CFO.com has an interesting article that supports a case for the internal monitoring of email, blogs, and Internet site access, especially as it pertains to non-job-related pursuits. As per the article, executives at 1-800-GOT-JUNK have taken a somewhat hard stance and installed two open-source monitoring products, MRTG and CACTI:

In May, after finding that network traffic had increased dramatically during the previous two months, management deployed software that monitors network usage. "Our Internet costs had skyrocketed, to the point where they said it was eating into our budget," acknowledges Peroff. "The only thing they could think of was that a lot of people use their computers for personal music and radio."

Does hardcore Internet access affect productivity? CFO.com also sheds some interesting light here:

... In a recent survey of employees conducted by Internet-monitoring company Websense, 93 percent of respondents said they spend at least some time accessing the Web at work ... Outside of breathing, it's hard to find any activity that 9 out of 10 employees do on a regular basis. Workers who spend two hours a day going online for personal pursuits are spending two hours less each day doing work ...

I've seen the full spectrum of policies, but I can't say that any general guidelines come to mind for me. I suppose that I prefer to lead and manage people by measuring output and/or leading people towards a goal. That said, some of this kind of stuff can become culture and either culture you do or do not want to have. What do you think?

Steve Shu