Electronic Surveillance on-The-Job: The Pros and Cons of Employee Monitoring
Modern technology has allowed employers many new capacities, including the capacity to electronically oversee employees every action while on-the-job. In recent years many employees have argued that surveillance while on-the-job is a violation of their right to privacy. Employers argue however that employees should not have a right to privacy in the workplace, especially as the employer pays them to perform a duty for the employer. Despite this almost 100% of employees likely report at one time or another engaging in some personal business while at work.
Unfortunately, there are few laws that side with the employee at this time. Most laws argue in favor of the employer, as long as the employer tells the employee of their plans about employee surveillance at the workplace. Below we'll discuss what types of surveillance corporations are now using to protect themselves, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages such methods have for employees.
Background
More and more employers are watching employees in the workplace, especially using computer information systems to track employee communications. Though many employees claim electronic surveying violates their right to privacy in the workplace, many organizations back up the practice claiming they have a right to make sure employees are engaging in productive activities while on-the-job. Electronic surveying takes many different forms, and may include collection, analysis and reporting of information from computer terminals, telephone conversations and even extracting information from employee voice mail messages (Crampton & Mishra, 4).
Facts and Statistics
More than 26 million workers are monitored each year in the United States, with more employers adopting surveillance measures every year (DeTienne, 33). Many of the workers recorded are evaluated from a performance level by electronic surveying. Some studies suggest that as many as 30 million people in the next decade will be consistently watched to discover their day-to-day activities on-the-job (DeTienne, 33).
There are many different employee monitoring devices available for employers today. The most common is computer monitoring systems (Losey, 77). These systems often evaluate the accuracy and keystrokes an employee inputs into the system (Crampton & Mishra, 4). Other monitoring includes surveillance of employee activities through video surveillance cameras. These cameras can check employee activities at and away from employee terminals. Of particular interest to employers are activities such as theft, horseplay, safety and spying (Crampton & Mishra, 4).
Computer monitoring systems are by far the most common systems used by employers to track employee work roles. Computer monitoring can even detect the time an employee spends away from their computer terminal or whether they are idle while at their computers. Keystroke monitoring however is much less invasive than e-mail and communications monitoring. More and more employers are viewing private e-mail messages and other communications that employees send while on-the-job. Employers often justify this practice by claiming they have a right to ensure that employees are working while on-the-job rather than using personal time and the organizations equipment to conduct private business.
Many employers' record e-mail and voice mail as common practice (Crampton & Mishra, 3). Most employers are able to use new technologies to check e-mail even after an employee deletes their e-mail. Most messages are permanently backed up by organizations using computer information systems. Unfortunately there are few federal laws that specifically restrict an employer from reading any e-mails or computer files and employee creates (Crampton & Mishra, 4). Studies suggest that as many as one in five companies search employee e-mails and other computer files.
Other means employers adopt to record employees include eavesdropping on employee conversations by phone tapping. Phone tapping allows employers to track incoming, outgoing and the frequency of phone calls (Crampton & Mishra, 4). Even employee security badges provide employers a means to track employees, by monitoring their location and the number of times they a building.
At this time there are no comprehensive federal laws that protect employee privacy on-the-job (Alderman, 31). Rather, because of advancements in technology organizations are better able to record employees using information technology without consequence
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
The most well-known law related to employee monitoring in the workplace is the Electronic and Communications Privacy Act. Employees are granted some protections under the law but thanks to laws like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act most employees are subject to surveillance. This act does not limit the policies organizations use for allowing employees to use company property for private e-mail.
There are in fact many interpretations of this law. In general, the law protects individuals from unauthorized access to their e-mail,...
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