Employee Monitoring

12 Key excerpts on "Employee Monitoring"

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  eBook - ePub

  Digitized Institutions

  • Daniels, Jessie, Gregory, Karen, Jessie Daniels, Karen Gregory, Tressie McMillan Cottom(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Policy Press

    (Publisher)

  According to a study conducted by the American Management Association (AMA), the number of companies that monitor their employees’ phones and computer use is extensive. In 2007, as many as 43 percent of companies monitored their employees’ email, and 73 percent of these companies did so with automatic equipment. Fully 45 percent of the companies monitored time spent and phone numbers called, and according to the survey, another 16 percent record phone conversations. The same frightening extent of surveillance applies to text messages. According to the same survey, it is not uncommon for companies to terminate their employees for abusing their internet access, email or smartphone policies (AMA, 2014). Neither this type of monitoring of employee communications activities nor the disciplinary measures are new. Monitoring is increasing, but the same pattern can be seen over a long period of years (Nord et al, 2006). The figures may vary between different studies, but are, beyond doubt, increasing. In line with the companies’ increased interest in surveillance, the industry for Employee Monitoring software is growing rapidly. According to Gartner, one of the leading information technology research and advisory companies, the industry is growing, and the company expects that 60 percent of corporations have implemented formal programs for monitoring external social media for security breaches and incidents by 2015 (see Gartner, 2012; see also Tam et al, 2005).

  Not only the extent, but above all, the target, form, and shape of surveillance has undergone changes. According to Stanton (2000), electronic monitoring has moved from performance measuring of easily quantifiable clerical work in the 1980s and 1990s to monitoring a much broader range of work-related activities not directly linked to performance, such as monitoring websites visited. The change can be partly explained by the fact that work has changed and become more complex and thus more difficult to monitor. Aside from that, the reasons for monitoring are often discussed in relation to the work morale standards of the workforce and the fears of loafing or immoral online behavior (Paulsen, 2014). According to Appelbaum et al (2005), concerns over workforce morale and the need for surveillance in relation to this is a historical continuity. In a historical perspective, wage labor has generally received a negative interpretation, and the laborer has usually been seen as a despised character (Ottosson and Rosengren, 2015a); Thompson, 1983). Work individualization and increased complexity, along with increased access to the internet, has fueled this negative approach to workforce morale (Paulsen, 2014). An example concerning a contemporary debate on this topic is to what extent, and at what cost, people spend their working day browsing the internet for porn instead of diligently performing their work. For example, there is a widespread quote traveling the internet that claims: “70 per cent of traffic on porn sites takes place during work hours” (Alder et al, 2006; Corbin, 2000; Grodzinsky and Gumbus, 2005). This is a number that easily evokes the image of hordes of libidinous office workers that discard their regular duties and instead, hunkering beneath their tables, indulge in their depraved inclinations. Even though this figure is cited in numerous scientific studies, it is rather hard to tell where it comes from. The source used for reference is SexTracker, an online service whose slogan is “Whatever your taste, SexTracker satisfies.” It is possible, although not probable, that this company delivers reliable surveys. The problem is that there is no way to follow up and replicate this study, since SexTracker does not publish its criteria for inclusion or analysis. This does not, however, hinder Grodzinsky and Gumbus (2005: 251) from using the numbers to claim it as a proof of “the rampant abuse of Internet privileges.” This kind of attack on employee morale seems to be fueled by the providers of Employee Monitoring software. According to the website of one of the largest suppliers of such software, this is a matter of productivity and high costs for businesses:

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  Human Resource Management

  • David A. DeCenzo, Stephen P. Robbins(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Abuses by employees— using the company’s computer system for gambling purposes, running their own busi- nesses, playing computer games, or pursuing personal matters on company time—have resulted in companies implementing a more “policing” role. 32 This can extend, too, to Internet sites, ensuring that employees are not logging on to adult-oriented websites. 33 Further complicating the situation is the fact that companies issue laptops to log in to company servers remotely, or BlackBerry, iPhone, and other smartphones with Internet connections that blur the line between personal and business use. Employees may have an expectation of privacy in e-mail and Internet when taking company devices home or using them in remote locations. As employee-monitoring issues become more noticeable, keep in mind that employ- ers, as long as they have a policy regarding how employees are monitored, will continue to check on employee behavior. The American Management Association asserts that “Technology has provided a capability that we never had before to check up on employ- ees like never before. It’s within an organization’s right to monitor just about anything you do during work time using work tools.” 34 CONTEMPORARY CONNECTION By the Numbers According to the Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance Survey conducted by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute, companies reported: 28 ■ 83 percent inform workers that they monitor content, keystrokes, and time spent at the keyboard. ■ 71 percent alert employees to e-mail monitoring. ■ 66 percent monitor Internet use. ■ 65 percent block connections to inappropriate websites. ■ 52 percent use Smartcard technology to monitor building access. ■ 48 percent use video monitoring of workers. ■ 45 percent monitor time spent on the telephone and numbers called. ■ 43 percent monitor e-mail. ■ 33 percent fired workers for Internet misuse.

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  Strategic Human Resource Management

  • Jeffrey Mello(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Because many employers have taken punitive action against employees for their use of technol -ogy for personal purposes during working hours, there is the potential for increased tension between employees and employers surrounding the use of telecommunications technology. Employers who chose to monitor employee use of telecommunications equipment should implement a clear and suc -cinct policy and communicate this policy to all employees. Monitoring should be kept to a minimum and be consistent with “business necessity” or with performance problems or deficiencies dealt with as part of the employer’s performance management system. As employee loyalty continues to decline, employers need to ensure that their policies do not create additional distrust on the part of their employees. In addition to surveillance and monitoring of employee computer usage, maintaining the security of information obtained by employers is a critical concern that organizations must address. As an increasing amount of employee personal information is collected and stored in automated databases, organizations have a heightened responsibility to ensure that reasonable measures of security have been put in place to prevent access to and leakage of employee information, particularly to those outside the organization. With incidents of identity theft on the rise, inappropriate access to employee personal information contained in employment records could cause tremendous harm to both employees and the employer. Leakage of such information can result in a loss of employee Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience.

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  Decent Work in the Digital Age

  European and Comparative Perspectives

  • Tamás Gyulavári, Emanuele Menegatti, Tamás Gyulavári, Emanuele Menegatti(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Hart Publishing

    (Publisher)

  II. Why Employers Use Surveillance ‘Supervision is part of employment’. 6 This crude statement could be accurately applied to most any period of labour study. The traditional form of monitoring, prior to the largely remote, digital means currently available, had been through human physical oversight, whether of the workforce in action or their production. This form of surveil- lance was limited to the supervising individual’s time and attention. Factory architecture from the first industrial revolution to the office cubicle layout provided management with opportune vantage points for monitoring the workforce. 7 In the later twentieth century, technology offered employers other means by which to oversee the workforce with phone call monitoring and video surveillance. In 1987, the US Congress released its report The Electronic Supervisor. 8 That same year, an estimated 75 per cent of large companies electronically monitored workers. 9 Employers benefited from the ‘constant, pervasive, and unblinking’ 10 character of this form of surveillance. Twenty-first century technological innovations have scaled up workforce surveillance making continuous oversight not only possible, but widely available to a range of employers. The decision to monitor insinuates some level of management distrust of the work- force (even if unintended), where this distrust can lead to or include micro-managing of staff. In the context of a private law right to privacy in 1968, Fried used ‘constant surveillance’ as an example of the absence of trust: ‘[a person] cannot know that [s/he] is trusted unless [s/he] has a right to act without constant surveillance’. 11 Four categories of purposes may be discerned from a management perspective of surveillance: ‘(a) performance appraisal, loss prevention, and profit; (b) develop- ment, growth, and training; (c) administrative and safety; and (d) surveillance and authoritarian control’.

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  Tolley's Managing Email & Internet Use

  • Lynda Macdonald(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The Data Protection Code of Practice on Monitoring at Work (see 4.47) specifies that if there is a less intrusive method for an employer to establish facts that they need to know, then they should pursue that less intrusive method rather than intercepting an employee’s email communications. The one exception would be where the employer had reasonable grounds to suspect that an employee had been involved in serious misconduct, for example harassing another employee by email, or criminal activity such as accessing child pornography on the internet.

  Clearly it is up to each employer to decide what, if any, type of monitoring they wish to conduct and how much detail, or intrusion, they feel is appropriate. As stated above, monitoring should be carried out only where it is necessary and relevant to the business. Equally, the type of monitoring should not be excessive in relation to the needs of the business. There is a major difference between carrying out occasional spot checks on the one hand and the regular interception of actual communications on the other. These matters will need to be carefully thought through by management before any decisions are taken. The workforce should, of course, be consulted before any new or different provisions for monitoring are introduced.

  Monitoring Personal Communications

  [6.7a]

  Further recommendations exist in the Data Protection Code of Practice on Monitoring at Work (and the supplementary guidance that accompanies it), that are relevant to the potential monitoring of employees’ personal communications. These include recommendations that employers should:

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  Walling Out the Insiders

  Controlling Access to Improve Organizational Security

  • Michael Erbschloe(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Auerbach Publications

    (Publisher)

  In addition, an organization can monitor employee use of a company-issued mobile phone including recording text mes- sages, e-mail, web surfing, contacts, calls made, location information if available on the phone, along with photos and videos stored on the phone. It is also important to note that if an employee brings a mobile phone into the workplace, there 244 WALLING OUT THE INSIDERS is technology that enables employers to monitor those phones just as they would a company-issued phone. • In addition to video surveillance systems, there are also audio surveillance systems that can capture voice conversations in an organization’s facilities. More advanced systems can moni- tor both video images and audio conversation simultaneously and follow people as they move throughout a facility. • Organizations may also use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) devices to track employees in employer-owned vehicles including trucks, automobiles, and self-propelled utility vehi- cles. The GPS tracking systems monitor where the vehicles travel, how long the transit takes, and how long the vehicle stops at each location visited. 12.2 Why Employee Surveillance and Monitoring Is Important There are several reasons why monitoring how employees use an orga- nization’s technology systems is important. For this analysis, security is the top concern. Insiders have a long track record of stealing pro- prietary data and sensitive information for a variety of reasons includ- ing their own economic gain. There are other significant, although less dramatic, reasons why employee uses of technology should be controlled. Lost productivity is a very critical issue, especially in unautho- rized or inappropriate computer and Internet usage. People love the Internet for shopping, social media, reading, movies, music, and pornography, just to name a few. The economic impact of unautho- rized Internet use in the workplace adds up very quickly.

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  Human Rights in the Digital Age

  • Mathias Klang, Andrew Murray, Mathias Klang, Andrew Murray(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge-Cavendish

    (Publisher)

  All aspects of an employee’s behaviour at work can now be monitored, often without the employee knowing that the surveillance is taking place. In the last few years, employee surveillance has become more sophisticated, more insidious and more pervasive than ever before. 2 Monitoring employees’ telephone calls, email and Internet use is a particularly emotive and controversial issue. Not only is it one of the emerging legal issues of our time, but it is also a pressing practical problem in the day-to-day management of employment relationships. Many employees seem to regard their ability to make private telephone calls or to send private emails from their work as an unassailable right. On the other hand, many employers think that they have an unfettered right to information about what their employees are doing during their working hours. This chapter is about how the law in the UK attempts to reconcile these two different perspectives. 3 The last few years have seen the introduction of several major pieces of legislation in the UK, which have had a direct impact on this issue. As we shall see, these pieces of legislation do not provide a unified or coherent system of regulation. The legislative provisions are confusing, and at times even conflicting. In an attempt to provide some guidance on the matter, the Information Commissioner has published a Code of Practice on Monitoring at Work, which we shall consider towards the end of the chapter. We begin our analysis by considering the common law. Despite an enormous amount of statutory intervention over the last 30 years, the employment relationship is still essentially one of contract and is regulated at common law by various implied terms. These terms operate independently of legislation and the content of any written statement of employment terms and conditions

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  Perspectives on Privacy

  Increasing Regulation in the USA, Canada, Australia and European Countries

  • Dieter Dörr, Russell L. Weaver, Dieter Dörr, Russell L. Weaver(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter

    (Publisher)

  471 Surveillance also affects motivation and trust. Finding the right balance between monitoring and employee privacy is therefore not only a legal issue. It makes good business sense. It lies in the interests of employers to resort to monitoring and surveillance judiciously to limit negative effects on productivity, job satisfaction and health of employees.

  Like other human rights, privacy protection is not absolute. It needs to be balanced, in the design of a regulatory framework as well as in each individual case, against competing interests. Workplace privacy raises particularly difficult issues because the relationship between workers and employers is governed by multilayered regulation. This regulation often consists of an amalgam of individual contracts, enterprise agreements and statutory regulation. Workers relinquish some of their autonomy, including some privacy, in order to secure a place of work and to receive payment for their services. Wages can be seen partly as a compensation for the loss of privacy during work. However, employment contracts are not like any other commercial agreement. A defining feature of an employment relationship is that it is of a personal nature. Both parties are dependent on one another even though the employer will often be the economically stronger party and able to determine many of the conditions of employment. A further difficulty is that the relationship has the potential to affect third parties, such as fellow employees and customers. This means that the contest is not only between worker privacy and business efficacy, but that these third party interests also need to be given appropriate weight when the competing rights and interests are balanced.

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  Legal and Regulatory Issues in Human Resources Management

  • Ronald R. Sims, William I. Sauser, Jr.(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Information Age Publishing

    (Publisher)

  Electronic Surveillance in the Workplace  307 ◾ requiring staff to sign policies prior to accessing systems ◾ a code of conduct agreed to by management and unions ensuring ethical conduct when using IT facilities at work ◾ training to promote awareness of surveillance policies prior to involvement in WAST’s system The researchers recommend: (a) periodically updating and discussing with employees IT policies and practices; (b) training managers to avoid micromanaging and pressuring staff; (c) being transparent about monitoring systems, their purpose, and significance; and (d) reinforcing the point that as long as employees are doing what they are supposed to do, they should not be concerned. Results from this study, then, suggest the importance of letting people know the rationale for surveillance systems and how such systems provide employee protection, while potentially enhancing productivity. Ethics At a minimum, to be ethical surveillance must be lawful. Employers are permitted by law to engage in surveillance to meet legitimate business ob- jectives, but when it becomes unduly intrusive, overly controlling, or used for questionable purposes, it may be unlawful and unethical (Riedy & Wen, 2010). For example, courts probably will side with employees when moni- toring includes hidden cameras in bathrooms or locker rooms. Because monitoring data can be objective, employees may see advantages to surveil- lance. But, as noted earlier, they also might regard such practices as inva- sions of privacy. Other cherished values may be considered at risk as well. Ethical questions may arise about fairness, autonomy, human dignity, and health impacts (Office of Technology Assessment, 1987). Neither the law nor the collective bargaining agreement is likely to provide adequate guid- ance for how to navigate all of these ethical concerns.

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  Trojans, Worms, and Spyware

  A Computer Security Professional's Guide to Malicious Code

  • Michael Erbschloe(Author)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • Butterworth-Heinemann

    (Publisher)

  92 Trojans, Worms, and Spyware Many attorneys recommend that organizations clearly communicate the acceptable-use policies to employees both in writing and in a formal training program. Employees should be trained on the policies and be required to sign a statement that they have received the training and will adhere to the employer’s policies on acceptable use of computer systems and networks. MONITORING EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOR Monitoring employee use of computers, e-mail systems, and Internet habits has been a rather controversial activity during the last decade. Interviews con-ducted with IT security managers for this book showed that most organiza-tions do not have an extensive monitoring program in place. Other organizations do monitor Internet use, including the movement of large files attached to e-mail messages. The attorneys interviewed for this book generally concurred that monitor-ing employee behavior can yield both mixed results and potential legal hassles. There was a rather unanimous urging that if monitoring is to be done, employ-ees should be informed of monitoring policies and be asked to sign a statement that they have been informed and will comply with acceptable-use policies. It is advisable that before you start using any of these tools to monitor employees’ behavior, you consult with your attorney about local or state laws. Monitoring and scanning e-mail, along with monitoring Internet usage, are the two most common forms of monitoring employee behavior performed by organizations. Scanning e-mails with the intent of blocking SPAM is covered later in this chapter. The same software that can be used to block employees from visiting particular Web sites or types of Web sites can provide a means to monitor surfing behavior or attempted Web surfing behavior. These utilities can track all Web surfing behavior, including the use of Web-based shopping sites, hobby sites, and Web sites that contain violent or unacceptable content.

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  The Ethics of Information Technology and Business

  • Richard T. De George(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  We can nonetheless raise the issue of the ethical rights to privacy and to respect that employees have as human beings and inquire as to what kinds of corporate policies in fact respect those rights. The major issue concerning employees and information tech-nology is surveillance – of employees themselves, of their e-mail, and of their use of the Internet. The advent of the computer has opened up new possibilities of surveillance and of communication, with the attendant temptations of abuse on the part of both employers and employees. Many companies are still struggling with the new issues and with a reasonable and ethically defensible policy. E M P L O Y E E S A N D C O M M U N I C AT I O N P R I VA C Y 91 EMPLOYEE PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE We have already discussed surveillance of individuals in public and the collecting and collating of information. Many of the principles applicable to that discussion, however, find little place in the work-place. In the vast majority of cases, the workplace is not public space and those who work within it are paid employees. They work on company premises, using company tools, machines, furniture, and supplies. They are paid to do certain jobs for a certain period of time. Although they do not belong to their employer, during the time of work they have little claim on privacy. Those who employ them have a right to keep track of the work they do, of how they do it, and of the time it takes them to do it. Some people work under constant supervision. The image of a foreman looking over the piece work of factory workers and applying constant pressure to increase the pace conjures up images of sweatshops. The kind of close surveillance associated with blue collar workers, factories, and assem-bly lines is now readily available as well in the office with respect to typists, keypunchers, data inputters, and anyone who uses a com-puter, with the concomitant dangers.

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  Contemporary Work and the Future of Employment in Developed Countries

  • Peter Holland, Chris Brewster, Peter Holland, Chris Brewster(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  9    Total Surveillance

  Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance in the 21st Century

  Peter Holland and Tse Leng Tham

  Introduction

  Monitoring and surveillance has been a fundamental aspect of the employee relationship for centuries. As work has evolved there have been ever more sophisticated ways developed to monitor and observe the workforce. From Jeremy Bentham and his panopticon through to F.W. Taylor’s conception of scientific management and Henry Ford’s architecture of mass production underpinned by time and motion studies, such strategies have been a part of the process and contested terrain of managing and controlling employment relationships for centuries. However, the advance of information technology and communication (ICT), as well as the migration of work into the cyberspace, has created a profound shift in the first two decades of the 21st century, not just the way we work, but also the way we are watched (Allen, Coopman, Hart, & Walker, 2007; Barnes, Holland, & Balnave, 2018; Lane, 2003). What this paradigm shift has also provided is a new and intense level of electronic monitoring and surveillance (EMS) of the work and the workforce both inside and outside the workplace. Such ability to monitor and observe has never been so pervasive or wide-ranging, to the extent that Gilliom and Monahan (2012) argue, managerial control has gone from supervision to ‘Super Vision’. The nature and rise of EMS of employees (both inside and outside work) has emerged at such a rapid rate that it has left the law, ethics and the management of the employment relationship trailing in its wake in terms of understanding how such changes are impacting on our day-to-day working lives and how they should be managed (Ball, 2010; Barnes et al., 2018; Holland, Cooper, & Hecker, 2015). With D’Urso (2006), we argue that the significant and extreme level of EMS in the workplace requires exploration and investigation. This chapter therefore looks at the level, intensity, impact and effects of electronic monitoring and surveillance on work, the worker and the workplace and how, in a vacuum of legislation, we can manage these changes in the employment relationship.

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