Is surfing the internet at work a form of theft?

[Suzie]

If you have internet access at your job and you use it for other purposes besides work such as post here or facebook, etc. Do you think it's a form of stealing since you're supposed to be working? (regardless of what your boss said or may have not said).

[talisyn]

Are you on your break? In Idaho you get a 10 minute break every 3 hrs and a 20 minute lunch break every umm..5 or 6 hours. I don't see surfing the internet during those times any more of a theft than drinking from the company-provided water fountain or walking on the company-provided grass.

[Truegrits]

ummm....not if all your work is done, and you (as an individual or a dept.) have permission to do so, and are waiting for your next call/appt./assignment/pt./...etc.

[Mahone]

If there is work to be done, and you're browsing facebook instead of doing that work then yes. If you are on your break, or there isn't anything useful that you could be doing right at that moment, then no it's not stealing morally. You may be using work equipment, but for 99% of businesses, it won't cost them any more than it would if you didn't browse the internet for personal usage. The above is also how we work in our department; our workload fluctuates somewhat, but if there is work to do, we do it.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Mahone

[Suzie]

Well I was not speaking about myself. I am not at work :) but I wonder for those who are in a 8 to 5 job right now and use the internet at work for other purposes.

And I was not referring to your break but during normal work hours.

However, the drinking fountain is placed there to satisfy your thirst (basic need) and the internet for WORK purposes (unless a boss is sooo soooo sooo nice that thinks it would be good to put the net for his employees so they can use facebook :) )

[JudoMinja]

Depends. If you are doing as truegrits said and only surfing when there is nothing else to do, then I'd say there's nothing wrong with it. If, however, you have tasks or other work that you could be getting done and you are procrastinating by surfing the web, then yes. That is a form of stealing as you are taking your company's money for time you are wasting not doing your job.

[Suzie]

What about if you do not have permission from your boss? Basically, the net is there. He never said you could, he never said you could not.

[Truegrits]

No, I would not...unless/until I did ask, and then received permission.

[Suzie]

No, I would not...unless/until I did ask, and then received permission.

Cool so is it a form of stealing if someone surfs the internet without their boss knowing?

[Wingnut]

(regardless of what your boss said or may have not said).

Regardless of this? If you boss has said it's okay, then that makes all the difference, I would think. The boss's commentary on the matter should NOT be a "regardless of" thing.

(unless a boss is sooo soooo sooo nice that thinks it would be good to put the net for his employees so they can use facebook :) )

At my job, employees are required to have both a Facebook and LinkedIn profile. It would be pretty hypocritical of my employer to require me to have a Facebook profile, but not allow me to access it while at work, don't you think?

[jazzy225]

There is ALWAYS something to do at any job other than FB or surfing....Sounds like a lot justifying going on here..

[JudoMinja]

There is ALWAYS something to do at any job other than FB or surfing....Sounds like a lot justifying going on here..

Not really. There are some jobs where there literally is NOTHING to do, and the boss will come right out and say its alright to surf the web or watch a movie. I haven't worked one of these jobs myself, but I've had friends that did. Jobs like this usually aren't your typical 8 to 5 workdays though. These are usually night shifts where you're just sitting at a desk in case someone comes to you with a question, wants to check something out, needs help, or there's an emergency.

[havejoy]

There is not ALWAYS something to do at any job. I was a nuclear reactor operator for 25 years and my job was to monitor equipment, check it on rounds every 6 hours and then wait for an alarm to go off. If an alarm didn't go off then I got bored. We were allowed to listen to music, surf the net, work out in the gym or whatever else we could come up with as long as we did not sleep.

[Truegrits]

There is ALWAYS something to do at any job other than FB or surfing....Sounds like a lot justifying going on here..

Not true...there are absolutely times when all my work was completed, my charting done; I even cleaned equipment, though that was not my job...and, by the way, I did not "surf"...not my thing. I read, instead. :)

[Just_A_Guy]

If you have internet access at your job and you use it for other purposes besides work such as post here or facebook, etc. Do you think it's a form of stealing since you're supposed to be working? (regardless of what your boss said or may have not said).

Not if you're self-employed.

[pam]

I agree there isn't always something to do at a job. I worked in a call center before. My job was to take calls. There were certain times of the day (early morning or later in the evening) that we would have a dead time. We were allowed to use the internet during those times. We couldn't check personal emails such as hotmail etc as those were blocked.

[gabelpa]

Company policy people. Where I work, it's laid out in our IT Equipment Usage policy. Lunchtime and breaktime for personal stuff.

As I am IT administrator and programmer, what constitutes work-related for me can and sometimes does involve Internet forums, chat, and Facebook/Twitter... what I do on Facebook as well is restricted, i.e. no timewaster games on company time. Twitter is useful esp. as I follow some tech people and need to stay on top of security threats... Twitter is a great way to spread that kind of news.

[Wingnut]

Not really. There are some jobs where there literally is NOTHING to do, and the boss will come right out and say its alright to surf the web or watch a movie. I haven't worked one of these jobs myself, but I've had friends that did. Jobs like this usually aren't your typical 8 to 5 workdays though. These are usually night shifts where you're just sitting at a desk in case someone comes to you with a question, wants to check something out, needs help, or there's an emergency.

That's pretty much exactly my job. I used to be an executive assistant, but left the job toward the end of my pregnancy. About six months after my daughter was born, my old boss called me (knowing that I wanted to stay home with my daughter and had no intention of returning to work) and offered me a part-time evening/weekend position that was only a couple hours a week. It was perfect actually, because I was starting to look for something I could do from home or in the evenings, when my husband could be home with our daughter.

I proctor assessment exams. When someone applies for a job, if the job requires them to take a skills test (Word, Excel, typing, grammar, math, PowerPoint, or Access), I administer those exams. I bustle around for 20 minutes getting the computer set up and plugging in tests and names, having the applicants fill out paperwork, and getting them settled. For the next two hours, I have nothing to do. I surf the Net or I read. When my former boss offered me the position, I specifically asked her then, "So what do I do while they're taking their exams? Do I (pause) just (pause) read or (pause) surf the Internet, or......." She said I could pretty much do what I wanted as long as I was within eyesight of the testers.

Once a month I have to submit a statement to HR of the previous month's testers, but that's the only other work I have to do.

[Suzie]

Regardless of this? If you boss has said it's okay, then that makes all the difference, I would think. The boss's commentary on the matter should NOT be a "regardless of" thing.

What I was getting at is that just because your boss may think it is okay, may not necessarily be your view. I know people who do not surf even though they have permission to do so just because they do not feel it is appropriate to do so during work hours.

At my job, employees are required to have both a Facebook and LinkedIn profile. It would be pretty hypocritical of my employer to require me to have a Facebook profile, but not allow me to access it while at work, don't you think?

No, it depends. I do not know what kind of job do you do. If your job requires you to use Facebook or Twitter I would assume it is for WORK related purposes. I doubt very much the boss wants you to access it to put in your status that you want to go to the beach next Saturday.

[RachelleDrew]

It depends on where you work and what the company policy is. Where I work, it's called time theft, and will get you fired. You aren't allowed cell phones, PDA's or MP3 players unless you are on your break.

I've fired so many people because they "had" to check their facebook instead of cleaning or performing other tasks. It got to the point where we just tell employees to leave their electronics in their car or the break room..

[Mahone]

I've worked in places before that have similar policies that RachelleDrew speaks about. My personal preference though is having a little bit more freedom than that. It depends completely on the employees you have, but I tend to find that if companies lock down their employees so they cannot do anything non-work related on company time, the employees in return won't give any of their own time for the company. However if they are allowed to answer that personal phone call and spend 10 minutes speaking to their sister, I tend to find they are more willing to do unpaid overtime should the company need it and are generally more flexible. It works both ways.

[Wingnut]

I've worked in places before that have similar policies that RachelleDrew speaks about. My personal preference though is having a little bit more freedom than that. It depends completely on the employees you have, but I tend to find that if companies lock down their employees so they cannot do anything non-work related on company time, the employees in return won't give any of their own time for the company. However if they are allowed to answer that personal phone call and spend 10 minutes speaking to their sister, I tend to find they are more willing to do unpaid overtime should the company need it and are generally more flexible. It works both ways.

I remember seeing a news bit a year or two ago about the flexibility concept. They used Google as an example. Google allowed its employees to do whatever they wanted for 20% of their paid time during the week. They could do personal things, they could take a nap, there was even a break room set up with a pool table. Their experience showed that employees were more productive during the other 80% of the time than if they were "forced" to work 100% of their paid time. Google News was developed by an employee during his 20% time.

[pam]

I read about that too with google Wingnut and I would totally agree with their philosophy on this. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that google makes the 100 best companies to work for list each year since their start.

[Dravin]

What I was getting at is that just because your boss may think it is okay, may not necessarily be your view. I know people who do not surf even though they have permission to do so just because they do not feel it is appropriate to do so during work hours.

I suppose people are free to feel that way. But to me the boss telling you that you can surf (assuming he does actually have that authority) makes it not stealing in the same way workers being told at a fast food joint they get unlimited soda while on shift makes it not stealing.

[Blackmarch]

If you have internet access at your job and you use it for other purposes besides work such as post here or facebook, etc. Do you think it's a form of stealing since you're supposed to be working? (regardless of what your boss said or may have not said).

Depends on what your job considers internet use.

For a ot of jobs it would be, but not all of them... if it's something you're concerned about at your job ask your manager or boss.