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Gambling at work: know when to fold
First published in The Independent 11 April 2007.
If you worked in the 1990s, you probably still remember the day that a computer arrived on your desk.
It was a new, and somewhat wild, world for most employees. Here was a machine that not only allowed you to create your own letters and spreadsheets, but also gave you the ability to communicate with your co-workers without actually needing to talk to them.
But, it was another aspect of this new technology that you might remember even better.
For most workers, an unexpected consequence of the arrival of the workplace PC was the ability to play games at work.
The Queen of all games was, of course, Solitaire. In many workplaces, one would observe a desktop sea of green backgrounds covered in white playing cards.
You may have noticed that, over recent years, the attraction of Solitaire has declined. Many organisations block it from their computers; but for most employees it just isn’t fun anymore.
Instead, internet gaming, and gambling, has taken its place. Why play cards against the computer when you can play others for money?
A recent survey in the United States suggests that almost 22% of workers have used their computer to gamble whilst at work. Figures from Australia suggest a similar practice in that country.
The surveys determined that sports gambling sites were the most popular destinations for workers. In New Zealand, of course, this would be the TAB.
The information suggests that traffic to these sites increases dramatically shortly before, and during, major sporting events.
For example, workplace web traffic to gambling sites increases dramatically in the United States during "March Madness" - a basketball tournament involving a "knockout" competition between college teams. Many of the games in this tournament are played during work hours, and it has been estimated that the cost of downtime as a result of distraction in the workplace runs to many hundreds of millions of dollars.
Though perhaps not quite to the same extent, one might imagine that the Virtual Super 14 online competition could be similarly distracting for workers in this country.
The next most popular distraction at work, however, is online poker. Sites such as partypoker.com offer workers the ability to gamble, for real money, against players from all around the world, during work hours!
But, what is the big deal about this apparent phenomenon? And, can employers take issue with employees gambling while at work?
For the most part, this type of gambling is not illegal. Employees are not in breach of any laws by gambling through these different websites.
And most employer internet usage policies were drafted several years ago before this recent phenomenon developed, and are targeted mainly at prohibiting access to inappropriate or objectionable content.
Gambling websites do not (for the most part) contain any content of this type, so an employee would not necessarily breach the workplace policy by visiting one. Further, most workplace policies allow for "reasonable personal use", and it is arguable that online gambling could fall within this description.
But, participating in online gambling is, depending upon circumstances, a potential time waster. Apparently, the average employee wastes just over two hours a day while at work, and almost half of this time is accounted for by the internet.
This means that even though workplace gambling may not be a breach of a company's internet policy, it may amount to time wasting which can be addressed as a separate concern.
There is also a potential issue about compromise to an organisation's security systems. Many gambling websites allow the user to download software which may either be harmful to or simply unwanted by a company's network.
The moral of this story? For employers, check your internet usage policies, and decide whether you need to prevent your employees from online gambling while at work.
And for employees, given the distractions that this past time involves, perhaps you should know when to fold.
Disclaimer
This publication is necessarily brief and general in nature. You should seek professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication.
