When Canon, arguably the king in the photocopier market, did a survey on its machine breakdowns recently, it really got to the bottom of things. In a 2005 survey by Canon United Kingdom of its 600 technicians, 192 of them - or 32 per cent - reported having taken apart jammed photocopiers only to finding damning evidence of internal sabotage - like broken glass and 'embarrassing images'.
People were apparently sitting on the glass pane of the copier to make copies of their posteriors.
Canon, in a report cited on its company website, did not say what punishment was meted out to these abusers. Neither did it give reasons for their bizarre behaviour.
Office workers here do not seem to have ventured into such new tech-abuse territories.
But a Digital Life poll of 100 people showed that technology misdeeds - though milder here - do occur.
Of the 100 people I polled on SurveyMonkey.com, all admitted to one or more of 20 digital abuses posed to them.
The top three abuses: Making personal calls, chatting online, and sending personal e-mails on company time.
Make personal calls
Of the weaker moments they have come across, a respondent who wanted only to be known as Mr Wong, 34, recalls coming to work a 'long time ago when laser printers were still a rare commodity' to be greeted with this information from the clerk.
'He had found a full-colour picture of a nude male model in the tray of one of the printers,' said Mr Wong, who works in the marketing industry.
'The boss was shocked and ordered the source to be traced. In the end, it was found that the offending picture came from one of my male colleagues. He then explained that he had printed it for his friend and didn't know the content of the photo.' Hmmm.
Print personal documents
Another survey respondent, who identified himself as Mr Tan, told Digital Life of another scandalous incident.
The 21-year-old recalled how, when he was in a management firm last year, he became suspicious of an intern's phone conversation.
Said Mr Tan, who currently works in a computer manufacturing company: 'When my colleagues and I went closer (to eavesdrop), we discovered that he was having phone sex. I wanted to puke.'
These abuses cost money. Big money.
Visit non work-related websites and forums
Personal Internet surfing at work alone costs companies more than US$300 billion (S$460 billion) a year in the United States and ?9.6 billion (S$29 billion) a year in Britain, according to surveys done by Salary.com and Websense International, respectively.
Similar figures are not available for Singapore. But if the bustling activity on various local online forums like Hardwarezone, VR-Zone and SGClub during office hours are anything to go by, companies here could be racking up a considerable bill as well.
Send personal messages
Tech abuse in the office can make a big dent on a company's productivity, said Mr David Ang, 59, executive director of the Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI).
Said Mr Ang: 'The costs in terms of productivity and time wastage are substantial. If the degree of abuse is high, companies lose their competitive edge and their survivability is affected.'
Two main categories of abusers emerged from DL's survey - skivers and cheapskates.
Certainly, thumb-twiddlers, work dodgers and pilferers have been around for ages.
It is just that their poor work ethics have taken on a new slant.
Charge personal devices
For instance, instead of slacking off in a toilet cubicle, workers may surf sites of personal interest - anything from online bridal shops to blogs.
The cheapskate, who may have loaded his briefcase with unused photocopy paper, now happily taxes the office printer by printing photographs of his latest holiday trip.
Before you take the moral high ground, consider one survey participant's plea for leniency: 'I need the distraction to keep me going.'
And apply the principle of 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.'
So raise your hands if you have not made a personal call on the office phone on company time.
Or printed stacks of voucher discounts or photocopied a dozen pages of assessment papers for your son.
No one? We didn't think so.
Excuses
Photocopy personal documents
From genes to boredom to no urgency - these were the range of reasons that office-tech abusers gave for misusing office equipment, mainly the phone, printer and photocopier.
Some classic takes:
'Because my uncle is the boss.'
'I guess it's in my genes.'
'To keep me sane.'
Not amusing, said Mr David Ang, executive director of the Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI).
For every tech misuse, he gives an option:
On playing games on the office PC: 'Today, everyone has a PC with games already installed on it. Employees should exercise self-restraint.'
Play computer games
On making personal calls: 'Employees should look to cheaper alternative ways of calling, such as through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services like Skype.'
On abusing the printer and photocopier: 'Watch it. Your boss may not like you printing your resumes in the office.'
TOP 10 ABUSES AT WORK
Computers connected to the Internet are found in every company. Workers can use them to access many persoanl services like surfing for best buys and chatting with friends.
Digital Life surveyed 100 people on SurveyMonkey.com, asking them whether they committed any or all of 20 'office abuses' at work.
All respondents pleaded guilty to one or more of the tech abuses.
The survey participants ranged in age from 20 to 34, from companies as diverse as manufacturing and IT to banking and finance.
Here are the results.
#1. Make personal calls: 78
#2. Visit non work-related websites and forums: 77
#3. Send personal instant messages: 76
#4. Send personal e-mails messages: 72
Browse Youtube
#5. Print personal documents: 63
#6. Charge personal devices: 56
#7. Photocopy personal documents: 54
#8. Browse YouTube: 33
#9. Update your blog: 28
#10. Play computer games: 28
What the employees say
Update your blog
'We all know that there are all kinds of abuses at all levels in companies, such as share trading during office hours. As long as the employees can do their jobs and do it well, why not?'
- Mr Wong, 34, who works in marketing
'Employers should just relax. As long as work gets done on time and IT security is maintained, I don't see the need for employers to supervise their employees.'
- Mr Tan, 21, works in a computer manufacturing company
'It is quite normal that staff do some minimal personal things using office resources, but those who take it overboard are indeed very daring! People should be smart about such actions of theirs, like not leaving their printed documents sitting on the printer...The key is to be discreet.'
- Ms Ng, 28, works in marketing and communications
Editor's note: All the office workers interviewed gave only their surnames.
