Drawing The Line Between Employee Privacy and Internet Abuse
Over-snooping by bosses could at the same time result in an infringement of an employee's right to privacy and, therefore, the monitoring of internet and email becomes an extremely fine balancing act
As website use on the job escalates, so has monitoring by corporate bosses fearful that surfing will not just erode productivity but inappropriate use could open the company to legal action and other headaches. However, over-snooping by bosses could at the same time result in an infringement of an employee's right to privacy and, therefore, the monitoring of internet and email becomes an extremely fine balancing act, says Talent Ocean online marketing manager Jennifer Mathews.
Computing has made it possible to boost productivity in the office but has also opened the door to greater temptations for abuse: bored workers have more time wasters at their fingertips, malicious ones have more options for undermining their bosses or colleagues, and employers can use the same technology to electronically spy on what their staff are doing.
There is no doubt privacy at work is vaporising. A US study looking at the monitoring practices of nearly 200 companies found that 26 per cent of managers monitored employees' online activities all the time, not just when something gave them a reason to investigate.
At the same time, a quarter of the organisations surveyed have no procedures or safeguards to ensure the snooping isn't abused, and almost half of the firms lack written guidelines, policies or procedures for monitoring.
Personal use of the internet at work is dubbed cyberslacking and is widespread. Instead of chatting over the water cooler, workers are swapping emails or instant messages. Instead of going shopping on their lunch hour, employees stay at their desks and hit their high-speed connections.
According to the survey, seven in 10 workers use the office internet to hit news sites and one in four use it for shopping. A third fancy financial trading at their desks, 13 per cent download music and 4 per cent surf for porn. A third admit to an hour or more a day of personal surfing and another three in 10 confess that their web adventures and personal emails decrease their productivity on the job.
Mathews recommends that companies make crystal clear the policies about acceptable internet and email use and make sure that these are understood by employees. But while clear policies are needed, going too far would hurt the company as far as retention strategies are concerned.
"Successful organisations - or those seeking success - require motivated and intelligent staff. They do not require obedient slaves. Individuals faced with no freedom of action will soon move on," Mathews says.
"Moreover, the law generally recognises the right of individuals to 'reasonable' communications with family and friends during working hours. In this respect, the internet is no different from the access to a newspaper or to a telephone during working hours."
The internet is also a vast resource of knowledge that smart firms will want their workers to have access to, Mathews says.
To find out more information about Talent Ocean visit us at http://www.talentocean.co.za.
Questions and Answers
Article Tags:
careers
,career
,jobs
,job
,employment agency
,hiring services
,employee hiring
,recruitment agencies
,recruitment agency
,recruitment
,staffing
,staffing agencies
Coming to light over the past few months is the practice of employers and hiring firms saying "Unemployed Need Not Apply" within their job listings. Others, while not publicizing their policies so overtly, dismiss applicants who are currently out of work or who have been out of work for a given amount of time. As politicians continue to debate the legality of this practice, employers are searching for solutions that are more just but equally as efficient at screening applicants.
The demand for health workers is growing exponentially as the aging of the population is well above the growth rate of decline of young people in the workforce. As these trends carry on, many countries are involved in a struggle to draw medical personnel to meet the growing lists of vacancies with the help of the employment agency.
There are usually three parties involved in the recruitment business, the job seeker, the employer and their agent- the recruitment agency.
Are you planning to hire a network administrator, PHP developer or other IT professional? Contacting a reliable recruitment agency is the perfect solution in such a situation. Nowadays recruitment agencies have become a popular way of seeking employment. The recruitment agencies perform recruitment and selection processes for organizations that have no time or are unable to manage the employment processes.
Medical recruitment is not easy and the process is often considered to be most rigid than other hiring methods.When it comes to medical recruitment, it is not an easy process with hiring methods that are seen as the most rigid.
Recruitment is the modus operandi of engaging, screening and recruiting a knowledgeable, capable and competent person for a job at a company or for a vacancy in a volunteer-based organization. In today's ever-changing and dynamic business environment, and the constant need for manpower, the role of professional recruitment agencies in assuming the outsourced functions of the work of human resource departments of mid- and large-size organizations is becoming more and more important.
The very reason for the high demand for jobs in the government sectors in the post independence era was the availability of such prospects in abundance. There were very few or rather almost no private companies during those days, due to which people didn't have any options.
Everyone has experienced the economic hardships. Most of us are just interested in finding any jobs that we can in order to make some money. No matter whether you are hunting for a job in Birmingham or something else, it is all the same. One place where you should start looking are job web sites. These are great places to start hunting for positions which are will be suitable to you.
Most workers tend to chat around the benefits of unions, there are also drawbacks to employment unions to the personnel and employers. First, personnel lose their personal opinions. Employees give up their right to resolve for themselves or to get their individual troubles or benefits acknowledged. Being part of a partnership means enabling the selected organization permission to reconcile for the working party as a whole.
Everyone has to look for a job once in a while. You know the grind, polish up your resume, have a look what's available, compose resume cover letters, and mail your cv out to every job that looks possible, hoping you will be invited for an interview. It's so monotonous, with so few results, that it's hard to stay motivated to carry out the best job on trying to find a job.
If you're looking for a unique job experience, consider moving to teach overseas. However, it's vital that you find reputable teaching English abroad programs. Here's how.
Online career tools, of which there are many, should be a key component of your job searching strategy.
Temporary work has many advantages, It can be a great way to update your skills and gain valuable work experience, both of which are important if you are just starting out on your career.
According to Productivity SA and the 2007 IMD World Competiveness yearbook, South Africa had the worst skills shortage of 55 countries surveyed.
Research undertaken by an American-based employee relationship consultancy says the number one reason why people leave their jobs is due to a perceived lack of empathy from their bosses
Discuss this Article
