Should Employer Monitor Its Employees

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Eleazu October 25, 10

Thursday, February 03, 2011 1



Controversy

Position & Argument Summary

Benefits and Evidence Conclusion

Bibliography




Is it appropriate for employers to e-monitortheir employees?

Pros Reduce or eliminate potential legal liability. Employees maintain efficient and productive work habits when monitored. Protect security of their proprietary information and data. Help to avoid misuse of employers equipment and resources. Create safe work environment. Improve customer service. Help prevent theft and wasteful destruction of property. Help investigate complaints of harassment. (2) (4)(5)

Cons Reduced level of trust and respect between employer and employee. Increased employee turnover. Deceased productivity. Diminished morale and dignity. Increased hostility.(2)(4)(5)




PositionYes, it is appropriate for employers to e-

monitor their employees. However, thereshould be a balance between employees

privacy versus employers right and needto know.




Reduce potential legal liability.

Increase employees productivity.

Protect security of proprietaryinformation and data.

Prevent misuse of employersequipment and resources.

Create safe work environment.




Electronic monitoring of employees inthe workplace:

³Employers monitor employees primarily because of concerns over potential legal lia bility. Employers scr utinize employee email and web

usage to avoid or mitigate potential legal lia bility for work place sexual-har assment claims. Courts are increasingly finding employers lia ble for sexually har assing, hostile work environments when their employees usecompany equi pment to tr ansmit offensive e-mail. Because the e-mail systems and computer systems are extensions of the employer¶s pro perty,the employer has a duty to prevent har assment from occurring on them.´(6)

K elly P. Eileen, Professor of Management, Ithaca College




2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey:

"Concern over litigation and the role electronic evidence plays in lawsuits

and regulatory investigations has spurred more employers to monitor

online activity. Data security and employee productivity concerns also motivate employers to monitor Web and e-mail use and content. To help

control the risk of litigation, security breaches and other electronic

disasters, employers should take advantage of monitoring and blocking

technology to battle people problems." (1)

-Nancy Flynn, executive director of The ePolicy Institute




Workplace monitoring:According to 2001 American Management Association Survey, Nearlyhalf of companies monitor E-mail, up from 38% last year, while Internet

monitoring increased to 62.8%, up from 54.1%. Ninety percent of themore than 1,600 managers queried are at companies with revenue of $10million or more. Another study by the nonprofit Privacy Foundation showsthat Internet and E-mail use of one out of three employees is monitored

daily. Please refer to diagram below which indicates that employee

monitoring is on the rise. (12)-Sandra Swanson, InformationWeek.




E-monitoring help increase productivity:

³According to recent estimates, upwards of 90 percent of employers

monitor employee work place activity in some way or another. The

appeal is obvious. When done pro per ly, monitoring can help companies

increase productivity and efficiency.´ (10)

Samuel N. Lillard & Anthony D.Dick, McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC




The main reason for monitoring employees:

There are primary reasons why employers monitor

employee internet behavior at work, de pending on the

organization and its employees. Employee productivity iskey. In addition, most companies will say safety and

productivity are their key concerns which may involve

monitoring employee location via GPS [global positioning

satellite], video camer as in production work areas. ´(8)

Susan M. Healthfield, About.com Guide




Securing data from the threat within:

³While protecting personal infor mation has become an

important legal issue for companies, other sensitiveinfor mation, such as intellectual pro perty, leaked by

insiders to competitors or to the pu blic, can also have

devastating financial consequences.´ (11)

Marguerite Reardon, CNET News.com





Securing data from the threat within:



Internet monitoring in workplace:

³Legal lia bility isn¶t the only thing that concerns

employers. Companies may also worry that employees areleaking tr ade secrets or other pro prietary infor mation via

email or chat sessions.´(9)

FLG Networking Services




Monitoring reduces the incidents of misusing

employer¶s equipment and resources:³ It is advisa ble for employers to implement, maintain, and

enforce s pecific written policies that limit the use of company-issued systems, equi pment and then advise

employees that their use of such company-issued systems

and equi pment will be su bject to unannounced ins pection

and monitoring.´(3)

Madeline S. Baio, Chaiwoman, Rawle & Henderson.




Monitoring helps avoid misuse of

employers equipment:

³Inappro priate use of such equi pment can seriously

under mine a company¶s a bility to protect its tr adesecrets and other confidential infor mation, and it

also contributes to claims for antitr ust violation

and co pyright infringement.´(7)

Employer Guidelines, Wildman Harrold.




Monitoring helps create safe workplace:

A formal policy has several advantages.A written

policy, coupled with consistent enforcement, can

help a company demonstrate good-f aith efforts

to prevent hostile environment(6)

K elly P. Eileen, Professor of Management, Ithaca College




Monitoring helps reduce workplace harassment:

³Work place monitoring and surveillance is a sensible means to comply with feder al data security statutes. It also provides additional lia bility protection for the fir m. Monitoring promotes the personal protection of employees byreducing or eliminating instances of work place har assment. Balancing

monitoring and employee privacy is achieva ble with minimal stress whenorganizations infor m employees of the pur pose of monitoring activities, set privacy ex pectations and create reasona ble monitoring policies. Fir ms that useelectronic monitoring and surveillance to comply with the Gr amm-Leach-BlileyAct may find that the added benefits (i.e., protecting organizational assets, preventing misuse of company resources and

protecting the fir m from legal lia bility) are worth it.´ (13)

Robin L.Wakefield, Ph.D., Information System Control Journal -ISACA




Employee monitoring is the bestapproach for any organization because of the following reasons:

Reductions in potential legal liabilities. Increases employees productivity.

Protects security of proprietary informationand data.

Prevents misuse of employers equipmentand resources.

Creates safe work environment.




1) "2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey: Over Half of All Employers

Com bined Fire Workers for E-Mail & Internet A buse | Business Wire | Find Articles at

BNET." Find Articles at BNET | News Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference

Articles on All Topics. 28 Feb. 2008. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.

<htt p://findarticles.com/ p/articles/mi_ m0EIN/is_2008_Feb_28/ai_n24354559/>.

2) Baase, Sar a. AGift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing. U pper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print (Page 334-344).

3) Baio, Madeline S. "Employer Monitoring of Electronic Communications." Law.com |

Legal News, Technology, In-House Counsel, & Small Fir ms Legal Resources. 03 Jan.

2010. Web. 20 Se pt. 2010. <

htt p://www.law.com/js p/lawtechnologynews/Pu bArticleLTN.js p?id=1202444716089>

4) Ciocchetti, Corey A. "MONITORING EMPLOYEE E-MAIL: EFFICIE NT

WORKPLACES VS. EMPLOYEE PRIVACY." 7 July 2001. Web. 20 Se pt. 2010.

<htt p://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2001dltr0026.html>.

5) Deaver, By Scott. "Work place Computer Monitoring." Hu bPages. 18 Jan. 2010. Web.

20 Oct. 2010. <htt p://hu b pages.com/hu b/Work place-computer -security>.Thursday, February 03, 2011 19



6) Eileen, Kelly P. "Electronic monitoring of employees in the work place". National For um. findArticles. S pring 2001. Web. 25 October 2010.<htt p://findarticles.com/ p/articles/mi_qa3651/is_200104/ai_n8939300/ >

7) "Employer Guidelines for Monitoring Employee Communications Under Feder al andIllinois Law: On-Line Employment & La bor Libr ary." Wildman. Nov. 2007. Web. 20Se pt. 2010.<htt p://www.wildman.com/index.cf m?f a= pu blications.libArticle&artid=5ACC07A2-BDB9-4A10-575C90591F4B9029>.

8) Heathfield, Susan M. "Surfing the Web at Work - What Employers Are Doing A boutEmployees Surfing the Web at Work." Human Resources - Business ManagementDevelo pment Jobs Consulting Tr aining Policy Human Resources. 15 June 2010. Web. 20Oct. 2010. <htt p://humanresources.a bout.com/od/technology/a/surfing_web.htm>.

9) "Internet Monitoring." Cisco Network Consulting for the K ansas CityArea. FLG Networking Service. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.<htt p://www.f lgnetworking.com/internet_ monitoring.html>.




10) Lillard, Samuel N., and Anthony D. Dick. "Big Brother, Big Implications: Creating

an Employee Monitoring Policy Without Creating Additional Legal Lia bility.´

Pennsylvania La bor and Employment Blog.8 May 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.

<htt p://www. pala bor andemploymentblog.com/2010/05/articles/employer -lia bility/big-

brother - big-implications-creating-an-employee-monitoring-policy-without-creating-

additional-legal-lia bility/>.

11) Reardon, Marguerite. "Securing Data from the Threat within." TechRe pu blic Articles.11 Jan. 2005. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. <htt p://articles.techre pu blic.com.com/5100-22_11-

5530816.html>.

12) Swanson Sandr a. ³Beware: Employee monitoring is on the risk.´ Infor mationWeek.

20August 2001. Web. 20 October 2010.

<htt p://www.infor mationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=6506302>

13) Wakefield, Robin L. "Employee Monitoring and Surveillance - The Growing Trend."

ISACA.org. 2004. Web. 29 Se pt. 2010. < Wakefield, Robin L. "Employee Monitoring

and Surveillance - The Growing Trend." 2004. Web. 29 Se pt. 2010.>


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Should Employer Monitor Its Employees

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