Blog Firings Becoming More Prevalent

Thanks to Michael Fitzgibbon at Thoughts from a Management Lawyer for bringing to my attention this survey on Wired.  The study asks corporations how many of them have fired employees for blog-related offenses:

[N]early ten percent of companies have fired an employee for violating corporate blogging or message board policies, and 19 percent have disciplined an employee for the same infractions.

Also interesting:

Almost a third of companies "employ staff to read or otherwise analyze outbound email," while more than fifteen percent have hired people whose primary function is to spy on outgoing corporate email.

Michael finds that number of blog-related firings high, but I am not surprised as companies appear to be finally becoming aware of the damage a lone blogger can do other employees and to a company's image and reputation.  I would expect blog-related discipline in the work place to continue to increase to the level at which employees are now being punished for personal phone calls, improper internet use, and inappropriate emails.

PS