Let your employees know that you are taking action to ensure the proper use of the Internet and about the security of your network as a whole. Many business networks are infected with malicious software when employees visit questionable sites. It is only fair to give a warning so that your employees will be able to adjust work habits to comply with policy. It is also important that you let your team know that this is a protection for them. Many marriages and careers have been damaged due to inappropriate Internet use at work.
It is important in developing your policy that you demonstrate some degree of reasonableness. If you allow personal use of company phones, it is not inconsistent to allow some acceptable level of personal Internet use. This can make your employees more productive, as they might be able to get some things done quickly at the office that would otherwise cause them to have to leave for a period of time.
Implement an "Acceptable Internet Use Policy." An Internet use policy can go a long way toward curbing inappropriate Internet use at work. While it would be impossible to describe every possible situation, you can lay out the general principles by which Internet use will be measured. Be sure to include verbiage concerning pornographic sites, social networking sites and hacking sites, at a minimum. Of course, every company will have different requirements for sites that are acceptable and those that are not, depending on the nature of the business. The policy should also spell out penalties for violating the acceptable use guidelines. These penalties should cover the gamut from verbal warnings up to and including termination. Based on your business, you may decide that you have a zero tolerance for some violations.
Enforce your policy with a filter. Install a good Internet monitor or filter on your network and set the parameters for allowable connections. Essentially, you should implement your policy in the monitor/filter rules. This is actually a protection for your employees, since they can't get to the off-limits sites. It is also a protection for you and your business in that it reduces the likelihood of harassment suits due to situations that might have developed without a filter. An example would be an employee who is offended by something that another employee has displayed on their screen, resulting in a harassment suit. The filter makes this situation much less likely to occur.
Review the filter logs at least once a month to identify any violations or attempted violations. Post the findings generically (without names) once to let everyone know that you are monitoring what they do. This will cause many to think twice before going to a site that they cannot justify with any business reason. No filter is perfect, so you need to do some level of manual looking just to keep everyone honest.
Respond to violations with action. In the case of a policy violation, it is imperative that you enforce your policy or it will be meaningless. If your employees discover that they can get away with a degree of misuse that will be overlooked, many will push right up to this limit. However, when the team sees someone get penalized and possibly even fired for violating the policy, they will get the message that you are serious about inappropriate use of the Internet at work.