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Banning Facebook, Twitter at work could backfire, says Ontario privacy commissioner
Canadian companies often pay a steep price when their employees use Twitter and other social networks at the office. Acknowledging this can be a challenge, Ontario's privacy commssioner doesn't believe an outright ban on social media at the workplace is the answer.10/28/2009 5:00:00 AM By: Joaquim P. Menezes
Banning employees from visiting social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter at work isn't a good idea, according to Ontario privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian.
"I think it's a mistake," the privacy commissioner told ITBusiness.ca. "It's like waving the proverbial red flag in front of your staff – it's almost a challenge to them to find a way around it."
Cavoukian said she completely understands why in today's environment some businesses may favour an outright ban, but says such prohibitions are almost always counterproductive.
'Blanket bans can backfire'
"Employees tend to re-route around a blog, go to another server, and find other ingenious ways of doing what they want to. And these rerouting efforts may actually be even more time consuming."
The privacy commissioner's remarks come in the wake of a study released by a U.K. firm Monday showing that people who use Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, while at work, extract a heavy cost on their employers.
Employees using Twitter and other social networks in the office cost U.K. businesses about 1.38 billion pounds (around Can$2.40 billion) a year, according to London-based Morse plc, an IT services and technology company.
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Morse surveyed 1,460 office workers and found that 57 per cent browse social networking sites for personal use while in the office.
Those workers use social networks an average of 40 minutes a day at work, which adds up to a lost week each year, the survey found.
"The popularity of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook has grown considerably over the last couple of years," said Philip Wicks, a consultant at Morse, in a statement.
"However with it has come the temptation to visit such sites during office hours [where their use] is clearly becoming a productivity black hole."
Morse, which commissioned research firm TNS Group to do the study, isn't alone in its findings.
Similar situations exist all over North America, notes Tim Hickernell, a lead analyst with Info-Tech Research Group in London, Ont. "We hear about it from our clients in Canada and the U.S., as well as the EU and Asia-Pacific."
Hickernell recommends that Canadian firms treat access to public social networking sites the same way as Internet access using company equipment.
Personal use of such sites should be governed by company policy on use of company information, technology, equipment and services, said Hickernell.
"Most companies do have an explicit policy on Internet use, which covers most professional and knowledge workers. Additional policies may be needed for blue collar or production workers, if they have a process-driven job, which requires full attention."
And access to social networking services through employee-owned cell phones also should be covered in a policy, the Info-Tech analyst said.
When firms decide to ban access to sites through the company firewall, he said, they need to create a procedure for exceptions.
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