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Web  filtering & blocking is a topic that comes up in a lot of my discussions with clients and tech people. Sometimes the  requests stem from security or HR policy concerns, but it’s usually “My employees are spending too much time on the internet. How can we stop that?”

Until the last few years, I would have probably recommended a technology-based fix. “Let’s install a web filter. That’s how we’ll solve this.” And I’ve installed and configured a bunch of them with all sorts of different configurations, everything from “no websites at all” to “just monitoring”.

That’s the usual response from an IT vendor – an IT solution, which makes some sense – when you’ve got a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

After the install and some tweaking, you run the reports, and sure enough – web usage is down & not-safe-for-work site visits are being logged. You show the report to management, justifying the purchase, and everyone involved considers the project a success. If it was my project, I’d give myself a pat on the back and move along to whatever was next on the list.

But my outlook changed when I stopped looking at the tech and the reports and started looking at the effect that web filters (as they are normally implemented) and other behavior-shaping technologies have on the culture of a company. In many cases, web filters seemed to cause more harm than good.

One problem with how web filters are often used is that they feed the delusion of productivity management:

• Most non-manufacturing businesses don’t really have a concrete, quantifiable way of measuring worker productivity, so when someone tells me  ”We installed a web filter and it’s increased productivity by 10%” what I hear is “purple monkey dishwasher” and then my brain breaks.

• Employees figured out how to waste time before the internet existed. It’s just the newest distraction. Take away the internet, or even a portion of popular sites and people will find some other non-work activity to do. Aside from that, expecting 100% productivity for 8+ hours seems insane to me. A little distraction can actually help people clear their heads and do better work.

• In my experience (as a manager and an employee), most employees don’t find distractions because they’re lazy. Rather, it’s because they’re bored or lack direction due to a failure of leadership. That’s a tough pill for a lot of team leaders and managers to swallow – that maybe the reason their employees are spending so much time on the internet is because they’ve been a crummy manager and haven’t given them any direction on what to do.

The third point leads into what I think of as the bigger problem, and the issue that really bothers me personally – the infantilization of employees. If a business owner or manager feels like (or even knows) that an employee is spending too much time on the internet, putting in a web filter to try to change that behavior seems like a lazy solution, and to be honest, kind of cowardly.

To employees, the unspoken message is “Instead of talking to you and treating you like a grown-up, we’re going to put you in this playpen so we don’t have to deal with you.”   – How’s that for boosting productivity and morale? Companies that use this type of approach are often the same ones that are struggling to keep talented employees and complain about employee loyalty. I’m not one who’s quick to pin down causality, but this might be something to think about.

So what’s the alternative? If you’re a business owner or an IT person pushing this type of solution, what I propose is this:

1. Acknowledge that employees need some reasonable level of distraction/non-work activity to stay sane.

2. When there is a real issue of work not getting done or IT is coming to you with complaints of a user hogging bandwidth & spreading web-borne virus, go talk to that employee. Maybe they need some direction. Maybe they are bored. Treat the problem like you would someone coming to work late – listen and counsel - and if it keeps on being an issue, work it through your normal HR process.

This might sound fancy, and maybe it is, but I have to believe there is a better solution than trying to band-aid this type of issue with technology. There are some really great uses for web filters in regards to security (they add another layer of malware and phishing protection), but trying to shape workers’ behavior – as a goal, seems to me a poor use of the technology.

Photo: Omar Gurnah