Sunday, January 25, 2009
Week 4, Chapter 4: Routine Email Messages and Memos
Should companies have the right to monitor employees’ email and instant messages? Explain why or why not. Also, are there some factors you think would change your opinion, such as if the company had a clearly written policy that all employees had to sign? Any other factors that might affect the issue?
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18 comments:
This is a hard issue to address. The primary way that my mother and I communicate is through e-mails to her work e-mail address. She spends the whole day at work sitting in front of her computer or dealing with customers in person or on the phone looking up their accounts (my mom is a secretary/office manager at a small electric company). When she gets home the last thing she wants to do is go to our home computer to check the e-mail. My dad is usually the one to check the home e-mail so if it something that relates to both of them I will send it there because I know my father will eventually get the message to my mother. However, if it is something for my mother’s eyes only, then her work e-mail is a better idea. My mom and I didn’t talk a lot when I was in high school, at least not in a good way, and when I moved out of their house after I graduated, e-mailing her helped us bring our relationship to a better level. She doesn’t like to sit on the phone either, so e-mailing is really our best bet. I think if her company restricted their e-mail usage and didn’t allow personal e-mails to be sent/received it would break down the communication between us.
I think if you go into a job and they make you sign something prohibiting the usage of your work e-mail for personal things then you go into the job knowing that, it’s not something you would have to adjust to. I can agree to a point with not exchanging vulgar forwards for messages or e-mails between co-workers or out of the office to friends, those types of things should be done from the home. But simple and innocent correspondence between friends and family members catching up I don’t feel is a problem.
Companies already have the legal right to monitor their employee's e-mail. Should they have the right? I think they should. Anything that I communicate using my company's name or letterhead is representing the company. It isn't any different than monitoring a memo or a letter that I write on their behalf.
Monitoring an employee's personal e-mail or instant message is a different story. I beleive that an employee should not use company time to write or receive personal e-mail. I beleive it's along the same line as personal phone calls. As an employee, I should not be making personal calls on company time. They give me lunch and breaks when I can take care of personal business. However,there are exeptions when dealing with emergency situations. (I don't believe anyone would send an e-mail regarding a sick child or a relative in the hospital. This would still be handled by telephone.) Here we have a very good reason to have separate e-mail accounts. One for personal messages and one for professional messages.
If a company is going to monitor these things, they should clearly state this in their company policy. Most companies already do this for policies regarding phone use while on company time and also other related issues. The growing use of e-mail in business will cause these issues to be addressed in future policies, I'm sure.
I think that it depends on the company that they are working for. Like if they are working on there computers all day, they have a right to know what you are doing at all times. If you are working at a retail store, they don't have a right to know what you are doing on the side.
In an office setting you shouldn't be emailing for personal reasons anyway. So yeah I do think that they have a right to do it. At my mom's work they use there own instant message system so that the boss can talk to you at anytime. My mom works at home and so her computer is monitored during the day while she is at work but when she is done she can do whatever she needs to and they will not monitor or look at her personal emails.
Again I think that there are certain situations that it is ok to monitor and others are not.
Having worked in a few different areas of business, I think companies have the right to monitor what is said on company computers. We all have our own personal computers so if anything that we want to say is personal it should wait until we get home, but at the same time if you don't mind someone knowing what you write to another then do it while working.
I have never thought of this question personally, but it is like some places monitor what is said on some sites. The only downfall I see about companies monitoring, is if it is a big company with a lot of personal working, there would need to be an area that only monitors what is used on company computers.
In some areas, like the whole myspace issue, where people talked about doing something to someone else, then it happened. That type of stuff should be tracked some how. As far as I know some prisons have internet access for their prisoners now for jobs, and in some cases to be able to look at legal sites. We don't always know what someone will say, plan, or do...in these types of cases it really does need to be monitored. A smaller company may be able to monitor better, but I think the time could be used to better other areas and not worry to much what is said in personal emails.
Instant messages are a whole different thing. In that those can be saved to the computer or not. If a company has a policy about monitoring their computer usage then you know those things will be saved. If a company doesn't have a policy in place then one never knows.
I do have to say I would just wait until I got home for more personal things to be addressed in email or instant messenger, work related things can be done when working. I also know a lot of people who are into alternative lifestyles and don't want anyone to know at work. We need to remember that somethings can be taken wrong no matter where we use the emailing or instant messenger. I would rather error on the side of caution and just wait for my personal stuff until I got home.
Well, I personally think it's a little bit complicated. I mean, I know if I had an office job where I had to sit at a computer for 8 hours a day, I'd get bored and go insane pretty fast. I would find it a refreshing distraction to be able to be chatting a little with a friend or be able to take a minute to check my email. Now, I understand it's a problem if you're spending a lot of time on non-company business, but in my own case, I think in the long run, it would actually help my productivity.
If a company wanted to make sure that its employees weren't going on websites that might be inappropriate, all they would have to do is to take a page from the high school tech book: block the sites. I'll admit, it isn't a perfect solution (I certainly found my share of back doors into blocked sites), but it would help a lot.
If they are going to be monitoring your computer usage, they should certainly make it very clear that they will be doing so BEFORE they start doing so. If they were to monitor what you were doing on the computer without telling you that they would be, I would be very upset and angry, especially if I got in trouble for what I was doing.
janet kriese Interesting question!! And I do wish I was more savvy regarding the use of computers. And the use of computers in the business place. My past experience in the health-care business, did not allow for any breach of confidentiality. In that context, I would have to say that the use of routine Email messages and memos, would be pretty risky business. My preference would be to continue to do charting, medication pass and record-keeping, etc. the way, it always was done. Long-hand, legible, penmanship on charts and then back to the locked files. Minimal chance for error!! The rules for the code of ethics are so strict now that any medical professional can be sued for breach of confidentiality, according to HIPPA statutes. In my mind, then, the verbal situations would be compounded by those in writing, i.e. Emails. The whole world was black and white...clear cut do's and don'ts. The only way one was to be contacted on-the-job, was an emergency. So "no" to personal messages at work. Employers have every right to enforce that policy. Otherwise, from a personal viewpoint, I will look forward to Email with my sister in Appleton. I, honestly, am not even comfortable with that idea. Privacy worked for so many years; but I also would love the convenience and cost-saving part, versus phone calls. The other area of thought is that there are so many "hackers" and the more one has on the Internet, the more possibilities there are for problems.
I think companies should be able to monitor employees' emails on their business account. Personal emails should be tended to at home or somewhere other than at work. Having the Intranet could help. The computers belong to the company and should only be used for company business. We can all hope that our employees are adult enough not to go to sites that could cause a virus, but there is always that possibility. Some people don't understand that just because you know the sender of the email doesn't mean there isn't a virus attached to it. It could be beneficial to employees and well as the company.
I think companies should have the right to monitor any e-mails and/or instant messages that are sent and/or received by an account that has been supplied to the employee by the company. Whew, that was a difficult sentence to put together. In other words: If I work at a company that supplies me with a company e-mail address and instant message user name, then I think everything sent and received by using those account should be monitored. It is unlikely that the company supplied those accounts to be used for anything I would be ashamed to have them see.
Now, if I am sending e-mails from my Yahoo! account at work, then, no, I don't believe employer's should be allowed to monitor that. There is a difference between a business account and a personal account, and we need to maintain that difference so our ethics are never in question.
I think it would be a good idea to a have a security system that alerts employers to anything that has certain words in it. For example, the word "bomb" should send an alert to the employer anytime it is used. Whatever that document is that has such a word would then be open for scrutiny at any time.
It's a good thing to be given guidelines, but not giving any slack in the proverbial reigns can breed bitterness.
I definitely think employers have the right to monitor emails and instant messages which are sent and received while at the work place. The company is paying you to be on the job working for them, they give you computers to conduct work that is related to the job. Although some companies may just have good faith in their employees to be using the computer for work related issues, they should have the right to check. After all, would you want to pay someone to be conducting tasks of their own on computers and internet you are paying for? This does not mean I would fire someone for a friendly email here and there, but I would like to be able to monitor, in case things were getting to excessive.
Companies should have the right to monitor employees’ activities while employees are at work. As Jamie pointed out, the employer is providing employees with a paying job and the opportunity to use web mail and instant messaging tools to better perform their work. Employees who abuse these tools need to be dealt with promptly, and the employer’s ability to monitor emailing and instant, messaging activity is a good way to accomplish this. I believe that employers must inform their employees that observation measures will be taken to ensure proper use of the tools available to staff. In addition to open communication about company policy regarding email and instant message monitoring, employers should make employees aware of any negative and or positive consequences of their electronic, communication actions.
I think it is fully justified for a company to be able to monitor and access the use of instant messages as well as email. As stated in previous posts, there is a time and a place for everything. When using your company’s email it should be used for work purposes only. When one is using work email for personal uses they may not only be seen as abusing work privileges, but also stealing time. In order for a company to be clear and concise in reference to their email related restrictions it should be noted in the employee handbook, and have documentation that the employees have read the policy. I have worked in offices where you have access to your own email and can use it if you are not busy, or have other tasks that need to be done. If use of personal email interferes with your work process than it should prohibited. Luckily, with the advancements of technology there are measures a company can take in order to keep access to a minimum and make information more readily accessible by superiors.
I do not agree with companies monitoring e-mails or instant messages. I feel as if it is an invasion of privacy. The monitoring of messages might eliminate fun or uplifting messages. I look forward to getting messages from friends and family. I think they can help lighten up the day. However, I think if a company chooses to monitor e-mails and instant messages there should be full disclosure at the time of hiring. If employees sign a written policy it may help eliminate the sending of inappropriate or personal messages during work hours. I could accept monitoring if there are employees abusing the privileges. But even if that is the case, that employee should be confronted, not monitored. Companies should have trust in their employees unless there are reasons not to.
I do feel that all e-mails should be filtered. Checking on the content daily would be a priority. I have owned my own business, and I did not except people on my clock to check their e-mails. That is something I feel they should do on their own time not mine. I did have a written policy stating that they would be written up if they were caught.
In my opinion companies have every right to monitor employees e-mail, and internet activity. The main reason would have to be company liability. If someone was looking up pornography, or sending inappropriate messages to employees, or anyone this would reflect a negative image of that company. There would be no factors in my mind that would change this fact.
I personally have gotten in trouble for going on a social network “My Space” while I was at work. Honestly I totally understand why companies frown on that behavior, they have no idea what or whom you are talking to or about. This could also be for security reasons so you are not leaking personal information about said company. So I guess I personally see nothing wrong with this.
I believe companies do have a right to monitor employee’s email to a point. If they see that an employee’s work is not getting done. Then one might suspect that there is excessive personal use of the computer. Also employees should not put any personal information in an email that they wouldn’t want anyone else seeing because it is something that might be done on company time so therefore they should have the right to see what is going on. I can see some personal emails, but far as forwards and jokes go that shouldn’t be allowed. When I worked for an insurance company we were told to check our email often, plus it would have a pop up on our screens when we would receive a new email. There were a few people that spent the majority of the day sending forwards and jokes, and it got to be very distracting seeing that I would have a new email then would go to it and it would be nothing pertaining to work.
I think it depends on the company they are working for. My mom works for an Alltel place and they have their own instant messaging. They have this because then they are not calling each other from store to store and interrupting the other person if they are with a customer. I believe the instant messages don't need to be monitored. My mom had issues at work with that because someone had put it to where it was unlocked so other people can see their conversations. I don't think that is right. Maybe they can have it where just the bosss can see it and not the other employees.
I believe it just depends on what kind of business you are working at.
It's a hard question to answer but i feel that the best response is that companies should be able to monitor everything that is sent or published becuase your getting paid on they're time and your also using companie property.
Some might say it violates they're privacy but if it's private to where you don't want anyone to see it you should do it on your own time and use your own computer if it's email and etc.
I don't think it is very ethical to monitor anyones emails or instant messages. The only reason I can honestly think it may be ok, is if the company was some how in trouble. Like if an employee"leaked"
some very important information out. Now if upon hiring, you were asked to sign something in writing that states all emails and instant messages are subject to monitoring, then I guess it would be ok. I personally would never work for a company that would do such things. Other then those two things I honestly can not think of another reason why that would be anyone else's business, ever.
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