Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business MONITORING EMPLOYEES ON NETWORKS: UNETHICAL OR GOOD BUSINESS? The Internet has become an extremely valuable huge quantities of data, which slowed down P&G's business tool, but it's also a huge distraction for Internet connection. workers on the job. Employees are wasting valuable When employees use e-mail or the Web company time by surfing inappropriate Web sites (including social networks) at employer facilities (Facebook, shopping, sports, etc.), sending and or with employer equipment, anything they do, receiving personal email, talking to friends via online including anything illegal, carries the company's chat, and downloading videos and music. According name. Therefore, the employer can be traced to IT research firm Gartner Inc., non-work-related and held liable. Management in many firms fear Internet surfing results in an estimated 40% that racist, sexually explicit, or other potentially productivity loss each year for American businesses offensive material accessed or traded by their A recent Gallup Poll found that the average employees could result in adverse publicity and employee spends over 75 minutes per day using even lawsuits for the firm. An estimated 27 percent office computers for non-business related activity. of Fortune 500 organizations have had to defend That translates into an annual loss of $6,250 per year, themselves against claims of sexual harassment per employee. An average mid-size company of 500 stemming from inappropriate email. Even if the employees could be expected to lose $3.25 million in company is found not to be liable, responding to lost productivity due to Internet misuse. lawsuits could run up huge legal bills. Symantec's Many companies have begun monitoring 2011 Social Media Protection Flash Poll found that employee use of e-mail and the Internet, sometimes the average litigation cost for companies with social without their knowledge. Many tools are now avail- media incidents ran over $650,000. I. Should managers monitor employee e-mail and 3. Should managers inform employees that their Web Internet usage? Why or why not? behavior is being monitored? Or should managers 2. Describe an effective and Web use policy monitor secretly? Why or why not? for a company