19 Habits that Require an Employee Warning Notice

Are You At Risk Because of Your Employees?

In many areas of society, a cultural shift has taken place that says people know that doing certain things, such as stealing from their employer, isn’t wrong if the employer does nothing to stop the theft. Employees do more than just steal money or equipment from an employer – they can steal time by wasting it on personal phone calls or surfing on the internet. They can share confidential information learned at their new position which they learned because of working for you. That makes it more important than ever before to make sure you’re watching out for employees who display risky behavior.

The Internet Is the Location of the Most Time Wasting

Almost 70% of all wasted time is due to socializing and unmonitored internet usage. Though Facebook can be a major distraction for people during the work day, it doesn’t just stop if you block it. That’s because 60% of employees will bring their own personal technology with them to work and simply access the sites they want outside of the work network. Almost 30% of people, however, will even change the corporate settings to allow themselves the permission to access their preferred sites and games on the internet.

It’s not just gaming and socializing that occurs at work on the internet. A vast majority of the traffic that pornography sites receive comes during the normal business hours between 9am and 5pm. Whatever time you think you’re employees are wasting, you need to double it. If you know about an hour is being wasted on the internet, it’s likely closer to two hours that you’re paying someone to not actually work.

Over $750 Billion Is Wasted Annually on Wasted Time

Personal phone calls can be a motivator to allow some employees to work harder, but over 30% of workers will waste time on personal calls, their own business ventures, or by just sitting at their desk and daydreaming. It can be as simple as deciding to run a personal errand during business hours! All of these moments of wasted time add up quickly, especially when you look at it from an organizational perspective. That’s why you’ve got to put controls into place to effectively manage your workers.

Firewalls, Policies, and Clear Outcomes Are Required

Your employees need to know exactly what will happen if they are caught wasting time. You need to inform them about the consequences of stealing equipment or sharing sensitive information with another company when they stop working for you. You need to put protections in place to keep your intellectual property your own because a majority of today’s workers feel like unprotected items and IP are ok to take.

Short breaks are ok to take and can actually make a worker more productive. Constant short breaks that interfere with the work day, especially when combined with the risky behavior above, could spell trouble for you as an employer in the near future. Take steps to protect yourself today so you don’t have issues with a problem employee tomorrow.