be familiar with the development and
parameters of the companys acceptable Internet use policy. As
managers are more knowledgeable about such policy development
issues, they will be better equipped to recognize patterns of misuse
and able to more proactively respond to incidents of abuse. When

1471

monitoring employees, managers should understand enforcement

expectations and appropriately respond to suspected incidents of
abuse fairly. Finally, it may necessary to reexamine the current
trends of personal use of technology at work especially with respect to the rise in digital media and mobile computing. In contrary
to other forms of ethical behavior, we live in a culture that emphasizes the utility and benets of Internet use for daily life. Therefore,
social norms allow users to feel comfortable using technology for
personal reasons at anytime, whether at work or at home. This is
especially true as younger employees and those from more technology-oriented elds. Overall, there is a growing attitude that
employees are more open to using work computers from online
banking to reading the news and we may need to rethink what is
appropriate and inappropriate Internet use.
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Dr. Kimberly Young is a licensed psychologist and a professor of Management Sciences at St. Bonaventure Universitys School of Business. She is an internationally
known expert on Internet addiction and founder of the
Center for Internet Addiction Recovery. She is the author of
three books on Internet addiction and has published over
40 articles on the impact of online abuse. Her work has
been featured in The New York Times, The London Times, USA
Today, Newsweek, Time, CBS News, Fox News, Good Morning America, and ABCs World News Tonight. She serves on
the editorial board of CyberPsychology & Behavior and the
International Journal of Cyber Crime and Criminal Justice.