An IT Question: Blocking Non-Business Internet Sites

One of the company Vice Presidents stops by your office and expresses concern that some of their people may be spending too much time on the Internet and wants to know if there is any thing you can do about it.  You mention that you do have a filtering program but it is set only to filter objectionable sites such as gambling, porn, etc.  You explain to that filtering non-offensive but seemingly non-business related sites may be counter-productive as it is often difficult for IT to determine which sites truly have no business application.  You go on to cite examples of the need to view sports, restaurant, job boards, real estate and other sites was business related.  The VP is not impressed and insists that you block all sites that are not obviously and directly related to your company's business.  You know other VPs do not have this concern.

How do you respond to this request to block Internet access to "non-business" sites?

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Comments

[Kent Blumberg]

First of all, I think you are right - no way to know if a non-offensive site is going to turn out to be work related.

Assuming the company does not have a clear policy on this, I think I would fairly quickly convene a small little focus group of users and draft an access policy, which I would then submit to my boss (or whatever policy approval process exists in my company).

I would let my boss know what was going on, and ask for some cover (time) to craft a reasonable policy. I need someone to hold off that one VP until my draft policy is ready for prime time.

If the VP in question is my boss, I would ask for a 30 day moratorium on his order, during which time I would do the above.

[Ernie Perez]

Control your employees performance through employee selection, communications of expectations, and measurements. Don't control your employees by over regulating what they do. --> leave open access to internet.

[Mike]

Kent, Ernie,

As always great suggestions. It is always tough to figure out how to convince a superior when they have their mind made up and don't have time to discuss. That makes the 30 day period an especially good idea to give you time to address this.

Mike

[JibberJobber Guy]

This is easier as a policy issue than it is as a technology issue. Show me a company that has combated spam completely, and I'll show you a company that has a lot of false positives (ie, legitimate e-mails that are in the server spam folder). You are not going to figure out how to say which of the billions of sites are good, and which are not. Shoot, even ISPs can't get this one right... shall I say it's impossible, technically? Because once you block a legit site that the VP wants he's going to be knocking on your door, wondering why he can't have access to it.

I agree, of course, with the previous comments. On top of that would be some common software to give reports to someone what sites are being accessed and by who. allowing them to go out is one thing, not monitoring (with proper records) is another. Signing the contract is nice but knowing that IT is watching you, with good records, is the key, imho.

Jason Alba
CEO - JibberJobber.com
:: self-serve relationship management ::

[Kent Blumberg]

My favorite HR guy once said he thought we needed a one sentence HR policy: "We hire adults and we expect them to act that way."

[Mike]

Jason,

Good point - we are setting ourselves up for the impossible if we think we can accomplish that. Better to take a realistic approach.

Kent,

I like that HR guy. I'd change it slightly to say "We hire adults and will treat them like adults and we expect them to act as adults". People will usually act the way you treat them.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Mike

[Will Weider]

I love people that use the Internet. I have no problem with someone doing some online shopping during their break. These are the people that we want on our work force.

If people are spending too much time on the Internet this is a productivity problem. If we don't have the courage to address this directly we are doomed to a work force of poor performers.

I would tell the VP to take a hike (I am an executive too, so I can get away with that).

[Mike]

Will,

Thanks for commenting. I agree that the Internet is a great tool. Even when they are using it for non-business work it can still increase productivity if the alternative is for them to skip out for a few hours to take of business that they otherwise could have done in a few minutes via the internet. It is certainly something to consider.

Mike