All employers want their employees are doing a good job, but employees do not want be monitoring all the time. They want to have their own privacy. This is the essential conflict of the workplace monitoring. Let’s assume your boss can monitor any phone, company-owned computer or any other technology. Deleted computer files and emails are not completely gone. If it was ever on your computer, it can still be found. They may find our your personal things that you do not want your boss know, or it is not good for a boss to know. New technologies make it possible for employers to monitor many aspects of their employees’ job, especially on telephone, computer voice mail and so on. Such monitoring is virtually unregulated. Therefore, unless company policy specifically states, otherwise your employer may listen, watch and read most of your workplace communications.
Your boss can monitor:
- Internet use
- how long your are on your computer
- software downloads
- Documents on your computer
- What websites you visit
- Emails
- Chatting
However, bosses have their own reason for monitor their employees:
- Make sure employees do not share secret company information
- Exposing computer viruses
- Working during working time
- How hard the worker are
- bandwidth use
Currently there are only a few law regulating employee monitoring. However, there are several groups that are actively involved in workplace monitoring issues and that advocate stronger government regulation of employee monitoring activities. Obviously, the laws are on the side of the employers. The employer has the right to telephone monitor, computer monitor, electronic mail monitor, voice mail monitor, postal mail monitor , and video monitor, which the employee cannot say no to these. If i were the employee and under these monitors, i may not feel like comfortable. I feel like there is a person who are watching me.
So for workers, how could they feel more comfortable under all these monitors? In my opinion, if they do not use the computer to do any personal thing, it will never be a problem their boss to find on their computer. Next, it is better for the employees to use personal email account instead of working email, but that does not give you the total protection, however, your boss will know that you are doing your personal thing and may not care about that. All in all, put most of your working time on working, do not do any other things that is not related to your work, such as read the facebook, shopping online, then your boss will know you are not lazy and will not fire you.
Do you think the boss can monitor all these?
If Yes/No, what is the reason?
Related article: http://www.hrexaminer.com/employee-privacy-what-can-employers-monitor/