Seventy per cent of companies have had to discipline employees over viewing pornography at work, according to a survey published today.
The survey, conducted by PixAlert in conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has also shown that more than 50% of senior managers were unaware of their “personal and civil liability for illegal and inappropriate images” in the workplace, and that two out of three companies have not kept their Computer Acceptable Usage Policy up to date.
While most companies have installed some degree of protection to prevent porn getting on to the network via email or the internet, nearly 70% have not installed technology capable of identifying “improper images” which can enter through desktop or laptop computers through memory sticks or other digital storage devices, including camera phones.
Imogen Haslam of the CIPD said that preventing porn from reaching the workplace was about more than just “sparing blushes,” adding, “Employers need to have clear, consistent policies that leave no room for doubt in the minds of employees.
“A little tolerance could cause a lot of trouble later. They also need to keep up to date with the rapidly advancing array of technology that can make it easy for unwanted images to slip into the workplace unnoticed.
“This should not be left to the IT department alone. It’s not computers that bring inappropriate or illegal images to work, it is people.”
