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Employees' extra-curricular web-surfing while at work is so prevalent that it costs their bosses an average of £939 per employee, the Confederation of British Industry has found.

Employees' extra-curricular web-surfing while at work is so prevalent that it costs their bosses an average of £939 for each employee, the Confederation of British Industry has found.

The average UK office worker spends an hour-and-a-half a week of work time surfing the web for personal use, at a cost to the economy of £10.6bn a year, the CBI said.

While many organisations view it as a motivational perk in the modern workplace when conducted during break-times, others in the 503 organisations surveyed are troubled by the excessive use of it.

The CBI survey found 60 per cent of employers think staff regularly use office time outside of lunch hours and formal breaks to look at non-work sites, like those involving social networking, web email, shopping and holidays.

Only 14 per cent of firms restricted web access altogether.

John Cridland, deputy director general of the CBI, said: "Many firms feel that, as long as the job gets done, there is no problem with staff surfing for personal use. Productivity and morale can increase when firms trust staff to use the web sensibly to catch up with friends on Facebook, pay household bills, or search for a cheap flight.

However, £10.6bn a year is a significant sum and this is an issue that firms need to be aware of. It can become a problem when staff are spending excessive amounts of time online, are downloading porn or software, or are putting the organisation's reputation at risk."

A third of survey respondents have had to discipline an employee for internet misuse in the last year, while 13 per cent took action to dismiss an employee for persistent misuse. One anecdotal example was of an insurance company which has to dismiss an employee for spending entire working days playing a fantasy role-playing game.

Mr Cridland added: "Nobody wants to behave like Big Brother and there is no epidemic of misuse, but there needs to be a bit of give-and-take from all parties. Employers need to decide for themselves what level of non-work surfing is acceptable and then set out clear boundaries."

The survey further found that 54 per cent of organisations restrict internet access at work, although the extent of that control can vary widely; 14 per cent deny access altogether, while a quarter offer unlimited access. The remaining 7 per cent are considering imposing limits on web use.