People nowadays expect that their employer will have some sort of Internet monitoring software in place to make sure that they don’t visit any sites they shouldn’t be on during work hours. However, the reasons why Internet monitoring software is in place are generally not what the average employee thinks they are.

Actually, the reasons why a company monitors employee Internet usage can be more important than you think.  Many countries require a company to give employees notice that Internet, and email, use will be monitored and they must provide reasoning why their activities are being monitored. Any company that is confronted as to why Internet monitoring software is in use can easily provide any number of legitimate reasons why.

 Will Stop the Spread of Malware

Internet security experts have predicted that the average person browsing the Internet for three months has a 95 percent chance of landing on an infected web page. Monitoring Internet usage can help curb the introduction of malware that comes from malicious web sites because a majority of these sites are ones that offer no legitimate business purpose what so ever.

Sites that offer file sharing, pornography, streaming media and gambling are among these. By curtailing visits, the IT department is able to reduce infections. Also, employees that are aware of Internet monitoring software policies will be less likely to try and access illicit sites. Of course, malware infections can be spread by visiting legitimate sites as well however the odds are not as great.

Will Increases Available Network Resources

When multiple people are using their Internet connection at work to download files, play games online, listen to streaming music or watching streaming video the company’s network can easily slow to a crawl. As resources are used up for entertainment and non-business related purposes, people who are trying to get actual work done find it hard to complete tasks when the bandwidth is being used up.

Monitoring Internet usage can help keep resource freed up for business critical applications and voice/data transmissions that will help the company, not entertain employees who should be working.

Will Increases Productivity

It is estimated that the average employee spends between one and a half to two and a half hours each day surfing the Internet on sites that are not related to their job. If you look at each employee working an average of 250 days each year then you can expect that workers are wasting between 375 to 625 hours each year playing around online.If you think this is exaggerated, think about how long people spend on social networking sites or playing games online and the hours quickly add up.

Not only is the company losing money by paying people to play around, but more is lost when you look at the time lost that could have been spent building the business.

Internet monitoring software doesn’t have to remind employees of big brother. Instead, it can serve as a deterrent to illicit behavior. Simply make sure that each new employee understands your company’s policy towards monitoring practices and what the ramifications are should they be caught visiting sites they shouldn’t be on during work hours.

Author bio: Jeff writes about Promotional codes and discounts for different coupon blogs that share Puritans Pride, Webwatcher and Ring Central coupons. Currently, he writes a coupon site that offers the latest Webwatcher discount codes, Puritans Pride coupons and RingCentral coupons to help people save money.