Employers’ use of technology to monitor employee activities, such as computer monitoring, phone monitoring, and video surveillance, can undermine employee privacy and lead to conflicts in the workplace. Employees should understand their employer’s privacy policy and ask questions about any practices they do not understand.
Employees are often concerned about maintaining personal privacy in a very public workplace. It may be understandable that employers want to ensure that job duties are being performed to expectations. At the same time, many employees may still feel entitled to some degree of privacy. Some workplace practices, such as computer monitoring, telephone and video surveillance, can undermine employee privacy, presenting some of the most common conflicts in the workplace.
Technology has made it possible for employers to monitor a large amount of employee activities. The ability to monitor these activities can make workplace privacy seem a little limited. One of the most common issues surrounding employee privacy can be computer monitoring. The issue of computer privacy can be a major concern because of the extremes an employer can go to in monitoring computer activity.
Some forms of computer monitoring include capturing keystrokes and computer files. In addition, employers can also monitor email messages and Internet usage. Some employers take additional steps to detect how employees spend time on the Internet by tracking websites they visit and blocking access to certain domains. Employers may feel that such monitoring is necessary to ensure productivity, while employees may see it as a violation of their privacy.
Phone monitoring is another employee privacy issue. Calls can be recorded for a variety of reasons, including quality control. If a company records phone calls for any purpose, employees should remember that it can also include personal calls. In addition to recording phone calls, voicemail can be monitored. This can be an issue with regard to personal privacy if some employees consider it an intrusion to have personal phone calls and voicemails recorded and stored on the employer’s system.
Employers can install surveillance video cameras to maintain security, deter theft and monitor employee activities. Such surveillance can make employees feel that their privacy is being violated, especially if they are being recorded unknowingly. Employees who are subjected to round-the-clock surveillance may feel that the company is assuming they will violate the rules and morale may decrease.
Data privacy violations can be one of the biggest issues when it comes to employee privacy. The question of how and where personal information is used can be a very understandable concern. Protecting employee data can be especially important to guard against identity theft. Employees must be informed about how data may be used and to whom and under what circumstances it may be disclosed.
Employees must not make assumptions about employee privacy. All employees must ensure that they fully understand any privacy policy established by an employer and ask questions about any practices they do not understand. Privacy protections can vary by business and industry, as well as by location.
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