Here is an interesting piece from InformationWeek. Basically the piece outlines the obvious when it comes to FaceBook. I have witnessed several companies in the Toronto area that allow their employees to use the popular social networking site. The marvel of this is the viral nature of the site and the sheer volume of time people piss away interacting with others. Now let’s calculate the cost to the affected employers…
Workers at the office using social networking sites, like Facebook, are costing employers more than $5 billion a year and putting corporate networks at risk of attack, according to a new study.
The data is out of Australia, but a spokeswoman at security company SurfControl noted that country is ranked fifth among global Facebook users, coming in behind the United States. That, she pointed out, means the problem of lost time and network risk is even greater here in the U.S.
If one employee spends one hour of company time on Facebook everyday, it potentially costs his or her employer more than $6,200 per year. Factored across the 800,000 businesses in Australia, that one wasted hour a day adds up to a productivity loss of $5 billion annually for the Australian economy.
And SurfControl’s researchers also noted in an advisory the rise of what they’re calling “underground intranets,” such as groups of users dedicated to nothing more than slacking off at work. Some of the groups are specific to employees at individual companies.
In addition to the slacker factor is the danger of data leakage. Yet another hole in the perimeter. Sometimes telling your staff “no” is not such a bad thing.
Tags: Facebook, Data Leakage, Indirect Corporate Theft
