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MR firms allow staff Net access16/August/2001 |
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Leading UK research agencies appear to concur in giving employees more or less unrestricted worktime access to the Internet. However, there are differences in the way they do so. MORI (Marketing & Opinion Research International), according to Chief Executive Brian Gosschalk, places no formal limits whatever on the use staff members make of the Internet. "You either treat people as adults or you don't," he declares. "We do." In this he is at one with the majority of participants in the online poll conducted by the mrnews.com website. They have voted overwhelmingly for unrestricted access on the grounds that,as one put it, "Creating a good working environment -- which includes trusting workers and giving them autonomy -- leads to worker productivity." The poll has now been discontinued. The final tally was: 58.33% (28) in favour of unrestricted access; 31.25% (15) in favour of restricted access and 10.42% (5) in favour of banning worktime access by employees. The poll, which of course has no statistical significance, was intended as an opportunity to air opinions, but almost all the comments came from those favouring free access. Gosschalk is not aware of any serious cases where his company's trusting attitude has been shown to be misplaced. He concedes, however, that if any staffers were found to be abusing the privileges granted to them, for example by downloading lots of pornographic material during working hours, they would have to be disciplined. NOP also allows employees a free rein but monitors what they do. Knowledge of this is likely to inhibit the actions of anyone who is tempted to spend an undue amount of time surfing rather than working. Taylor Nelson Sofres is slightly less liberal. As well as monitoring employees' use of the Net, it has installed a software system that prevents them from accessing certain websites, such as pornographic ones. Apart from that they are free to do as they wish. This inquiry originated with news of a TNS survey that found that 42% of European employees with access to the Internet at work use it for some non-work-related surfing. The survey was commissioned by Websense, a company that produces software used for restricting Internet access. The software installed by TNS for this purpose comes, however, from another supplier, Computer Associates. © Copyright Lagado Ltd © Market Research News 
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