Can I restrict my employees' personal use of their computers while at work?
IU policy allows employees some incidental personal use in the course of their work duties. However, that personal use must be appropriate; it must not violate the law, interfere with the employee's work responsibilities, or conflict with the university's mission of providing education through teaching, research, and public service. Additionally, employees may not use university resources for commercial or private gain, or for activities that are inconsistent with the university's tax-exempt status (such as political campaigning).
Supervisors are authorized to require employees to cease or limit any incidental personal use that interferes with job performance or violates university policy. If you feel that your employees may be neglecting work due to incidental personal use, you can address their behavior using progressive discipline, but be sure to consult with your departmental human resources person, the central human resources office, or the employee relations office. Be careful to address the job duties being neglected, not the personal use.
If you are unsure of the relationship of the incidental personal use to the university's mission, you can contact the University Information Policy Office (UIPO) or your regional campus Chief Information Officer (CIO) to help you determine whether the use is appropriate.
Investigations of Misconduct
An employee's access to computers or accounts may be disabled or limited while an investigation is being conducted into alleged misconduct, even if the person is still employed by IU.
Reasons for restricting employees' use of computers or accounts while at work include, but aren't limited to, the following:
- Concern for safety of departmental or other systems and data
- Reasonable belief that the employee is involved in illegal activities
- Reasonable belief that the employee has violated university policy
If you feel that an active employee's use of computers or accounts needs to be disabled or restricted, be sure to consult with your departmental human resources person, the central human resources office, or the employee relations office BEFORE taking any action.
Tips
To avoid the problem altogether, your department can publish a local policy that defines the acceptable level and nature of incidental personal use. When writing departmental policies, be careful to avoid targeting individuals.
More Information
This information is based on the university's IT policy IT-01 and IT policy IT-03.
For consultation in handling particular situations (preferably before taking action), contact your campus human resources office (contact information is available at http://kb.iu.edu/data/akwe.html), your campus employee relations office (812-856-5572 at IU Bloomington, 317-274-8931 at IUPUI), and/or the Information Policy Office for all campuses.
