Web wars: how much surfing is too much at work? The average worker who has Internet at work spends 22 hours a month surfing.

• Author: Peterson, Jennifer

In today's business world--even in Alaska--the line between work time and personal time has become increasingly blurred. Armed with cell phones, e-mail and the increasingly ubiquitous Internet access, we are often expected to be available to our offices whenever necessary wherever we are. But the same technology that allows work to seep into our private lives, also allows our private lives to seep into work. Just as employees are more accessible outside of work, nonwork-related information and communication is more accessible from inside the office.

Though the Internet is an easy distraction for people who work in front of a computer all day, it's not necessarily awful for employees to partake in some personal surfing and e-mailing at the office. In some ways, such surfing simply reflects the current business climate. There is simply less of a distinction to be made between being on or off the clock.

OK TO SURF

Indeed, according to a vault.com survey, 88 percent of employees and 82 percent of employers think it's OK for workers to "surf non-work-related Web sites" at work; 84 percent of employees and 86 percent of employers think it is "appropriate for employees to send personal e-mail during the workday."

Nevertheless, employers need to be aware of the damage that can be done to a business and its network by employees who surf excessively, use up company bandwidth, download questionable applications, or view inappropriate content. It's one thing to allow employees to receive some personal e-mails or look at the latest news headlines and quite another to suffer employees who spend their days downloading music, installing free applications, or perusing adult Web sites.

THINK PRODUCTIVITY

The most obvious negative effect of personal Internet usage at work is decreased productivity. Employees who spend 15 minutes a day sending personal e-mails or surfing their favorite sites are probably not getting less work done as a result. However, if a business loses two to three hours a day of an employee's time while he or she researches the housing market or tries to find the perfect end table, productivity obviously suffers.

According to Nielsen, the average worker who has Internet at work spends 22 hours a month surfing. Thirty-seven percent of employees say they surf the Internet constantly while at work, and 57 percent of employees think that they get less done at work because of their personal use of Internet and e-mail. The temptation to surf is...