Online gambling tops workplace blacklists

A survey conducted by the IRS research agency found that Internet gambling comes on top of banned online activities lists in the workplace in 63 percent of cases. Sending emails denigrating colleagues got the same percentage, according to www.onlinecasinonews.com.

Third most-banned activity was accessing email services such as Hotmail and Yahoo (46 percent).

Another poll conducted by Croner found that only 15 percent of companies have no online usage policy for employees. The Croner survey said 85 percent of organisations have adopted an Internet policy but only 42 percent said they are strictly monitoring Internet usage. A total of 38 percent of companies trust their staff not to abuse the Internet during working hours.

Richard Smith, a Croner's representative said that ‘Internet access is now commonplace in our workplaces and has become an essential part of the way we work. However, it offers a host of distractions, not to mention the temptation of popular sites such as Hotmail, eBay and Amazon.

‘While the survey shows that most organisations have some sort of internet policy, if it's not enforced then it may as well not exist,’ Smith said.