E-moral UK Workers Unmasked

The UK's first national email ethics survey has revealed that over half (53%) of white- collar employees from the UK's largest cities behave 'e-morally' on email whilst at work. This untoward behaviour includes the use of email to 'back stab' colleagues, along with the deliberate sending of racist, sexist, pornographic or discriminatory emails.

SurfControl, a company that controls email and Internet content at work, commissioned this latest NOP survey. The aim was to determine exactly how 100 white-collar workers from each of the UK's largest cities (London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool & Newcastle) really use email when left to their own devices.

In terms of using email as a political tool, SurfControl's survey reveals that 38% of UK white-collar employees use email in the pursuit of political gain within their company. With recent publicity surrounding the political use of email within the Government, the country's employees appear to be following suit - using email as an easy way of highlighting a colleague's mistake in front of other recipients. By simply hitting 'reply all', 'forward' or using the CC and BCC buttons strategically, SurfControl's survey suggests that the UK's employees view email as a tool to further their own careers at the expense of others.

Given the extent of e-political activity in the workplace, the figures are further compounded by the fact that a third of white-collar employees prefer to hide behind email rather than deal with a sensitive situation face-to-face or over the telephone. Furthermore, 80% believe that email provides them with a 'sense of protection' because everything is written and documented - both of these figures clearly illustrating UK workers' defensive mind-set.

Of major concern, SurfControl's research indicates that nearly 30% of the UK's white-collar workforce admits to sending racist, sexist, pornographic or discriminatory emails whilst at work. Aside from risking losing their own jobs, over one in four businesses in the UK's eight largest cities could face legal action taken against them if found to be liable for an employee's email that has caused serious offence to another individual.

Commenting on the survey's findings, Steve Purdham, ceo and founder of SurfControl, 'We commissioned the survey to discover the UK's regional differences in attitude towards using email in the workplace. There are some real hotspots across the UK where e-moral behaviour is at its worst - illustrating that businesses and employees really do need to start taking these issues seriously. Put simply, email is not a political tool, substitute for face-to-face contact or a guise from which to send offensive material. It is just another communication tool and if abused, internal conflicts amongst colleagues can arise and, in the worst case scenario, legal action taken against employers found liable as the source of inappropriate content.'

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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