More than an hour wasted a day on web and e-mail

The
average employee spends more than an hour each day browsing the internet for
leisure and sending around 18 personal e-mails from their workstations.

A
survey of 1,687 employers shows that 36 per cent of all company e-mail is
personal, costing firms 43 per cent of the total amount invested in running the
system.

The
poll, by legal consultants Peninsula, found that 74 per cent of employers have
caught employees downloading illegal software, with 72 per cent paying
financially as a result of computer viruses.

Almost
three-quarters of the employers polled said a policy would be introduced in the
next 12 months, but just 16 per cent currently had one in place.

However,
84 per cent agreed that it was acceptable to surf the web during lunch or
breaks.

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Peter
Done, managing director of Peninsula, urged companies to spell out to staff
that internet and e-mail abuse would not be tolerated.

By Ben Willmott