Does Your Boss Engage in Electronic Monitoring?

If your boss is engaging in electronic monitoring, using equipment to monitor your Internet and telephone use, you are probably not even aware of it. You think no one will notice if you just take a few minutes of your work day to do your online shopping. And those phone calls you make from the office -- who cares about that? Let's not forget those jokes your buddies email to you. Your email is private -- or is it?

According to the 2000 AMA Survey on Workplace Testing: Monitoring and Surveillance^* ( American Management Association ) if you work for about 78% of the survey respondents, your activities at work are not private.

This number has doubled since the survey was first conducted in 1997 and has increased significantly from the 1999 survey.

If you are like many people, you surf the net at work at least occasionally. You may have thought nobody noticed, but employers are engaging in electronic monitoring of your Internet use and so much more. Your phone calls, voice mail messages, computer use, email messages, Internet activity, and even your job performance are subject to electronic monitoring and surveillance. You may not even know you're being watched. According to the survey, only 88% of those companies who engage in monitoring and surveillance tell their employees. That's a little scary!

So, is it right? Should employers use electronic monitoring to watch what you're doing? Well, let's look at it from your boss's point of view. The AMA Survey says that employers monitor workers for the following purposes:

• Performance Review: Employers tape customer service and consumer relations personnel so they may evaluate and improve performance.

• Legal Compliance: Provides legal protection for employers in regulated industries.

• Legal Liability: Protects employers from charges by employers who are offended by what co-workers have on their computer screens.

• Productivity: Non-business related activities on company time is costly.

Okay. You got caught. Now what? More than half the respondents to the AMA survey “have disciplined employees for misuse or personal use of office telecommunications equipment, and 28% have dismissed individuals for...” misuse of telephone, email, or Internet. So, before you log on or pick up and dial, think about what you're about to do. Is it more important than your job?