According to a survey conducted by ComStore Networks in 2002, about 60% of the online sales took place between 10 am and noon, which is normally the time when many people are at work. It is quite apparent that employees use the web-access provided by their employers for non-work related activities. Shopping being one of them, other personal activities include online bidding, chatting, random web surfing and communicating via emails and texts.
Another research by Court in 2004 states that a company with an average of 500 employees, could suffer from an annual loss of 1 million dollars if each of the employees were to waste half an hour per day on conducting personal business and surfing at work. These statistics support the notion that it is highly impractical for the employers to let their employees completely on loose and suffer from productivity loss in return. Some form of employee monitoring definitely needs to be established to keep the workers focused as well as maintain the reputation of the organization.
It is however very important for the employers to convey their monitoring policies to their employees very clearly and explain it to them that they are only for the sake of maintaining discipline and not because the company mistrusts them. Doing so would dispel any feelings of alienation among the workforce and prevent the company from facing any legal issues in the future.
The practice of employee monitoring is in practice by large and small businesses throughout the world. Despite the ongoing debate whether it is ethical to engage in this practice or not, there are some genuine and legitimate reasons why it has become much of a necessity these days. Let us have a look at some of them:
- Boosting Productivity:
Where technological advancements have revolutionized the way work can be done and given a chance to the workers to improve their productivity, they have simultaneously created a lot of distractions at work too. Having unrestricted and unlimited access to the internet detracks the employees by creating diversions. Sitting inside their cubicles, many workers are seen socially interacting on Facebook, video surfing on YouTube and Daily motion, listening to music, playing games or viewing inappropriate material online. This could amount up to a lot of wasted hours at work and reduced productivity as a result.
By installing monitoring software on their Computer Networks and using video and manual surveillance at work, employers can collect evidential proof and gain true insight into the daily activities of their employees. Depending upon their surfing patterns, the employees can be confronted on a one-on-one basis or access to most frequently visited websites could be restricted. Besides, when the employees would know that they are being watched upon, they are unlikely to engage in leisure activities. These measures would ensure increased work efficiency and a rise in productivity.
- Preventing leakage of trade secrets:
In addition to a loss of productivity, employers are also concerned about the use of electronic communication channels in thefts of proprietary information. Employees who hold any form of grudge against the company can use the internet to export company’s trade secrets, designs and formulas to the competitors that can result in tremendous revenue losses, , which, according to the “Handbook on White Collar Crime,” can sum up to more than $2 billion per annum.
The transfer of such sensitive data can be prevented by monitoring the employees’ emails for suspected word strings or else by probing through the employees’ hard drive to read their messages. Tracking the employees would ensure that individuals with access to personal files, would be discouraged from spreading the sensitive information over the web and into the wrong hands.
- Avoiding legal consequences:
The need for employee surveillance arises not only from a desire to increase efficiency and be protected against corporate espionage, but also to save the company from issues related to legal liability. In the words of Nancy Flynn, executive director of the ePolicy institute,
“Concern over litigation and the role electronic evidence plays in lawsuits and regulatory investigations has spurred more employers to monitor online activity.”
If left unmonitored, human mind has a natural tendency to wander into prohibited zones. A two year marketing research by Court revealed that the word ‘Sex’ was the most popular term searched over the internet. The study also revealed that “Porn” was the fourth most searched term, with “nude,” “XXX,” “Playboy,” and “erotic stories” all being among the top twenty Web search terms. What is the most alarming is that more than half of this traffic occurs Monday to Friday from 8am to 5 pm.
While 60% of the companies have disciplined their employees for inappropriate use of the Internet, nearly 30% of the companies have also terminated their employees owing to different reasons including the viewing and rotation of pornographic material, sexual harassment by shooting off-color emails towards colleagues and sending offensive messages.
This couldn’t have been possible without keeping an eye on the employee’s activities during working hours. Discouraging such acts of sexual harassment and moral transgressions can help the company avoid a potential lawsuit and if in case such a situation arises, reproduce complete electronic proof against the culprit and prevent the name of the company from getting tarnished.
- Preventing Workplace hostility:
It is a common occurrence that people who don’t get along well usually try to let each other down in any possible way they can. Feelings of hostility could be manifested by passing sarcastic oral comments, leg pulling on social media forums or sending offensive emails and intimidating texts.
Monitoring Internet activity can prevent workplace violence by detecting any hostile behaviors and interceding before the situation escalates into a confrontation. Monitoring therefore can help create a safe and friendly workplace environment, conducive to the growth of the company.
- Security:
Keeping a company’s computer networks safe is yet another reason that supports the idea of monitoring at work. It is very common for viruses and spywares to get entry into the systems via unsolicited emails. If not kept in check, opening such emails or reckless web surfing can play havoc on the business’ computer networks. Restricting access to suspicious websites and maintaining logs of all incoming and outgoing emails can if not completely prevent, at least help the employers to detect any suspicious element sooner and take the best possible measures to rectify the situation. As the saying goes: A stitch in time saves nine.
from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1O6twyp via transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2175iJI
No comments:
Post a Comment