BURSTING THE BIG I.M. LOVE BUBBLE

A recent survey shows that office e-ffairs are on the increase due to email and computer instant-messaging (I.M.) systems making flirting in company time an all too often occurrence.

According to Icomm Technologies which conducted the survey as part of ongoing trend research, businesses are seeing up to a 20% drop in productivity as employees become distracted in personal affairs putting workloads on the back-burner.

Employers involved in the survey found that when company mailboxes were examined an alarming number of employees had participated in company e-ffairs with mailboxes quickly becoming a breeding ground for flirtation and sexual innuendo.

According to Ian Callens of systems support and solutions provider Icomm Technologies, the introduction of enterprise Instant-Messaging systems has made it harder to regulate employees behaviour:

“Whilst in one respect Instant-Messaging might be seen as a productivity plus, it can also be the complete opposite. With its real-time capabilities the temptation to abuse company time for social and personal chat can be great. It makes it harder to regulate and monitor employee conversations and this is where problems can arise as users take advantage.”

The research showed that 63% of the examined mailboxes indicated employees had been involved in email and I.M. flirting at work, 46% had organised dates on the back of initial flirting and a substantial 34% had actually acted on their flirting and progressed into a relationship potentially compromising their working capabilities and relationships.

“Companies should regularly monitor employees’ level of productivity if Instant-Messaging systems are employed as temptation to stray from work can be high. It is equally important to tell employees that monitoring is taking place,” Callens Said: “Email systems allow for greater control and monitoring. It is wise for businesses to audit their email systems on a regular basis to ensure that company time is not being wasted.”