Electronic Monitoring

Index of Topic

1. What monitoring concerns are there in the workplace?

• Blogging: Blogging represents a possible monitoring risk in the workplace as private thoughts put online can be seen by the anyone. If you post sensitive information and an employer stumbles on to your blog, it is quite possible you could be demoted or fired.
• Time Management: There are a variety of ways an employer can monitor the effectiveness of its employees. Programs exist that can monitor what webpages you visit on the company's computer. Data analysts can have their performance judged based on how much they type. And when all else fails, video surveilence allows a company to keep records of an employee's activity.
• Privacy Concerns: In addition to being able to monitor what websites you visit, it is also possible and legal for a company to monitor what calls you make from the company phone, and even record the phone call itself.

What can be done to protect yourself?

• If you have a blog, avoid blogging about work. If this isn't desirable, try and privatize entries pretaining to work so that only you or a selected list of people can read them. When blogging about your job, try to be as general as possible - avoid using the company name, names of employers, or specific events or addresses. Also, blogging under a pseudonym can help keep you hidden.
• Be aware of your company's policies on all of these issues. Find out what information they record and how often it is checked.
• Avoid patently personal use of company time and equipment. It's one thing to browse the internet idly for five minutes when one has completed their current tasks. It's another to spend hours on the company phone with a significant other, or use the company computer to play video games.