Workplace Monitoring
As technology advances, employers worldwide are faced with the problem of employee's ill usage of the communication media. In order to reduce these risks, employers are now turning towards technology monitoring, which would enable them to keep a strict watch over their employees. A lot of issues have risen, as a result of workplace monitoring and the debate whether this act of the employers is ethically correct or not is on the rise. According to Charles Frayer, "The single greatest invasion of any sensible space of privacy that cyberspace has produced is the extraordinary monitoring of employees in which corporations now engage" (Charles Frayer, Employee Privacy And Internet Monitoring: Balancing Workers' Rights And Dignity With Legitimate Management Interests).
Workplace monitoring is not wrong. It might even help and benefit an employer and his employees. For this to be true, it is essential that a creditable relationship exist between both the employee and the employer. Both the parties must have mutual understanding between them and keep the line of colloquy open. The employer will naturally have a final say in the end after listening to all the issues of his employees. As a result a likely solution will turn up and a better working environment would be attainable.
In order to invade an employee's privacy, it is essential that that employee have the right to his privacy. "Generally speaking, the right of privacy has been based upon a reasonable expectation of that right by the one seeking its protection. It would be absurd to assert that an employer may never monitor an employee's online activities" (Charles Frayer, Employee Privacy And Internet Monitoring: Balancing Workers' Rights And Dignity With Legitimate Management Interests). Consider a case in which an employee is trading company's secrets through the Internet. An employer than has every right to take an appropriate action against that employee and in order to ensure that this does not happen in the future, he might monitor all the communication media provided in the organization.
Monitoring the productivity of employees by employers is not an inherently bad action. The intentions of the employers are merely to make sure that work progresses so that a business can be run profitably. If the work is not being done on time or in an efficient manner, the business could crumble and employees could be laid off. It could be said that monitoring the work done by a worker is a way of guaranteeing that worker's job will still exist in the future. The employer is then looking out for the good of the company as well as the employee (Donna Beck, To What Extent Should
Employers Electronically Monitor Employees?).
Hence, monitoring only ensures that all the employees working in an organization are doing their work right. It also makes sure that a company business thrives.
Before a person is asked to join an organization, it is essential that he may be presented with the company's policy statement. This statement would outline all the guidelines that an employee is suppose to follow.
A policy statement defines the purpose of the business at hand, the standards, and the inferences to be drawn from the data. Employees should know how much data will be monitored and collected if they are to reserve their right to freedom. The statement should state what is really needed to know, as opposed to what they might like to know. Confidentiality of information has to be addressed in this policy (Donna Beck,
To What Extent Should Employers Electronically Monitor Employees?).
After a survey conducted by the American Management Association, it was found that more than two thirds of all the U.S. organizations are involved in workplace surveillance. As monitoring technology enhances, the prospects of workplace monitoring are sure to increase. According to Eileen Kelly, "The exact nature and extent of employee activities monitored by employers vary widely. Among other areas, monitoring can encompass e-mail, voice mail, telephone conversations, Internet usage, computer files, location tracking, and video surveillance" (Eileen Kelly, Electronic Monitoring Of Employees In The Workplace).
Present Company policies pertaining to workplace monitoring encompass an extensive spectrum. There are certain employers who do not monitor their employees, whereas there are also those that...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now