The £9.6 billion figure was calculated based on other statistics from Websense - that 13.6 million UK workers have internet access and that the average non-manual worker in the UK earns £11.88 per hour.
The companies Chief Financial Officer Douglas Wride said:
“Nine billion pounds is actually a conservative number when you factor bandwidth loss, storage costs and human resource costs associated with free and open internet use in the workplace.”
In the US, the cost of internet misuse in the workplace is estimated by Websense at over $63 billion. According to figures recently released by the US Labour Department, US worker productivity fell by 1.2% in the first three months of this year, representing the biggest drop in productivity for 8 years.
OUT-LAW.COM recommends that any business giving employees access to internet and/or e-mail services puts in place an effective communications policy. Click here to find out more and to obtain a free policy for downloading and amending to suit your business.