Work-time porn watchers face the sack

Employees are more likely to get sacked for looking at internet porn than for any other misuse of the internet, according to a recent study.

The study, carried out for Personnel Today and management consultants Websense, interviewed 544 human resources managers and officers from companies employing an average of 2,500 people.

Results showed that a quarter of companies have dismissed employees for misuse of the internet. Of these, nearly 70 per cent were because staff had been viewing porn.

Some 72 per cent of firms have dealt with the issue of internet misuse, with web chat rooms and personal emailing second and third in the list of most frequent complaints.

But it is often not the employers who initiate disciplinary proceedings, but the offenders' colleagues. More than 40 per cent of complaints came from co-workers who were upset at their fellow employees' internet habits.

Researchers found that 56 per cent of managers prefer to deal with these complaints by having a 'quiet word' with workers, while 29 per cent issued official verbal warnings.