subject: How to Monitor employee email & Internet policy [print this page] How to Monitor employee email & Internet policy
Using email and Internet has increased efficiency and speed of communication for business tremendously but alongside the benefits brought by this modern and efficient way of correspondence and research, runs a parallel set of problems based on employees using work-based computers for personal email and Internet use. The problems are based more on the legal and ethical aspects that arise from the question of employee privacy and the rights of an employer to monitor the use of Internet in the workplace.
Employee Privacy
Many employees believe that personal email messages sent from a work account are exempt from the employer's scrutiny, but they are not, although any attempt at claiming their privacy rights may be difficult to prove.
Employee privacy issues also arise in areas other than employee email monitoring, like telephone calls or bathroom breaks and these, too represent a battle between the employers right to run a tight ship' and the employees rights to privacy.
Employers' Rights
There are various compelling reasons by which employers can justify their need to monitor employee emails such as employee productivity, company reputation, disclosure of trade secrets' and company confidentiality. But alongside these are strong arguments for protecting individual privacy, so any company monitoring of emails has to be carried out in a way that can adequately achieve its business objectives whilst giving the employee sufficient privacy protection.
Software
The are many companies marketing email monitoring programs these days and these range from programs that only record the time of employee email collection to a full monitoring program that includes the name of the recipient and the sender, the time spent both reading and composing the emails, the number of words and attachments and if the email was business related or personal.
Some of these programs obviously extend beyond the employers legal right to business exclusivity and are an intrusion into the privacy of employees.
Legal Protection
Since the laws covering these kinds of dispute are untested and uncertain, it is sensible for employers and employees alike to take precautions to prevent disagreements. Clearly worded Internet policy statements that deem the company email system, as employer property as well as defining the private use of the system should be issued to all employees. The statement should also contain a sentence stating that the employee does not expect privacy in connection with email sent from or stored in the work computer.
Most employers permit a limited amount of personal use of the email system, but employees would do better to use a private account rather than the company one for personal correspondence. That way they will be more protected.
Internet policy
Keeping track of Internet sites visited in the workplace is also fairly commonplace nowadays. Some employers block sites that they find undesirable and others may limit the number of non-work related sites that are visited.
If these services are only monitored for entirely legitimate reasons like keeping track of productivity or controlling customer service, then the employer can be sure of being within legal limits of monitoring. Also, employees will react better if they are not subjected to heavy handed monitoring and eavesdropping.
