Interactive Session: Management

VERTSOL

1. Should managers monitor employee e-mail and Internet usage? Why or Why not ?
Yes. Managers should monitor employee e-mail and internet usage if the employee is
using the company’s resources to do so. According to the case study, 77% percent of workers
with a Facebook account use them during work hours, and an average employee wastes 30%
of the workday on non-work-related Web Browsing. Another key point, A whopping 90% of
employees receive or send personal emails at work. This is alarming because companies spend
so much money on internet usage, and not putting it to good use is not beneficial to the
company. Likewise, without the proper monitoring and supervision, employees can abuse it in
the long term. Furthermore, many companies have been monitoring employee use of e-mail and
internet usage and in the context of the US, it is legal for US companies to monitor employee
internet and e-mail activity because the laws of the United States permit the employer to monitor
systems, they have ownership of, and even company devices used outside the workplace can
be monitored as well (Suemo, 2020). He also stated that the employer has the right to ensure
employees are using the internet for work-related purposes during paid hours.

However, some argue that it is unethical. Monitoring Employees on Networks is a good

business and not unethical. Websense Inc. stated that workplace internet misuse costs US
Businesses $63 Billion in lost productivity annually. 30 to 40% of employee internet activity is
non-work-related, according to IDC research. “Unethical behavior” in business definition means
“going beyond what is legal and doing what is right. It also means that actions don’t conform to
the acceptable business operations' '. Monitoring Employees’ internet usage doesn’t fall into
these criteria because it is legal (so far in the US context). The “unethical” is more applicable to
situations like exploiting workers, underpaying employees, sexual harassment, not paying taxes,
etc. If monitoring employees’ internet usage is unethical, then it is also fair to say that doing
work-unrelated activities during work hours is unethical as well because companies pay
employees to do work-related activities, not personal activities. It is very important to note that
when employees use email at the employer’s facilities, anything they do, including illegal,
carries the company name. To emphasize, not monitoring the employee’s internet usage will not
do any good for the company. It should not be a question of ethics because computers are
considered company property and the internet fees are being paid by the company. Therefore,
the firm has the right to know and control every activity that the employee does on the internet.
Additionally, it also opens more avenues to distract employees from working productively
(Patrick, n.d.).

2. Describe an effective e-mail and Web use policy for a company.

According to the case study, many consultants believe that companies can write
corporate policies on employee e-mail, social media, and web use. An effective email and web
use policy should state that employees shouldn’t expect anything that they do on their
(company) computers to be private. It should also include clear guidelines on what action is
allowed and what is not, and the company should include explicit ground rules that state under
what circumstances employees can use company facilities for email, web blogging, or surfing,
and prohibit actions such as:

● Racist and sexually explicit content has to be banned.

● Downloading pornographic, sexual, or questionable content, or send such material either
in e-mail or social media.
● Communicate via email, or any networking sites the company secrets, confidential, and
privileged information to unauthorized personnel.
● Committing piracy, violating copyrights laws, committing defamation or committing
unlawful actions using the internet.

Any employee who violates the policy shall be denied access to any of the company
computers and shall be given a warning about his/her behavior. If the action is repeated by the
same employee, they will be subject to disciplinary action or dismissal. In addition, it is also
possible that managers can make the policy slightly flexible, as long as non-work-related
internet use is regulated. Companies could give employees a 2-hour monthly maximum in
accessing non-work-related sites, during work hours and consider this as an employee privilege.
However, the speed load shall be limited due to the fact that if they occupied too much speed
load, the regular online traffic will be blocked which could damage both hardware and software
of the company’s server. The company is responsible for maintaining the hardware and
software that blocks spam. This can result in employees reading non-work-related information
from their email inbox and finding a legitimate email among hundreds of spam.

3. Should managers inform employees that their web behavior is being monitored ? Or
should managers monitor secretly ? Why or why not ?

Yes, according to the case study, it is recommended that policies should inform
employees whether their activities are monitored and why. Managers shall inform that their web
activities are monitored. However, monitoring staff can be a delicate matter because emotional
boundaries shall be considered and managers must practice utmost compassion and sensitivity
(BrickHouse Security, n.d.). Moreover, it is important for managers to evaluate the company
culture and the managers’ relationship with employees to have an idea of how employees would
react to certain information. Employers must find a balance between monitoring advantages and
the costs of invading employee privacy (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2009). Wong, and Paynter
(2006) found that a significant number of subjects related to employee and employer rights
should be taken into consideration such as significant issues concerned with building trust
between employers and employees in the workplace.

According to Moussa (2015), Employers often argue that they are able to protect their
organizations from any harm by monitoring employee activities. In this sense, monitoring is seen
as a tool to maintain organizational security. Improvement in modern technology has offered
organizations other than monitoring employees’ behavior, but also provides new techniques and
features in implementing employee monitoring. These new improvements make monitoring
more vulnerable to violating privacy. Employers should realize that employees could fight back
against the organization if they perceived the monitoring practices as unfair. Therefore, it is
necessary to take into account many concerns when a company decides to apply new
technology in monitoring employee behavior (ie., privacy, needs, and aspirations).

Similarly, employers shall educate employees about the reasons behind monitoring their
performance, and firms shall develop a wide range of policies and procedures that can help
employees further understand their boundaries. Likewise, communicating effectively will be vital
to the successful implementation of a monitoring system. When employers fail to recognize
employee rights, it can cause extensive loss, such as expensive lawsuits, damage to the
organization’s reputation, and impairment of employee values. Thus, employers should balance
the need for productivity with regard to employee rights to privacy, safety, and security.
Additionally, focusing on accomplishments rather than time spent in the workplace should be
the main concern for any employer. A culture of disloyalty and distrust within the organization
may emerge and can negatively affect the company.

REFERENCES

Choosing the Right Way to Inform Your Employees About Monitoring. (n.d.). Brickhouse
Security. Retrieved from https://www.brickhousesecurity.com/employee-
monitoring/informing

DeLoe, R. L. (2021). Creating a Company Email and Internet Usage Policy. LegalZoom.
Retrieved from https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/creating-a-company-email-and-
internet-usage-policy.

Everett, A. M., Wong, Y. Y., & Paynter, J. (2006). Balancing employee and employer rights: An
international comparison of e-mail privacy in the workplace. Individual Employment
Rights

Fenner, S (n.d).Unethical Behavior in Business: Definition & Examples. Retrieved from

https://study.com/academy/lesson/unethical-behavior-in-business-definition-
examples.html#:~:text=Unethical%20behavior%20in%20business%20refers,acceptable
%20standards%20of%20business%20practices.

Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Werner, S. (2009). Managing human resources (10th ed.).
Mason, OH: South-Western.
Moussa, M. (2015). Monitoring Employee Behavior Through the Use of Technology and Issues
of Employee Privacy in America. SAGE Open, 5(2). DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015580168
Patrick, E. (2018). Employee Internet Management: Now an HR Issue. SHRM. Retrieved from
https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/pages/cms_006514.aspx

Suemo, J (2020). 12 most asked questions on U.S. employee monitoring laws. WorkTime.
(2021). https://www.worktime.com/12-most-asked-questions-on-us-employee-
monitoring-laws