Apparently, employers in the UK really more concerned with stopping the social use of internet within office hours, says data from Chartered Management Institute. Little did they know that such a move is to the disadvantage of their own business opportunities and performance.

Many of the employers view internet activity as a “massive time waster”, leading them to track employees’ internet activities in order to block “inappropriate sites”. While it is understandable that employers are displeased with how the internet is being used during office hours,  but there will always be a handful of people compelled to abuse such freedom.

Thus, it is important for employers to understand that the younger generation of managers and leaders are very much in-tuned to technology and more often than not, depend on the internet usage to network and find useful information.

Jo Causon, director of marketing and corporate affairs at the Chartered Management Institute says, “Clearly, organisations need to harness the comfort levels these individuals have with internet-based resources, because failure to do so will lead to frustration and the loss of top talent at best, or worse, an open door for competitors to build advantage through a better equipped and enabled workforce.”

Furthermore, a majority of the people in the younger age group polled focused on the use of the internet for professional development (72%). Employers need to re-think their policies towards internet usage or otherwise risk alienating their future managers and leaders. In-depth analysis of the data collated confirms that many of the respondents believe employers are less than enthusiastic about web-based technology and are not keen on exploring or implementing the “latest trend” unless they have been tried and tested. Even more disturbing is how almost one-fifth of employees refer to their employers as “dinosaurs”.

So employers, if you want to move ahead in this business, embrace web technology freely.