There are powerful reasons why an employer might not want to use electronic surveillance of employees. Manny Avramidis, senior vice president of global human resources for the AMA, says that this decision depends on the company and the work environment an employer wants to create:
"Depending on the level of freedom allowed in a company or the type of employer, electronic surveillance of employees may not be desirable. Companies that employ new college grads, who have absolutely blurred lines and are online all day, are an example. In fact, 99% of the population will be fine without electronic surveillance; fewer than one percent of employees are causing the damage that allows all of the bad stuff for employers to kick in."
- Avramidis said that electronic surveillance of employees can affect the relationship of an employer and an employee. "For the employee who is doing the right thing and focusing on work and using technology moderately for personal use, electronic surveillance will have no impact. For bad employees, electronic surveillance will put a strain on their relationship with their employer."
- A major concern of some employers is the potential damage to a work culture that fosters trust and employee commitment and motivation. Electronic surveillance of employees appears incongruent with such an environment.
- According to Avramidis, "Employees judged on the results of their work are spending more time online doing personal things to manage personal business. There is a cross-over between where work leaves off and the personal work begins. The concern becomes real for employers when an employee is not meeting goals, or not living up to expectations."
In fact, for committed employees, there is as much cross-over at home between work and personal business as there is at work. That is part of the discretionary energy, the energy that employees voluntarily contribute above and beyond expectations, that employers hope to earn."Indeed, employees spend an average of 3.7 hours a week on the Web for personal activities at work and 5.9 hours a week online at home doing work-related tasks, according to a study by the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business and Rockbridge Associates, a market research firm based in Great Falls, Virginia."
- The final reason why employers may not want to use electronic surveillance of employees is employee privacy. According to Eric J. Sinrod, a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris, where he specializes in technology and litigation matters, employee concerns about electronic surveillance are legitimate.
"Still, workers have legitimate concerns that their privacy rights might be invaded. The primary federal statute in this area is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA). The ECPA, codified at 18 U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq., bars the intentional interception of any wire, oral or electronic communication, or the unauthorized access of stored communications.
"The ECPA does have three exceptions, and if any one of these applies, monitoring can take place under appropriate circumstances. The exceptions generally allow employers to monitor business-related phone calls, to monitor communications when there has been employee consent, and to retrieve and access stored e-mail messages."
Summary of Electronic Surveillance of Employees at Work
As you see, there are many pros and many cons to the electronic surveillance of employees in the workplace. Weigh all of these factors when you decide how to proceed with employee monitoring in your workplace.In my company, where we develop software, we have mostly college-degreed, young employees who are goal oriented and technologically advanced. We appreciate every ounce of discretionary energy they contribute at work and at home. A certain amount of Web surfing is necessary to stay abreast in our field and to obtain competitive intelligence. Electronic surveillance of our employees is nowhere on our radar. I'll be surprised if it is ever an issue.
In any setting, however:
- develop a computer, Internet, and email policy;
- train the employees regularly so that they are familiar with your company's expectations;
- ask the employees to sign off on understanding the policy;
- then, take a deep breath and - trust them.
