1.Should managers monitor employee email and Internet usage?Why or why not ?
2.Describe an effective email and web use policy for a company.
3.Should managers inform employees that their web behavior is being monitored?Or should manaagers monitor secretly?Why or why not?
For each question, try to write your point first, then rationale of your point, examples you can provide, and re-stress point
TERACTIVE SESSION: PEOPLE Monitoring Employees on or Good Business? The Internet has become an extremely valuable business tool, but it's also a huge distraction workers on the job. Employees are wasting valu- ees able company time by surfing inappropriate web- ing anything sites (Facebook, shopping, sports, etc.), sending Therefore. t hen employees use email or the web ( ing social networks) at employer facilties or with employer equipment, anything they do, includ- for illegal, carries the company's name. the employer can be traced and held and receiving personal email, talking to friends liable. Ma via online chat, and downloading videos and ist, sexua Management in many firms fear that ra ccording to explicit, or other potentially offensi IT research firm Gartner Inc., non-work-related Internet surfing an estimated 40 percent productivity loss each suits for the Tir year for American businesses. A d or traded by their employees material accesse could result in adverse publicity and even law Fortune 500 organizations have had to defend ated Internet surfi in esults in recent Gallup Poll found that the average employee spends over 75 minutes per day using office computers for non- themselves against claims of sexual harassment ming from inappropriate email. Even if the is not found liable, responding to law- through email or social networks. Another f the employees polled admitted they stem business-related activity. That translates into an company annual loss of S6,250 per year, average mid-size company of 500 suits could run up huge legal bills. Companies also per employee. An employees could fear leakage of confidential information and trade secrets be expected to lose $3.25 million in lost productiv- survey conducted by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute found that ity due to Internet misuse. Many companies have begun monitoring es tools are now available for this purpose, including SONAR, Spector CNE Investigator, isafe, OsMonitor em , son had sent confidential or pot company emails t ers. U.S. companies have the legal right to moni- IMonitor, Work Examiner, Activity Monitor, tor what employees are doing with company Mobistealth, and Spytech. These products enable equipment during business hours. The question companies to record online searches, monitor file is whether electronic surveillance is an appropri- downloads and uploads, record keystrokes, keep ate tool for maintaining an efficient and positive tabs on emails, create transcripts of chats, or take workplace. Some companies try to ban all per- certain screen shots of images displayed on com- sonal activities on corporate networks zero tol- uter screens. Instant messaging, text messaging, and social media monitoring are also increasing. Although U.S. companies have the legal right sages, or limit personal time on the web. to monitor employee Internet and email activity while employees are at work, is such monitoring unethical, or is it simply good business? erance. Others block employee access to specific websites or social sites, closely monitor email mes- For example, P&G blocks Netflix and has asked employees to limit their use of Pandora. It still allows some YouTube viewing, and is not block- Managers worry about th employee productivity when employees a ing on personal rather than company busi e loss of time and ing access to social networking sites because s re focus- uses them for digital marketing campaigns. Ajax ness. Boiler in Santa Ana, California, uses software from rsonal business translates SpectorSoft Corporation that records all the web- ue. Some employees may even be sites employees visit, time spent at each site, and they spend pursuing personal interests all emails sent. Financial services and investment ch time on pe billing time online to clients, thus overcharging them. firm Wedbush Securities monitors t personal traffic on company networ t messaging, and social networking act so itimate business work cannot be per- 1,000-plus employees. The firm's email monitor- i ng software flags certain types of messages formed. Procter & Gamble (P&G) found that an average day, employees were listening to 4,000 hours of music on Pandora five-minute YouTube videos. Ihese activities vey found that nvolved streaming huge quantities of slowed down P&G's Internet connection keywords within messages for further investigation. A number of firms have fired employees wh and viewing 50,000 have stepped out of bounds. A Proofpoint s ve ired an employee for violating ema cies. Among managers who fired employees for
