Is your employer spying on you?
According to a recent survey, most employers conduct some sort of electronic, employee monitoring or surveillance; for example,
- 73% monitor email messages
- 66% monitor Web surfing
- 48% conduct video surveillance
- 45% monitor keystrokes and keyboard time
- 43% monitor computer files
Employers have the right to spy on their employees in those ways and then some, because they own the buildings, office computers and such.
Some employers are also monitoring employee activities off the job; for example, according to the survey, 12% watch the blogosphere while 10% watch social networking sites for company badmouthing by employees.
Employers have the right spy on their employees in that way too, because the popular blogging and networking sites that they watch are open to the general public.
Employee monitoring and surveillance are on the rise, both on and off the job. So, you’d be wise to think twice about trashing your employer in writing or otherwise violating a company policy, whether from your office or home computer. You never know when Big Brother might be watching!
However, employers don’t always have the right to violate fundamental American privacy values, despite their right to generally conduct employee monitoring and surveillance. For more about that, along with a link to the survey results, see Employee Workplace Privacy Rights.
