E-Mail Monitoring Affects Employee Stress,

E-Mail Monitoring Affects Employee Stress, Privacy, And Morale

The impact of electronic mail monitoring on the productivity of workers globally, in addition to its impact on their relative levels of stress, sense of and ability to have personal privacy, all interrelate to their morale and sense of ownership workers have regarding their jobs. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate through empirical research how e-mail monitoring is perceived by employees, how it affects their approach to getting work done, and how their perceptions of privacy, equitable treatment, while also testing their level of awareness of specific e-mail monitoring policies in their companies. A random sample of 30 respondents were chosen and given a questionnaire with 13 questions on it, capturing gender and attitudes with regard to time spent in e-mail each day, knowledge of any employee being discharged or fired due to unauthorized use of e-mail, perceptions of their right to privacy and attitudes pertaining to the organizations' right to monitor e-mail as well. E-0mail monitoring is perceived by many employees as negative, intrusive and illustrating how far the lack of trust between employers and employees have progressed (Adams, Scheuing, Feeley, 2000). As a result, excessive e-mail monitoring is seen as intrusive, illegal and lacking in the necessary level of trust that is critical for any organization to get the highest level of performance for their employees (Baker, 2006). The paradox of e-mail monitoring however is the fact that companies do have the legal obligation to monitor e-mail to ensure that legal liabilities are minimized by quickly stopping unauthorized use of e-mail systems being used for distributing inappropriate content (Grupe, Kuechler, Sweeney, 2002). As much as many employees dislike the thought of their e-mails being monitored, it is essential for many companies to engage in this practice as it can drastically reduce their legal liability (Wakefield, 2004). Policies are becoming commonplace as a result (Welebir & Kleiner. 2005)