The number of employees caught looking at pornography in the workplace has soared according to figures released by employment law firm Peninsula Business Services. According to new research, 67% of UK companies have caught someone in the last 12 months viewing pornographic material in the workplace, compared to 31% in 2008.

Alan Price, Employment Law Director for Peninsula Business Services said today, “The office is not the place to be viewing porn, yet technology advances mean more employees are viewing porn whilst in work. Employees should take note, you are getting paid to work, not spend time watching pornography. Employers are having to discipline staff, a lot of businesses do not have policies and procedures in place to either deal with or deter this issue.”

Price continues, “Viewing pornography is obviously an unacceptable activity in the workplace. Any employees who do try and view this type of material at work are obviously grossly misjudging the situation. Not only can this be deemed as offensive for co-workers, it can also damage the employer-employee relationship too. This could lead to employers having to dismiss the employee and a wrongful dismissal case may then involve the business at employment tribunal – so the situation needs to be handled carefully.”

Alan Price concludes, “We’ve noticed that those employees working anti-social hours are more likely to view porn at work, especially when unsupervised. There are also a number of companies who do not have in place IT systems to monitor the situation and the problem was only discovered when another employee informed their manager. My advice to workers would be not to do it under any circumstances, this is the workplace and you are getting paid to perform your role. Repeat offenders should be disciplined; policies and procedures need to be amended to stipulate your stance on the issue.”