Keeping an Eye and Ear on Employee Activity
Having a technology monitoring policy is smart, playing “Gotcha!” is not.

By Danielle Rodenbough

First it was the telephone, now e-mail and the Internet. Technology has always been both a boon and a bane in the workplace. Although technology has greatly improved worker productivity, it has also made it more difficult to maintain control of employee actions.

Employers have the right to keep track of how their employees spend their work hours. A recent survey of 722 companies by the Society of Human Resource Management found that almost three quarters monitored employee Internet use and periodically checked employee e-mail, while more than half reviewed employee phone calls. Some monitoring makes good business sense. Viewing pornography or gambling on the Internet, or using e-mail to harass co-workers, are issues that could create serious legal consequences for businesses of all sizes.

The decision whether to monitor employee use of e-mail, telephone and the Internet should be a delicate balance of trust and business need. Employers must ensure that the employee’s privacy rights are not violated, while monitoring sufficiently to protect legitimate business interests.

Employer Rights
The monitoring practices that follow are well within legal guidelines for employers.

Phone calls: Employers may listen in on business-related phone calls only, after advising employees that such a practice is in place. If the call is personal, the employer must stop listening. Employers also may review company phone records for unauthorized use.

E-mail: Employers have the right to review e-mail content, and they should use that right. Employees could be sending suggestive or inappropriate (even harassing) e-mails to co-workers, or sending sensitive business information outside the company. Businesses should never implement a policy indicating that e-mail will remain private or that employees may use passwords not known to the company.

Internet: Improper use of the Internet is rampant in many industries. A research study by IDC, a technology survey and research firm, revealed that 30 to 40 percent of Internet use in the workplace is not related to business. SexTracker states that 70 percent of all Internet porn traffic occurs during the nine-to-five workday. Not only does inappropriate Internet use take time away from productivity, but it also raises the risk of a harassment-related employee claim. One local company responded to an employee complaint when the employee borrowed a co-worker’s laptop, and the history file contained thousands of pornographic sites that had been visited.

A Problem for Big and Small Companies
Most large companies already have technology monitoring plans in place. A few years ago, Dow Chemical Co. fired 29 Michigan employees, suspended another 42 and disciplined many others for sending pornographic or “violent” images through company e-mail. This led to increased e-mail monitoring in the workplace and software products prohibiting the use of certain words or certain types of images.

Many small business owners feel more trusting toward their employees and shy away from formal policies. But one local small business owner put a monitoring policy in place after checking the e-mail of an employee he heard was looking for a new job. Although the individual was still producing at a high level, she had been spending hours per day on the Internet on her job search, and her e-mail revealed a large number of resumes sent to prospective employers, including competitors.

How Far Should You Go
To assess the level of monitoring that is right for your company and what to look for, consider the following:

Understand that some monitoring just makes good business sense. Although you may trust all your employees, it’s better not to be surprised. Quarterly monitoring can protect your company by preventing confidential information from being passed outside. Companies in industries in which employees deal with formulas, trade secrets and other highly confidential information should monitor more heavily than those that do not.

Consider randomly scanning employee e-mail use. You need to know if an employee is spending an inordinate amount of time chatting via e-mail, if they are sending improper images or text on the company’s computer systems, or if they are harassing a co-worker.

Review both long distance and local calls made from company phones and cell phones. Typing phone numbers into Google, or a reverse-lookup site, will tell who “owns” the number.

Conduct random scans of Internet sites visited by employees. This is not disrespectful or sneaky; it gives you additional information about how they spend their time, and if their actions are jeopardizing the safety of your company.

Consider implementing software that prohibits the access of pornographic, gambling and other undesirable sites. The software is affordable and eliminates temptation.

Policy of Policing
All businesses should have technology policies to provide maximum protection. Decide exactly what kind of monitoring will be done, and create policies that advise employees of your plans. If employees know that phone bills will be checked for local and long distance calls, or if their e-mail and Internet activity will be scanned, they will likely be more careful. The policies should also be clear about what is unacceptable.

A reasonable technology usage policy should include:

An explanation of the business need for monitoring technology use

What will be monitored and how it will be done

Examples of improper use of the technology

Consequences of improperly using the technology

Be reasonable with employees about their need for privacy and your need for information. More importantly, take time to share the reasons for the policy through face-to-face communication. Poorly communicated policies and monitoring practices designed to “catch” employees will backfire by negatively impacting the company’s culture.

Finally, ensure that a human resources consultant or attorney reviews the technology policy so that employee privacy rights are not violated.

Danielle Rodenbough is the principal of Trouble at Work? in Leawood, Kan., a human resources consulting and employment services firm specializing in small businesses. She may be reached at (913) 345-8593.