It seems like a no-brainer, but porn at work is still an issue employers need to address. Apparently, the temptation is too strong for some – even at the risk of losing their jobs.

Porn viewing appears to be a problem for all companies, from small to large. A Nielsen Online survey found that 25 percent of working adults admit to looking at pornography on a computer at work, and that 70 percent of online porn access is between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

In 2010, it was revealed that more than two dozen contractors and employees with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had been caught looking at porn on their government computers.

Workplace issues involving pornography

• It creates an extremely upsetting work environment
• It opens you up to huge liability issues
• It keeps employees from doing real work
• It uses bandwidth and exposes networks to malware

An even more insidious aspect of porn at work is child pornography, which can expose employers to huge lawsuits.

Monitoring Software: Best Line of Defense

Creating a safe and pleasant work environment is your prime responsibility as an employer, and making sure your company is “porn-free” is not only an important part of that commitment, it’s also your best protection against the associated liabilities.

When looking for an employee monitoring solution be sure it include at least the following:

• Keystroke logging
• Email/Webmail monitoring
• Mobile device support

But if you truly want to combat porn access at work you’ll need a platform that supports search alerts. This advanced feature allows you to configure your monitoring platform to report any instance where a targeted key-phrase is used in a web search (e.g. get alerted anytime anyone searches for “porn video”).

What’s Available

We took a look at some of the top packages available in the marketplace:

• ActivTrak
• Refog
• Spectorsoft CNE Investigator Edition
• Digital Endpoint

All four are decent offers insofar as basic monitoring is concerned. They’re all available on PC and some brands offer Mac and (limited) mobile monitoring as well. Digital Endpoint is the only solution that works across all platforms and devices, but that’s not what makes it your best option for porn eradication. Digital Endpoint’s clear advantage in that respect is due to the fact that it’s the only solution that offers key-logging and full search alert setup, thus giving you a double layer of security from employee porn browsing.

Conclusion

Employers have a legal, moral and financial obligation to make sure their workers are not browsing porn during work. With Digital Endpoint employers are promised an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and inexpensive solution for this problem. Check them out and sleep easy knowing you’ve got one less thing to worry about.