Looking at porn at work?

Does anyone really need to tell you that this is inappropriate and undoubtedly a fire-able act? DUH! Well, if other people are doing it…

Sure, that’s a valid excuse (may be for your mother). But even parents will have a quick comeback for such a lame excuse. Would you jump off the bridge if everyone’s doing it? I guess the police are excluded. An Illinois police officer was fired earlier this week for browsing pornography while at work. His excuse – even the Chief has pornographic imagery on his work computer, as well as pornographic magazines around the police headquarters. That’s great. Wait to you hear what the Chief said… “there is a difference between a Playboy magazine and the “hard core, obscene” images found on Hurst’s [the fired officer] computer,” Police Chief Michael Reidy stated after he decided that Hurst’s habit of looking at online porn violated department policy.

Wow. Don’t you feel much safer knowing that the Police department is out there, “serve and protecting,” and making sure that their employees are NOT looking at “hard core” porn. But “soft core” porn is ok to browse while on Uncle Sam’s clock? Don’t they have an HR department in Illinois? Do they not have any women on the squad? It’s understandable that these ex-jockey tough guys – turned police officers have some testosterone to burn, but this is clearly inappropriate and borderline illegal. But the truth of the matter is, these cops are not alone, and the federal government does little to prevent or reprimand its employees.

Just over a week ago, a park superintendent was caught with over 3400 pornographic images on his work computer, and earlier this year six

Chances are, someone in the office is browsing porn right now

employees at the National Science Foundation were found to excessively browse porn on their work computers. One of the employees, a senior official, was found to have spent as much as 20 percent of his time surfing porn sites.

Consider this:

70% of all online porn access occurs during the 9-5 workday

37% of at work internet users in the US had visited a X-rated website from work

28% of employees surveyed in 350 companies across the US, UK, and Australia affirmed downloading sexually explicit content while at work

In a survey of 110 companies varying in size from 50 to 1,500 employees by elron software, pornographic web sites were being accessed by 62% of companies

22% of all males have admitted viewing pornography at work

20% of men and 12% of women admit to using their work computers as their primary lifeline to access sexually explicit material

Still think this is irrelevant? How about this:

Nearly one third of US Fortune 500 companies have had sexual harassment cases filed against them by employees objecting to their colleague’s internet viewing habits.

It’s pretty obvious that pornography in the workplace is a widespread problem. Sure, companies can simply fire employees, but how many can you terminate, and how many new “porn-surfers” will take their place? Imagine the billions of dollars in lost wages being paid to employees searching porn. And can you imagine the amount of money spent by companies defending sexual harassment lawsuits? Is it time to pronounce a policy on this issue? Surely the government doesn’t want to meddle in your individual freedoms and will allow businesses to act on their own accord. But this…this is an epidemic.

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(statistics courtesy of LightedCandle)

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