A recent survey by Proofpoint, a provider of electronic messaging security solutions, and Forrester Consulting has found that approximately one in three large U.S. companies—those with more than 1,000 staffers—have fired an employee for violating e-mail policies within the past 12 months.

On top of this finding, the companies say 7 percent of U.S. companies have let staffers go for “inappropriate” blog postings, and 38 percent contract individuals for the purpose of scanning and examining outgoing employee electronic messages.

The two companies posit that the findings suggest two growing areas of corporate concern that CIOs would be wise to note: the increasing risk associated with the “insider threat,” and a lack of understanding on the part of employees regarding corporate messaging policies.

The full survey includes the responses of “decision makers” from 294 large U.S. companies and 112 large U.K. firms.

Additional findings include: 

• More than 50 percent of companies surveyed have disciplined an employee for breaking a messaging policy in the past year.
  
• The surveyed companies say around 20 percent of outgoing electronic messages from employees contain information or content that represents some legal, financial or regulatory risk.
  
• Upward of 25 percent of companies received orders from some regulatory body or agency to hand over an employee communication over the past 12 months.

For additional findings, check out the full survey.

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