The debate over monitoring employees
Business Technology | July 16, 2013
As the owner of a small business, you have the technology available to determine what Web sites your workers visit while sitting at their desks. You are able to monitor how they use Twitter and Facebook. It’s also possible to tap into their smart phones to determine where they physically are throughout the day. But just because you can do this, it doesn’t mean that you ought to.
Privacy in the tech age
Thomas Claburn, editor-at-large with InformationWeek, recently tackled the controversy over employee monitoring in a recent online feature. In it, he quoted a wide range of experts, all of whom could understand why employers would want to use new tech to monitor their employees. However, these experts also contended that too much monitoring is counterproductive.
Different levels
But Claburn wrote that it’s naïve to be surprised by this kind of surveillance. Employees, he said, should expect their bosses to monitor their computer behavior, especially when these personnel are working on company-provided equipment.
The end of privacy?
A source quoted by Claburn, though, sums up the down-side of this lack of privacy. The source claims that when employers trust employees, they are rewarded with worker behavior that is worthy of such trust. Unfortunately, in today’s tech age, trust by both employers and employees appears to be declining.
As the owner of a small business, you have the technology available to determine what Web sites your workers visit while sitting at their desks. You are able to monitor how they use Twitter and Facebook. It’s also possible to tap into their smart phones to determine where they physically are throughout the day. But just because you can do this, it doesn’t mean that you ought to.
Privacy in the tech age
Thomas Claburn, editor-at-large with InformationWeek, recently tackled the controversy over employee monitoring in a recent online feature. In it, he quoted a wide range of experts, all of whom could understand why employers would want to use new tech to monitor their employees. However, these experts also contended that too much monitoring is counterproductive.
Different levels
But Claburn wrote that it’s naïve to be surprised by this kind of surveillance. Employees, he said, should expect their bosses to monitor their computer behavior, especially when these personnel are working on company-provided equipment.
The end of privacy?
A source quoted by Claburn, though, sums up the down-side of this lack of privacy. The source claims that when employers trust employees, they are rewarded with worker behavior that is worthy of such trust. Unfortunately, in today’s tech age, trust by both employers and employees appears to be declining.