* Should you have corporate policies governing the use of IM?
Consider this scenario: You have your whole staff assembled for a planning meeting. People have their laptops and Blackberries to take notes and respond to urgent e-mails. Two employees in the back of the room are sending each other instant messages to keep from nodding off. One sends an off-hand comment to the other about the department’s young new intern. Although no one else in the room is aware of this private conversation, it could present significant problems to the company some day.
The mere fact that this electronic conversation took place using company resources – the computers and communication network – makes this an official company record. What’s more, if the day ever came when the intern sues the company over sexual harassment issues, the company could be required to produce a record of that flippant remark that was never intended to go beyond the two guys in the back of the room. Those couple of words, sent “instantly” from one person to another, could be a smoking gun.
Lest you think “this could never happen to us,” let me give you some eye-popping statistics from the “2004 Workplace Email and Instant Messaging Survey” conducted by the American Management Association and The ePolicy Institute. They surveyed 840 American companies for their data. Of the companies that say they use IM in the workplace, 58% say the service is used for personal chats. Most troubling is the fact that those little personal messages aren’t just about what’s for lunch. Survey respondents report sending and receiving the following types of potentially damaging IM content:
* Attachments: 19%
* Jokes, gossip, rumors or disparaging remarks: 16%
* Confidential information about the company, a co-worker or client: 9%
* Sexual, romantic or pornographic content: 6%
Personally, I think those numbers are low. Though I am not an avid user of IM, I know plenty of people who are, and they tend to put things in instant messages that they would never commit to an e-mail message because the service “feels more private.”
IM is growing in popularity, and not just with the teenage crowd. IDC reports that 53 million North Americans now use IM on a regular basis. A recent report by Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that 11 million people use an IM service at work. Nucleus Research reports that 18% of the Fortune 500 companies use IM as an official means of company communication.
It all boils down to this: IM is an accepted form of electronic communication, and it should be treated like one. That is, the IT department has an obligation to help the company select the appropriate technology for a messaging service, and implement policies and procedures regarding security, records retention and acceptable usage.
Nancy Flynn is founder and executive director of The ePolicy Institute and a recognized expert in workplace e-mail policy, management and communications. Flynn’s institute published a white paper called “Thirty-Two Instant Messaging Rules: Best Practices to Keep You in Business and Out of Court.” The paper provides some practical advice to companies that want to reap the productivity gains of IM, but not worry about the legal and security issues.
Here’s an excerpt of some of the rules for IM:
IM Rule #2: Take control of IM risks today, or face potentially costly consequences tomorrow. This rule has several corollaries that are closely related.
IM Rule #3: Assume that your employees are already using instant messaging – without your knowledge, authorization, rules or policies.
IM Rule #4: Originally intended for home use, instant messaging poses significant risk to business users.
IM Rule #6: Unauthorized, unrestricted IM use is simply bad practice.
Read all of the rules and The ePolicy Institute’s advice at https://www.epolicyinstitute.com/imr/32rules.pdf.
Banning the use of IM for business isn’t the answer. In fact, many companies find that IM increases productivity when it is used properly. Companies are simply urged to take control of IM like they would any other IT tool. In his article for the Wisconsin Technology network (link below), Attorney Brian B. Paul recommends that companies develop a policy dictating how they handle and retain instant messaging, including an official company stance on IM content and use.
Without the proper policies and controls, your company can find itself taking some pretty big risks.
Linda Musthaler is vice president of Currid & Company. You can write to her at mailto:Linda.Musthaler@currid.com.
