Should employers be allowed to spy on their staff? Judy Stone investigates
Most employers take part in some monitoring of their employees. For example, employers may check that work is completed in good time and may review work produced and assess its quality. Workers, however, often use their employer’s e-mail facilities, internet and telephone systems for personal purposes as well as for work. It is not always easy to draw a distinction between private information and matters related to work.
Employers may wish to monitor these communications. After all, the hardware and the software are owned by the employer and the correspondence may be carried out during the working day. In many cases, employees will expect this. They are likely to expect that their work will be checked and may be aware of the possibility of their communications being reviewed.
Yet, monitoring may, to different degrees, have an adverse impact on employees. It may intrude into their private lives, and undermine respect for the privacy of their correspondence. It may interfere with healthy working relationships. Many
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