June 2, 2004—Internet Security Systems, Inc. recently announced a Web usage benchmarking service to counter productivity loss from employee job searching and other Internet “joy surfing” on company time. This “joy surfing” can include activities such as online shopping, chat rooms, music downloads and games. Online job searching has increasingly come into play with Internet Security Systems’ research showing a 26 percent increase over the past year in the number of Internet hosts providing online job search sites.
According to a 2003 Conference Board survey, only 49 percent of Americans are satisfied with their current job, compared with 58 percent in 1995(1). With the emergence of thousands of new job search sites appearing online, coupled with easy access to high-speed Internet at the workplace, discontented employees waste valuable work time browsing the Web to look for new career opportunities.
In addition to a loss of productivity, employees who job search online also put their personal information at risk. The World Privacy Forum, a non- profit organization focusing on privacy rights, studied more than 70 online job sites and found that most sites routinely asked job seekers to provide substantial personal information such as Social Security numbers. This confidential information is often improperly sold, shared or used for profiling purposes.
To help organizations combat productivity loss resulting from employee “joy surfing,” Internet Security Systems has developed an effective 2-step process. Organizations can utilize an ROI Calculator to estimate how much non business-related Web surfing can cost their business and how quickly their investment in ISS’ Proventia Web Filter is returned. ISS’ ROI Calculator can be found online.
Once the evaluation is complete, ISS is offering a free trial download of Proventia Web filter. Internet Security Systems’ Proventia Web Filter improves employee productivity and reduces risk by blocking dangerous and inappropriate Web content quickly and accurately.
Proventia Web Filter’s technology combines text and image analysis with the world’s largest URL and image databases that work in advance to protect against unwanted Web content before it can cause harm. Once downloaded, organizations can easily customize and pre-define who can access what, at what times, and what action will be taken in the case of misuse.
To try Proventia Web Filter for free, visit ISS.
