The internet is a tempting distraction for many of us, and Canadian companies are increasingly taking steps to control employees' web use, a survey found.

The study, which surveyed 270 Canadian chief information officers working at firms with 100 or more employees, was released by Robert Half Technology on Thursday. Overall, 61 per cent of companies it looked at had some sort of policy in place for managing workers' internet use.

The boss could be watching your web surfing.

The report said 34 per cent of the companies surveyed had corporate policies detailing acceptable web browsing by employees. An additional 18 per cent had guidelines in place, as well as office software that blocked certain internet content from workers.

Thirty per cent of Canadian firms had no policy in place to limit employees surfing the web at work.

The survey also asked chief information officers why they limited employees' web browsing. The most common answer was to stop access of inappropriate content at work. More than half also said it was to prevent virus attacks and to stop employees from wasting time at work.

"All companies should have a corporate policy in place that outlines acceptable web use by employees," Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, said in the release. "Communicating and explaining web access policies, along with the risks associated with web browsing, helps employees understand why these guidelines are in place."

The survey was conducted by an unnamed independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a worldwide recruitment firm.