Introduction In the era of technology, the use of computers in the workplace has gained huge popularity. Accordingly, computer monitoring becomes more and more common to ensure high performance in the workplace. Based on an American Management Association survey in 2005, more than 80 percent of companies supervise employees by monitoring their website connections (Riedy and Wen 2). In 2007, another electronic monitoring and surveillance survey indicates that more than 40 percent of U.S. employers monitor employees’ use of email (Sipior and Ward 2). Employers may hold the belief that productivity can be ensured with the help of the monitoring software in the workplace. When an employee connect to the Internet in the workplace, the software can take screenshots at certain intervals to help employers check the website and emails on the employee’s computer (Riedy and Wen 2). However, there is an …show more content…
Despite that computer monitoring in the workplace is believed to ensure productivity, adjustments are still needed because computer monitoring lacks effectiveness and undermines employees’ privacy by causing ethical as well …show more content…
Therefore as an employee, one should firstly notice the possibility that the private information can be collected and misused secretly. To prevent this from happening, being aware of and familiar with computer monitoring are necessary for employees to protect themselves. Under the current legal system where the majority of employees are not well protected by law, ethical and legal issues could easily arise from computer monitoring. Therefore, there is a need for employers to promote the effectiveness of computer monitoring and keep the balance between ensuring high levels of performance and protecting workplace privacy at the same
In Fitbit for Bosses written by Lynn Stuart Parramore she talks about how bosses want to start monitoring their employees. Parramore shows her discomfort with this idea. She thinks that “big money seems poised to trump privacy”(Parramore). Which basically just means that for bosses is that money is over everything even privacy. Allowing bosses to monitor their employees is dishonest and manipulating.Some researchers have also found out that increasing surveillance has caused the decrease of productivity. Researchers warned them that the data can have big errors and people that look at the data that the fitbits can cherry-pick the information that supports their beliefs and ditch the rest of the information that leads to racial profiling. “Surveillance makes everyone seem suspicious, creating perceptions and expectations of dishonesty.” Workers will become dehumanized“(Parramore), it prevents them from experimenting and exercising the creativity on the job.” A woman from California filed a suit against her former employer because he forced her to to install a tracking app on her phone. She had to have it on her phone 24/7 or else she would
The drawbacks to these types of programs are very few. They all streamline the processes of employee compensation, time keeping, benefit schedule and timeframes for evaluations for improving productivity. These chores used to be done by hand, filed by hand, and updated by hand, this could be, depending on the size of the company and the number of employees, a daunting task, expensive in and of itself. However, having said that these programs make an HR professionals’ life a bit easier, one would tend to think about those individuals in the workforce who are not computer literate and therefore may be unable to access such programs. It is true that time will correct this situation as most school age children today have learned computer literacy but until then a solution must be made available for this factor. Other than the problem of the computer illiteracy these programs are viable and a valuable tool to help in sust...
The main points that are stated in "Employees & Ethics With Computers" by Debra Kraft are personal internet usage, email, harassment, privacy, policies, and training. Kraft's computer ethics relate to the Ten Commandments of Ethical Computing by Computer Ethics Institute. The first computer ethic personal internet usage would fall under multiple commandments such as number two, seven, and ten. If employees are using the internet access for personal internet usage it can slow down and hinder the company connectivity for the entire organization. Email is also a computer ethic that falls under a few the commandments such as one, two, seven, and nine. Improper usage of email service can cost the company in data or business losses.
...anization cannot ensure who use telecommuter computers and what happen in remote location. It's also too difficult to ensure telecommuter follows the Non-Disclosure Agreement. There is a way that IT department can use to prevent this from happening. They can control the remote computer settings, and monitoring employee perform on the computer. The deep Freze program can be used to prevent telecommuter to change computer settings. Other than that, keystroke recorder can monitor activity telecommuter so that they engaged with the company work. The last categories of technical support is communication and logistical support. For the communication, IT department responsible to provide support for telecommuters by operating communication and groupware tools for business such as e-mail, instant messaging, and chat room that provide means of communication.
A poll by MacWorld states that over twenty-one percent of all employees are monitored at work, and the larger the company, the higher the percentage (Privacy 445). Unaware of this electronic monitoring, most employees often are not working at their peak performance due to this type of scrutiny. The majority of Americans believe that electronic monitoring should not be allowed.
Townsend, A. M. & Bennett, J. T. (2003). Privacy, technology, and conflict: emerging issues and action in workplace privacy. Journal of Labor Research, 24(2), p. 195. Retrieved October 19, 2004, from EBSCOhost Database.
In my opinion, employees should not be able to use the internet while at work. The computers and networks are business property and are solely used for business transactions. Thus, employers have a duty and a right to ensure proper usage of any, and all, equipment. If employers decide to, they may choose to monitor the usage of the internet to ensure the property is not abused. According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 USC 2510, et. seq., (www.law.cornell.edu/uscode), federal law allows employers to monitor business calls, however, personal calls are an exception. Under the federal law and employer only has the right to monitor a call until they realize that it is a personal call then must cease monitoring. In the case of Watkins v. L.M. Berry & Co., 704 F.2d 577, 583 (11th Cir. 1983), the court dictated that, "...a manager must cease listening in on an employee call once the call turns personal". When businesses first started using the internet, they did not contemplate developing new technology policies and were very liberal as to the usage of the internet. Eventually allowing liberal usage led to abuse of equipment and work time. Today, people check personal emails and facebook messages (among other social networking sites), take care of online banking, shopping, surf the net leisurely, and chat online. Employers have noticed this distraction severely impacted productivity and performance. Studies show, "Currently, as many as 26 million workers in the United States are monitored in their jobs, and this number will increase as computers are used more and more within companies and as the cost of these monitoring systems goes down" (DeTienne, 1993, p. 33). "By the end of the decade, as many as 30 milli...
Employee Monitoring: Is There Privacy in the Workplace? . (6/3/2004)
Sometimes there is no middle ground. Monitoring of employees at the workplace, either you side with the employees or you believe management owns the network and should call the shots. The purpose of this paper is to tackle whether monitoring an employee is an invasion of privacy. How new technology has made monitoring of employees by employers possible. The unfairness of computerized monitoring software used to watch employees. The employers desire to ensure that the times they are paying for to be spent in their service is indeed being spent that way. Why not to monitor employees, as well as tips on balancing privacy rights of employees at the job.
One type of surveillance is employee monitoring. Many employers monitor their workers’ activities for one reason or another. Companies monitor employees using many methods. They may use access panels that requires employees to identify themselves to control entry to various area in the building, allowing them to create a log of employee movements. They may also use software to monitor attendance and work hours. Additionally, many programs allows companies to monitor activities performed on work computers, inspect employee emails, log keystrokes, etc. An emerging methods of employee monitor also include social network and search engine monitoring. Employers can find out who their employees are associated with, as well as other potentially incriminating information. (Ciocchetti)
During the past decade, the internet has revolutionized and changed the way organizations do business by offering rapid communication systems and enhanced information access and innovation of technological advancements have created a brave new workplace. Further, the internet enables organizations to decrease expenses, reduce product life cycle time, market goods and services more efficiently (Anandarajan et al, 2000). However, with these kinds of benefits, the internet provides employees with a technique
In Australia, Employers should implement best practice on how to maintain privacy in the workplace in accordance with the privacy standards set out in the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) (Welcome to the Fair Work Ombudsman website. n.d.). Privacy is able to keep our own personal information private and also able to do things without any electronic monitoring in the workplace. Nowadays, many company increased the usage of technology such as internet and email in the workplace. This can create issues in privacy. When employees’ access to web browsing activities during working hours, the employer can be scrutinized it. Employers take this action due to fear lawsuit if employees act in inappropriate ways. Therefore, the best policy is to explain clearly how is appropriate to use email and internet at work and outline what type of use is prohibited in the workplace. Besides that, employer also needs to ensure the employee didn’t disclose or disseminate any important information to the competitors or
Improving employee productivity through the usage of technology can be a double-edged sword. When considering making an investment into a new technology, it’s important to find the right balance between functions and features that best benefits your business and increases employee
In todays world computers are very useful because there is weather forcasting and many other things. People can forcast weather by this process by computers . Advertising is one of the most progressive field these days . Computer animation is the art of creating moving images by this use of computers . We can use use internation network (internet) to check mail, play games, find other's addresses , etc. Scientists also use computers for their experiments . There are some documents to type. For example MS Word , MS Exel , etc . We can do our school project also by using computers. There is one thing which is very conveinient for us it is that we can talk or chat with people who are in another country by using google talk , yahoo messenger , etc . It is not at all expensive . It is better than using a telephone or a mobile . We can also send voicemails through google talk , yahoo messenger , etc . We can play many games using a computer . For example pinball , soltaire , spider soltaire , etc . Believe it or not, but the age of computers is upon us. I believe Computers are not only here to stay, but in my opinion computers are the wave of the future. Only a device like the computer can change the way we work, live, and think. I see computers taking us places where no man has gone before. students can receive an education from their own home Taking classes online is an option that a growing number of students are taking advantage of. These classes are making a college education available for students who are not able to attend a traditional university or college. Computers are taking us places where a lot of us thought was not possible. Truly it is my belief and opinion, the computer is one of the most incredible inventions of this time period or any other.
The late 20th century has successfully witnessed the boom of sophisticated technology, which gave birth to a wide range of technological outcomes, including computer technology. Computer technology, that is a skill to manage information, communicate and a kind of entertainment media, has become an important part in modern life at work, in recreation and social networking. Whether computer technology is better or not is a complicated issue. There are different arguments that need to be examined. Most people support that computer technology is better for individual lifestyles. It improves quality of working and study, provides a wide range of entertainment and is a wonderful tool of communication. On the other hand, others believe that computer