Internet use policy for America West Finance

Internet Policy

Diane Silversmith

Internet Use Policy

This memo provides justification for providing Internet access primarily as a business tool, but permitting incidental personal use at America West Finance. Extensive research uncovered significant issues related to Internet misuse that require immediate action. Further, the application of electronic surveillance was found to be an industry best practice that in necessary to protect a company's best interest. An evaluation of all Internet use options is included in this memorandum to facilitate a thorough understanding of the pros and cons for any given course of action and an implementation recommendation offers guidance for creating formal written policies that will help America West Finance achieve its objectives for Internet use.

Industry Best Practice

More than two thirds of companies in the United States engage in electronic surveillance of their employees, according to a survey from the American Management Association (Naughton, 1999). It's not a question of individual privacy, but rather it's about the abuse of company assets. Obviously, there is real concern regarding violating an employee's right to privacy. However, monitoring is considered to be legal provided that employees are aware of the nature, extent and reasons for monitoring ("Introduce and Internet and Email Policy"). Further, guidelines will help to resolve some of the ambiguities that currently exist and have the potential to prevent disputes between our company and an employee.

Evaluation of Options at America West Finance

Regarding Internet use, there are several options that America West Finance can consider (Morese and Magyera).

Option #1: Don't provide the Internet resource to employees, and prohibit Internet access at work and during work hours.

Option #2: Provide the Internet resource, but don't regulate its use.

Option #3: Provide the Internet resource, but limit its use to solely business-related purposes.

Option #4: Provide the Internet resource primarily as a business tool, but permit incidental personal use.

Option #1, discontinuing Internet access, represents a bad choice for America West Finance for a variety of reasons. First, the Internet is an important channel for researching and marketing our financial services. Even though "cyberslacking" is a problem, it's still important to remember that Internet-induced gains in productivity in the U.S. are projected to be more than $400 billion this year ("E-Commerce Industry Trends"). Our company has the potential to create many profit enhancing efficiencies by using the Internet and cannot survive in an increasing competitive environment without the Internet. The Internet is likely to become even more important to America West Finance if company earnings continue to decline and/or we downsize our workforce and need to make workers as efficient as possible.

Option #2, providing unregulated Internet access, is as equally poor as an alternative as Option #1 because of the numerous productivity, asset destruction and liability issues previously discussed in this memo. Our company should not assume these great risks because they can damage our reputation and result in huge financial loss.

The only two real viable options are either Option 3, limiting Internet use to business-related purposes, or Option 4, providing the resources as primarily a business tool, but allowing incidental personal use. Option 3 is technically feasible, but the resources required to monitor and effectively enforce policy for our 500 employees would make it a financially burdensome activity for American West Finance (Morse and Magyera). Given declining company earnings, our company could make better use of its financial resources in other areas of the business. Option 4 offers the benefits of using the Internet to primarily serve our clients with incidental personal use that would maintain employee morale and cement employee loyalty (Morse and Magyera).

Final Implementation Recommendation

Within the framework of option 4, providing the resources as primarily a business tool, but allowing incidental personal use, written policies should dictate when incidental personal use of the Internet or Internet email is appropriate, both as to the frequency of such conduct, and the nature of the use (Morse and Magyera). American West Finance Internet use policies should at a minimum address the following seven areas (Tobin, 1998):

Statement of purpose.

Definitions,

Acceptable use,

Monitoring and enforcement,

Security,

Copyright issues, and Internet usage agreements.

A "statement of purpose" is useful to explain the reasons for adopting the policy and is also an appropriate place to articulate the organization's general philosophy on Internet use by employees (Tobin, 1998). Acceptable use specifies when the Internet can be used for personal activities, explains the types of sites and services that may or may not be accessed, and prohibits unlawful activities. Indicating that the company has the right to monitor Internet transactions is important from a legal standpoint as well as providing a mechanism for ensuring conformance to the policy.

In conclusion, I can't emphasize enough the importance of and the urgency for creating written Internet use policies and hope that you agree with my recommendations. If you have any comments or questions regarding information in this memorandum or the reasons for my decision, please don't hesitate to call me. I eagerly await your feedback and instructions for the next steps I should pursue for the Internet use project.