The truth is many modern knowledge workers don’t care about IT policies designed to protect sensitive data, and these employees often workaround HR policies and even IT controls on e-mail and files. Even Alaskan governors have been burned, after all. But with 8% of companies firing employees for social networking-related offenses, how many companies actively seek out and discipline employees for forwarding the occasional “internal-use only” document on their @hotmail.com, @gmail.com, or @yahoo.com address?

In tightly-controlled industries, like medicine and finance, it’s more likely to be common practice with strict enforcement, but time and again I heard even law firms bend the rules or just look the other way for the sake of convenience.

So the question is: Is your personal e-mail policy clear? And is it enforced? I’d love to hear what you see at your own business, so leave a comment or e-mail me directly at Michael@ITKnowledgeExchange.com. If requested, I’ll keep your name and any other identifying details private.

More on personal e-mail in the enterprise:

• Palin’s Yahoo! hack raises security concerns
• Is your IT department fighting Google guerillas?
• U.S., EU personal data protection laws make e-discovery risky

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