Office email best for social life

Only a third of e-mails sent at work have anything to do with company business, a new survey has revealed.

A study of 40 large companies confirms what many employees already know - e-mail at work offers an ideal and cheap way of organising your social life.

More than half of the e-mails sent by the 40,000 employees surveyed were of a personal "conventional" nature. Another 12 per cent were of a "less straightforward" nature - and illustrate the extent to which work computers are used for subjects very much outside of company business.

Almost 10 per cent were of an "offensive" nature - porn and jokes. A disturbing 0.16 per cent were potentially illegal, mostly graphic sexual images.

Another 0.38 per cent were defamatory - and 0.86 per cent were classed as harassment of some form. Most worryingly, 0.27 per cent were of "a grotesque or dark nature", such as snuff-movie images or war footage.

This free communication could be under threat with the arrival of new regulations. The Data Protection Act, which covers the monitoring of e-mails, came into effect in October and employers are waiting for guidance on how it should be interpreted.

It is expected the guidelines will ensure that employers must prove a strong business case to monitor e-mails. The new code is expected in two months' time.

Meanwhile, employers are being advised to be open with staff about monitoring. They should only scrutinise any individual if they are certain they can defend their action in a court of law or employment tribunal.

Only a very small proportion of e-mails are thought to be damaging to a company's reputation or commercial standing.