What are the e-mail use, Internet use, and privacy policies at your job?

The email policy at my job at the Florida Foundation for Families (hereinafter “FFF”) are that work email is strictly to be used for work purposes and not for personal use. The policy is covered in our Employee Handbook, and states that the rationale for the policy is that we should only be working during work time, and that if we were to use work email for private use, it could expose the company to internet threats that would otherwise be easily avoidable. For instance, if we were to use email for private use and were to open an attachment that contained a virus, we could potentially jeopardize the entire system’s network. During our break periods and lunch we are allowed to use private email accounts, but we are likewise instructed not to open any attachments on our work computers in order to avoid the same threat that would be posed by using our private email accounts for such purposes.

Like our email policy, the internet is supposed to only be used for work purposes as well, however, since work purposes aren’t strictly defined there is definitely more leeway in how we can use the internet, since we could be looking at an article in an online magazine or newspaper that’s work related. We are still forbidden from using any networking sites, like facebook and myspace, since we would be using the internet for non-work purposes. Fortunately, however, like the email policy, we are also allowed to use the internet for personal use during break and lunch periods, but we are strictly forbidden from accessing any obscene or offensive material. This policy is strictly enforced since our organization caters to the development of good families, and it would hurt the organization’s image if a family member saw