Low productivity levels can be directly attributed to U.S. employees using the internet for non-work related purposes. This is just one of the findings of Burstek Internet Consultants’ 2005 Internet Usage Study, which surveyed 10,688 employees across the U.S.
 
Burstek’s CEO David Smith referred to the findings of the survey as proof of the risks associated with uncontrolled internet usage. "The Internet has a revolutionary impact on global business, and it is hard to imagine a firm that has not been affected," Smith said. “Unfortunately, along with the benefits come many side effects that have the potential to dramatically erode productivity and pose many other dangers to the enterprise and to employees, themselves. This study confirms that uncontrolled employee Internet use is a very serious threat to compliance, security and productivity."

The survey categorises the risks into three groups: legal liability, security risk and lost productivity. It also provides additional statistics on what employees are doing on the internet and identifies the top sites they are visiting, including web email sites, sports websites, online shopping and online chat.

The survey found that 19.42 percent of all employees using the internet for personal reasons regularly access websites that pose security threats to the company network, while 8.23 percent of those surfing the net regularly access illegal websites including gambling and pornography sites. Hacking and hate speech are also subjects that feature on some of the websites employees admit to visiting.

78.1 percent of all participants in the survey admitted to accessing the internet at work for personal use and entertainment. 72.34 percent of total internet usage represented personal visits to websites, in particular shopping and entertainment sites, checking personal email and participating in online chat. Searching for new employment and playing games also featured heavily in this category.

Perhaps the most concerning statistic concerned the number of employees accessing sites that contain malicious software coding and illegal spyware. Government agencies had the highest incidence of this, where approximately 23 percent of those government employees surveyed admitted to accessing sites of this nature. 

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