09/02/2007

UK businesses are being warned that they could be leaving themselves vulnerable to litigation as a result of intranets, following concerns over intranet policy management.

Research conducted by NETconsent shows that as many as 50 per cent of UK firms could be at risk of litigation arising from intranet-related issues. In particular, it is thought that intranet growth could result in management difficulties.

Contentious issues related to intranet policy management include accuracy, user understanding, relevance and access.

If any of these were to be compromised a business could potentially find itself facing legal difficulties, with little means of redressing the issue due to the fact that intranets do not in themselves demand signatory evidence.

Dominic Saunders of NETconsent explains that employers need to ensure that policies published on intranets are fully accessible to employees.

"By using intranets to communicate policies, companies are leaving it to employees to locate and read policies, but the responsibility should be with the employer, not the employee," he said.

"Without evidence of the signed document, employers are leaving themselves open to risk."