Paul Korda . com - The Web Home of Paul Korda, singer, musician & song-writer.

International Entertainment News

Monday, February 07, 2005

Valentine's Day Attracts Increased Employee Traffic to Jewelry, Floral and Dating Websites at the Office

Valentine's Day Attracts Increased Employee Traffic to Jewelry, Floral and Dating Websites at the Office

Websense Helps Organizations Manage Employees' Access to Dating, Shopping Sites - Without Shooting Cupid By Completely Blocking Access

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN), the world's leading provider of employee internet management solutions, today stated that companies can expect increased employee traffic to jewelry, floral and dating websites at the office in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day. However, this does not necessarily have to mean a drop in productivity for organizations. Websense helps organizations manage employees' access to dating and shopping sites -- without flirting with a productivity loss.

Finding the perfect Valentine's Day gift for that special someone can be laborious, involving long hours on the internet to search for the ideal present. According to a survey by online jewelry retailer Blue Nile, 19 percent of respondents ranked receiving a bad gift or no gift as their worst Valentine's Day experience. In order to find that perfect present, employees can browse nearly 400,000 websites devoted solely to shopping. In fact, the 2004 Websense Web@Work survey states that more than 55 percent of employees shop online at the office. Whether it's a bouquet of flowers or even an engagement ring, employees can utilize corporate high-speed internet connections to research these important holiday purchases.

Attempting to find a perfect mate online to spend the upcoming holiday with can be even more time-consuming. Looking for love in the workplace has become a popular 9-to-5 activity for more than 14 million employees who regularly log onto dating websites, such as Match.com and eHarmony.com. According to Websense, the number of personals and dating websites has almost doubled in the last 12 months, now totaling approximately 45,700 websites.

"With employees working longer hours, having less free time to shop or socialize and greater access to high-speed internet connections, it's not surprising that shopping and dating sites attract employees as a convenient way to pursue that special someone -- especially around Valentine's Day," said Leo Cole, vice president of marketing, Websense, Inc. "However, blocking access altogether to shopping and dating websites can be too restrictive. With Websense's flexible internet management policies, organizations can successfully maintain overall employee output as well as employee morale."

To strike the appropriate balance between both company and employee requirements, Websense Enterprise(R) helps facilitate an employee-centric internet access environment. The granularity of Websense Enterprise gives organizations the ability to closely manage or block internet categories including shopping sites during temporary periods of anticipated high levels of employee distraction such as around Valentine's Day. Websense's patented flexible filtering options accommodate companies that may wish to manage, but not completely block access to these types of websites.

Patented Websense web filtering policy options include a time-based quota, in which companies set daily time limits for employee access to non-business- related websites, and notify a user when they must use quota time to access a site. For example, during the week of Valentine's Day, an organization may choose to extend their normal "daily personal use of the internet" quota from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, providing adequate time for employees to leverage the internet for e-commerce while at work. In addition, Websense also offers a continue option which notifies a user that a website is considered inappropriate, while immediately allowing access to the site with prior notification that access to the site will be reported.

For a free 30-day trial of Websense Enterprise go to www.websense.com.

About Websense, Inc.


Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN), the world's leading provider of employee internet management solutions, enables organizations to optimize employee use of computing resources and mitigate new threats related to internet use including instant messaging, peer-to-peer, and spyware. By providing usage policy enforcement at the internet gateway, on the network and at the desktop, Websense products enhance productivity and security, optimize the use of IT resources and mitigate legal liability for our customers. For more information, visit www.websense.com.

(C) 2005, Websense, Inc. All rights reserved. Websense and Websense Enterprise are registered trademarks of Websense, Inc. in the United States and certain international markets. Websense has numerous other unregistered trademarks in the United States and internationally. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jennifer Culter
Websense, Inc.
858 320 9511
jculter@websense.com


Source: Websense, Inc.

CONTACT: Jennifer Culter of Websense, Inc., +1-858-320-9511,
jculter@websense.com

Web site: http://www.websense.com/


-------
Profile: intent

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home