Monitoring of employees at the workplace is a widespread phenomenon. According to a study by the American Management Association (AMA), a corporate training and consulting group based in New York, more than 77 percent companies monitor employee behaviour in office. The companies review and record their employee communications and activities in the workplace that includes email, computer files and Internet connections. Companies with this reviewing aim to assess employee job performance and to ensure data security.
When it comes to workplace monitoring, employees have little power. All one can do is take small precautions to keep one’s privacy during office hours.
Some companies often monitor the voice calls of their employees with the clients sometimes for quality reasons. So the best way to ensure privacy of personal calls made at office is to use one’s own mobile phone, or a separate phone if assigned by the employer for personal calls.
Emails can also be monitored. Messages sent within the company and those sent to another company can all be monitored. This also includes email accounts such as instant messages, Yahoo and Hotmail and voice mail systems. So if you think that these activities are private and are not being monitored, think again. The employer is within his rights to monitor such activities. According to the law, all office equipment and the space belong to the company. So it’s best to limit your online activity when in office and never send any confidential private email using the office Internet connection.
As our personal computer keeps a history of Web surfing, the company’s server also does the same. So one should be cautious. Since your every online activity can be monitored, you should be careful about what sites you visit and what you download from the Net. You shouldn’t store any personal data in your office computers either, as companies review computer files as well.
The concern about the rights of employees with respect to their right of privacy often clashes with the company’s need to defend against workplace abuse. Companies cite possible legal liability related offensive material on employees’ computers, which also creates antagonistic work situations. Employees, on the other hand, often take privacy rights similar to ones at home for granted at the workplace. In reality, workers don’t have much legal right in terms of privacy vis-à-vis their employer. This “watching over” your every move may be annoying but is inevitable in the modern electronic age. Know your limits and your rights and consider the ramifications of the information you send or receive via telephone or computers at work.
