Shropshire employees waste time on the web
Shropshire employees are using smartphones and iPads to avoid being caught social networking and browsing the web costing county firms thousands of pounds each year.
But leading employment law expert Paul Bennett warned today a growing number of bosses in the county were now taking disciplinary action against those wasting work time and looking at means to gather evidence including using CCTV and webcams.
One Shrewsbury firm fired two staff after discovering a team of three employees were wasting up to three hours a day social networking on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Mr Bennett of Bennett's Legal said such distractions were not so much of a problem for employers when their staff depended on the company computers but with the emergence of smartphones it was becoming difficult to track the time being lost.
The founder and partner at the Shrewsbury firm named Facebook and Twitter as the biggest concerns for employers in the county but said online shopping and gaming were also in the top five. .
"Gaming and being generally distracted never used to be a problem when everyone was dependent on the company computer but the issue now is everyone has a Smartphone or iPad and can basically waste time," said Mr Bennett who has advised and appeared in courts throughout the UK on employment matters..
"In the last few months we have seen an increase in employers being frustrated with performance and we have seen a rise in employers wanting to take action over performance linked to these distractions.
"The first thing we encounter is the need for evidence and a staff policy because many Shropshire businesses are not equipped to deal with the issue of evidence.
"Recent cases have included placing CCTV and webcams into workplaces to gather evidence of abuse of Smartphones or a logging a browser history.
"In one recent Shrewsbury employers case we discovered around three hours per day being lost by a team of three employees who were constantly on Facebook, Twitter and an auction site. Two of the employees were dismissed and the third resigned before being disciplined.
"The key is securing the evidence in terms of screen shots and browsing histories – but Smartphones make this more difficult and place the emphasis on video evidence.
“The problem is a growing one because of Smartphones in particular. These avoid the evidence being left on the employers IT system. We guide employers daily on the relevant policies, gathering the right evidence and disciplining to reduce the effects – because the problem is there, now it is a matter of addressing it and coming up with a structured policy and means of dealing with it."
The top five distractions named by Shropshire employers:
* Facebook
* Twitter
* Game playing – longer lunch syndrome;
* Online Shopping;
* Browsing the web
