Position 2: Employers Should Monitor Employees

In an article titled "Monitoring employees: Eyes in the workplace", surveys show that the majority of employers watche their employees' activity on the Internet. A survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) showed that seventy-four percent of human-resources professionals say they monitor Internet usage at their workplace; 72% check on employees' e-mail, and 51% said they review phone calls.

In another poll taken, human resource professionals said they monitor their employees' Internet activity for a reason. Thirty percent of them said that they do so randomly. The main reason given for the monitoring is to evaluate the performance of the employee while quality control reasons came second. A spokeswoman of SHRM stated "your computer is not a PC but a BC--a business computer." She believes that employers have the right to check how a computer is being used.

Technology exists that enables employers to monitor their employees activity. The article talks about technology that enables employers to determine if a worker is sending or receiving e-mail form anyone other than professional contacts without having to actually read the e-mails. It has been introduced into Congress that it is required of employers to notify workers of any monitoring of Internet, e-mail, and telephone use. Companies would then have to also disclose how often they are monitoring the activities. Regardless of the privacy issue of employees, if personal use of the computers is even quetsionable then maybe it shouldn't be done at all. As long as you're on the clock you should be doing the work of your job not other personal things.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/trends/01/02/surveillence/