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February 17, 2004

Astron's New Website

Welcome to Astron Solutions' redesigned website! We've made some major changes to the look and feel of the site. Based on your feedback, we've also made the site more intuitive and user friendly.

Take a tour of our site, and let us know what you think!

During your visit, be sure to vote in our on-line poll!

Many thanks to Jennifer Shaheen, Joyce Banks, and John Fletcher of e-BusinessCreations for making our new site possible.

Welcome, Sharon!

Sharon Terry is Astron Solutions' new Writer / Marketing Coordinator. Sharon comes to Astron from Englewood Hospital and Medical Center (Englewood, NJ) where she was a Public Relations Specialist. Sharon has held progressively responsible marketing roles at Cirqit.com, Rosenthal USA, TV Guide, The Swatch Group USA, Revlon, and Trans World Marketing.

Sharon's prior work experiences cover a wide range of marketing and communications activities. She has researched, written, and edited in-house magazines, overseen press release generation, coordinated on-site and off-site media coverage, and managed organizational photography needs. Sharon has also worked in special event planning, trade show coordination, and marketing research.

Sharon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from William Paterson University. Her major is in Communications. She has two minors - Art and English - and a concentration in Public Relations.

She can be reached by e-mail at smterry@astronsolutions.com, or by phone at either 800-520-3889 x4 or 646-792-2509.

Welcome aboard, Sharon!

Employee Internet Use Pitfalls You Should Avoid

For many organizations, work would grind to a halt without free access to the Internet. But the Web, however useful, is also a virtual home entertainment system on each employee's desktop, opening a world of distractions and potential legal action.

Before you finalize your organization's Internet use policy, review these potential pitfalls, and remember - in the world of business technology, nothing is cut-and-dry!

Smut, Spam, Slander, and Tasteless Jokes

In a now-infamous case against a Chevron subsidiary, Chevron settled for $2.2 million after an e-mail titled "25 Reasons Why Beer is Better Than Women" made the rounds. In another case, a female pilot disparaged as a "feminazi" on a company-affiliated electronic bulletin board sued Continental, claiming that the posts created a gender-based hostile working environment. Continental also settled.

Gossip and off-color jokes disseminated online could cost your organization dearly. Pornography is another threat, whether it is seen onscreen, in a printer tray, or forwarded to other employees.

The porn issue is made more complicated by the prevalence of spam, the unsolicited bulk e-mail that piles up in most
e-mail inboxes. Employers are responsible for protecting their employees from exposure to offensive images, whether other employees seek them out or not.

With employers now responsible for employees seeking out smut on the clock, and a full-scale pandemic of pornographic spam attacking the globe, what's an employer to do?

The experts agree on one thing: a well-developed, easily enforceable, and thoroughly communicated Internet policy is as essential as an effective firewall. Every organization has different needs, and must set their boundaries accordingly.

The Big Brother Conundrum

How closely you watch your employees' online activities will also depend on your organization's culture.

Traditionally, filtering firms deal with six threats: pornography, gambling, illegal activities, hate sites, tasteless material, and violence. They're locked out of family computers as well as the workplace - but will filtering end the threat to your organization?

While employers can be held legally culpable for employees' indiscretions undertaken within the scope of employment, many are equally concerned about the damage that unbridled use of the Internet may do to productivity. However, some tech directors doubt that restricting access to portions of the web will result in higher levels of productivity, believing that employees with a vested interest in wasting time will find other ways to achieve it.

A less cynical take on the issue emerged from the Center for e-Service at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business and Rockbridge Associates, Inc. Their 2002 National Technology Readiness Survey (NTRS) found that employees with Web access at the office and at home spent an average of 3.7 hours per week using the Web for personal activities at work, and an average of 5.9 hours per week using the Internet for work purposes at home.

If a snapshot of your employees' online activity is similar, you may shoot yourself in the foot by trying to implement policies that are too strict. On the one hand, monitoring may save you from Chevron's fate; on the other, it could paint a picture of HR as Big Brother.

Employer-Bashing

The blend of intimacy and anonymity found on the Internet makes it a perfect place for employees to gather and gripe. Sites like Vault.com establish message boards where the employee of one major consulting house describes his employers as "a bunch of wimps pretending to do big business;" another unflattering message describes the company as "the Hall of Paper Hangers."

While it may be frightening to think of employees congregating to talk trash about management, or even the HR department, consider taking a deep breath and reviewing this as particularly frank employee satisfaction data. Like a number of potential pitfalls, a little effort and creativity can turn this information to your advantage.

Reader Poll Archive

Wonder what your fellow readers think about critical HR topics? Is your organization unique from or similar to others?
Click here to view the results of our past polls!

Have a Question?

If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us! Simply reply to this e-mail. See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology.

Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting? Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues. For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.

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Send inquiries to info@astronsolutions.com or call 800-520-3889, x105.

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ISSN Number 1549-0467