Workplace Privacy in Recent Years

Workplace Privacy

In recent years different work place dynamics have gained importance. Among these issues work place privacy has also gained a lot of attention. Actions like drug and alcohol testing, soliciting criminal records checks, background checks, and electronic performance monitoring became a common practice in the corporate world. Most employers consider these different activities necessary in maintaining the organizational effectiveness while employees have different concerns about their privacy.

Employers are of the perspective that while conducting business they have to ensure the effectiveness of the workplace and for that they have to keep a check on employees. The employers use different methods of quality control and cost effectiveness. Since, employees make an integral part of the business, so employee monitoring also becomes a part of their routine to ensure that their business goals are met. Also, when they spend so much time, effort and money on recruitment and selection of best possible employees, organizations are looking for a return. Similarly, employees also have certain expectations from their employer. Most employees in today's age look for empowerment and freedom to make decisions. Employees consider too many controls, checks and balance a curb on their freedom and privacy.

Technology & Employee Monitoring

Employers today make extensive use of technology to check and monitor employee behavior. New, improved and advanced technologies are hitting the market everyday making privacy an important issue. In the presence of such technologies extensively used by the employers nowadays, it is hard for employees to keep everything in secret and to completely protect their privacy. "Nine out of ten employers observe your electronic behavior, according to the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College. A study by the American Management Association and the e-policy Institute found 76% of employers watch you surf the Web and 36% track content, keystrokes and time spent at the keyboard. If that isn't creepy enough, 38% hire staff to sift through your email. And they act on that knowledge. A June survey by Forrester Research and Proofpoint found that 32% of employers fired workers over the previous twelve months for violating e-mail policies by sending content that posed legal, financial, and regulatory or p.r. risks" (Dell & Cullen, 2006).

Cell Phones Monitoring:

Technology now offers employers new and different ways of monitoring their employee performance, activities, and even movement. Some organizations explicitly inform their employees that are being monitored while others keep it a secret. Organizations like Monument Security in California informed all of their employees including security guards and patrol drivers about their software 'Xora'. Using this software on employees' company cell phones Monument Security can track their movement with the help of GPS technology. In the event of employees going else where or driving too fast the bosses at Monument Security would get alerts. This technology according to the management helps company in maintaining employee efficiency while they are at work. However, using the same technology management can also track employees' whereabouts when they report sick.

Web Monitoring:

There are other new softwares like 'Surf Control' with the help of which employers can keep a watch on employees' activities on the Web. According to companies that employ software like 'Surf Control', they only are concerned with what employees do while they are on work and if their productivity gets hampered. With myriad softwares and computer programs managers now get to know their employees with the help of devices like cell phones and computer.

Most people today have become habitual Web surfers. Their Web surfing habits continue in the office. Organizations that allow Web surfing generally monitor employees time spent on work related surfing. Some employees are addicted to sites like Myspace.com or other social networking sites. Some are even addicted to pornography. Employers think that employees addictive Web surfing behavior sometimes disturb their work routine and so check on Web surfing needs to be made. A complete ban on Web surfing would not be an answer to the problem as it would stifle the creativity and hurt the employee morale. Some companies' work is such that they have to allow Web surfing anyways. In such a scenario employers can monitor employee behavior and react only when there is an unusual situation.

Emails Monitoring:

Many employees think that the plethora of emails that they receive and send is hard to monitor. Among the official mails one or two mails to the colleague or friend with joke about other colleague or boss would not be detected. Many a times these smart softwares have detected sexist emails. Emails that contained content of harassment have also been caught and similarly trade secrets sharing were also apprehended. The softwares like 'Surf Control', 'MessageGate' etc. can block exchange of work files or emails that contain company name or bosses' manes or expletives or explicit and foul language. Well-known companies like Merrill Lynch, Boeing, Wall Street firms etc. employ such policies. Some companies even restrict any access to personal emails or chatting software like Yahoo or MSN in the office.

Monitoring Blogs:

Recent addition to web activities is blog. Now people can say whatever they want on different blogs. There are today thousands of blogs available where people can give vent to their feelings. In this scenario it would be really hard for employers to monitor all of these thousands of blogs. Also it would be hard to keep the younger lot away from such activities. In this scenario the ideal situation for companies is to talk to employees about Internet etiquettes.

Monitoring Phones:

Employers also monitor employees' activities on phone. In order to keep a check on their activities on phones different softwares are used. Names like 'Nice System' are well-known for the purpose of monitoring employees call tracking when they start shouting or use expletive or use the name of some competitor. The companies whose business heavily depends on customer service use call monitoring to automatically route calls to free operators. This also gives employers a good accounting tool to gauge customer service quality by obtaining information about the length of phone calls, time between calls, and the number of calls in a certain period. Such systems are also operative in companies not in any kind of customer service and some argue that such system curb the freedom of employee and they feel bound in the organizations. Employers on the other hand argue that such systems help in controlling excess phone activities of the employees. In reality there are numerous examples that suggest that there employers must gauge the outcomes after implementing such policies. "Federal Express, Bell Canada, USAA, and Northwest Airlines have all found that too much monitoring to keep work rates high "spoils service" (Bernstein, 1991). For example, when Federal Express decided it could cut costs by reducing the average time customer-service agents spent on each call, productivity, quality and morale suffered. The company made keeping calls less than 140 seconds 50% of an agent's performance review. However, this decision backfired when not only did the stress of employees increase but agents cut off customers before all their questions were answered in order to meet the time quota (Bernstein, 1991). Thus, it is important to recognize the trade-offs between productivity goals and those of rule compliance" (Crampton & Mishra, 1998).

Off -Duty Hours Monitoring:

There are many checks and balances placed on employees within the office premises and during the duty hours but some employers cross the line and become real intruders of privacy. There are programs and technology available now that can even trace the Internet activity of the employee at home. There have been some incidences in which employees posted pictures of the employees having a good time after company's training session without the consent of the company and other colleagues. Employers are now using programs like 'Verified Person' that keep track of employees even outside the office premises. Here a line has to be drawn with respect to checks and balances. Employers offer employment in return of certain work and duties by the employee. They do not hire them for life. Employers have no right over the personal and private lives of employees. They can only keep checks and balances to the point of safeguarding their business. Prying into the lives of employees 24/7 is totally unethical. These practices should be discouraged. Some legislation should also be made in this regard. If this practice is not checked then it could create difficulties.

Medical Conditions

Most would agree that employers definitely have the right to have expectations but the extent to which employers could go is debatable. For example, in order to deal with menace of smoking and its harmful effects on people many organizations ban smoking within office premises. Can organization go further and place a ban on smoking during working hours even outside the office premises? Some organizations have also attempted to have difference in insurance policies of those who smoke.

If such medical conditions are imposed than some fear that soon other medical conditions like level of cholesterol could also be included in the job condition. This even happened in Athens in 1993 when its municipal government imposed conditions of a cholesterol check. They sought to accept only those employees having acceptable level of cholesterol. Employers later had to abandon this policy due to public hue and cry but it shows how far employers can go in imposing medical conditions on employees.

Drug testing is a common practice in a number of organizations as its harmful effects on employee performance have been proved many a times. Employees working under the influence of drugs do not act and perform like normal employees. Not only is drug abuse bad for employees' own performance but it also affects the organizational work environment.

Drug testing is something that is acceptable to both employees and employers but the case of alcohol is different. There are many who drink socially and attend offices as well. Employees can impose restriction on dirking within office premises or during duty hours but they cannot go so far to impose restriction on employees' drinking off duty hours. "In Indiana, an employee was terminated when he volunteered that he occasionally drank socially in his off hours, a violation of company policy. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the firm could not demonstrate that his drinking had a negative impact on his work performance or there was just cause for termination. The court indicated that employers may regulate a worker's conduct on the job, but 'the same interest does not always exist in regulating the employee's off-duty conduct.' While the court ruled in the worker's favor, the language was vague and does not preclude the possibility that this policy might be valid under different circumstances" (Losey, 1994).

In dealing with medical problems technology can play a crucial role. Today computer is capable of detecting impairment of any kind with the help of performance or impairment test. Through these tests employers can judge by monitoring a person's ability to manipulate a cursor on a visual display terminal (VDT) screen. Now employers do not have to make their employees undertake typical medical tests. They can use technology to detect problems. Such performance tests do not blatantly invade the privacy of employees like conventional methods. This however, is only one aspect of technology in case of a medical or drug problem. Other technological advances however can be very intrusive and could even be counter productive.

Legislations

In most of the states courts are not giving any adverse remarks on corporations within the United States charged with spying. Some companies inform their employees that they are being monitored but these are few are far between. Only two states within United States ask employers to inform employees that they are being monitored. Courts are in favor of searches but they should define some limit for these searches and spying. "The issue of employee claims of privacy for personal space was addressed by the Supreme Court in O'Conner v. Ortega. The court said that while the Fourth Amendment could extend to workplaces, and privacy interests might be asserted in workplace environments, the interests of the employee could be balanced against those of the employer. A balancing of interests allows the employer to initiate investigations and to conduct searches of employee effects upon the premises of the employer. The court made clear that the Fourth Amendment protection was a prohibition on unreasonable searches, but an employer could define the conditions to allow most searches to be reasonable" (Cozzetto & Pedeliski, 1997).

Pros & Cons of Electronic Monitoring

Some monitoring is really beneficial for both employer and employee from performance evaluation point-of-view. Mostly electronic monitoring is done to portray a true picture of performance of the employee. In case of electronic monitoring objectivity remains intact while the subjectivity or managers feelings are not considered important. Electronic monitoring also helps in conveying the feedback to employee with respect to his performance. So, employees can see objectively whether they are meeting the standards or not. Wherever computer-based feedback systems are present they have helped organizational efficiency and are considered beneficial to both employer and the employee. However, some also object to computer monitoring and say that it could also hurt the privacy of individuals. "Monitoring is intrusive and the potential for abuse exists. For example, computer data banks, telephone and video monitoring, active badges, and other monitoring techniques make the private lives of workers easier to delve into without detection. Data concerning employees' security clearance, computer applications preferred, right/left handedness, and "even how the user takes his coffee" can be maintained - which go beyond how an employee is performing on the job (Levy, 1993, p. 3). How information gathered on employees will be used and who has access to it are questions at the center of the debate" (Crampton & Mishra, 1998).

The private and confidential information should be protected otherwise they could be used or abused by any other person. Even companies can use this information against certain employees who raise their voices against some unfavorable company policy or who blow the whistle or even company unions.

Some also argue that electronic monitoring could also create extra pressure on employees regarding their performance. If imposed excessively then electronic monitoring could also prove to be counter productive. The purpose of HR policies is to remove stress from work while extra pressures in the form of constant monitoring can make job stressful. Other than stress myriad other problems like heavy workload, repetitive tasks, social isolation, fear of job loss, and a lack of job involvement could also affect the work life of and performance of employee. Also psychological and physical impact of stress can also not be ignored. Medical researches show that work related stress could seriously affect the health of employees. Problems of pain, stiffness, headaches, depression, fatigue and exhaustion are common among employees if they face stressful job conditions. If medical conditions persist with employees then they can also become a burden for employer in the form of medical bills.