Cyber Bludging: the use of company internet access by employees for non work related purposes. This includes the gratuitous use of personal email, unnecessary web surfing, excessive use of chat and instant messaging services, online gaming, internet banking and shopping, running one’s on the side-line business online, and of course blogging. The list goes on…

It is estimated that up to 50 per cent of employees indulge in some degree of cyber bludging. I don’t necessarily see this as undesirable. Increasingly employers are expecting workers to put in longer hours in the office, and in some cases, for no extra pay. Cyber bludging is a way of evening up the score a little. Ultimately I believe it is a sympton of deeper trouble though.

What is undesirable about cyber bludging is the way many employees use it as a way to break up the boredom of their work. I can certainly relate, in the past I have worked in places where, without internet access, I’d have likely ended up being committed to an institution. Again it is the sign that things are not quite right.

And when things are not right, we know what that means, yes?