Big Brother in the Workplace

Big Brother in the Workplace

Introduction

In today's society there are many reasons for surveillance, one of which is to monitor the workplace. Companies can monitor employees' phone calls, monitor emails, and check their behaviors. According to the American Management Association more than 75% of big corporations do some kind of electronic surveillance on the people who work for them. 63 percent of them monitor Internet connections. 43 percent track telephone use. And just about 20% check on computer use, such as who is logged on or keystroke counts (Bock, 1). Surveillance of the workplace has shined some light on the reality of employees' behaviors and actions during business hours. Whether these actions and behaviors are positive or negative, surveillance of employees allows for management to view work ethics and habits of employees throughout the day. Use of surveillance in today's society is a "must," considering the vicious crimes and conspiracies as well as wasting time and money by employees on the job.

Background

Surveillance has come a long way in the workplace. Employee's every moves are monitored, their emails are monitored, and even their phone calls are sometimes monitored. For some employees they feel as if they have no room or freedom from their employers because of the restrictions that surveillance in the workplace puts on them. Some argue that this hinders an employees' work ethics and attitude toward their job because they feel they constantly have someone looking over their shoulder.

On the other side, people feel as if surveillance is a great innovation that has helped employers cut down on theft, wasting of time, property protection, productivity, liability issues, and most important of all the safety of employees. These problems have grown immensely in the past few years, and surveillance is the only solution that has opened employees' eyes to the problems they face. Surveillance has been very advantageous to companies across the world, by making employees stay on track with their workload, and by upping security in the workplace.

First Major Topic (Types of Surveillance)

Companies have the ability to use multiple methods of surveillance to watch over an array of actions taking place in the workplace.

Many companies today have the ability to use multiple methods of surveillance to watch over an array of actions taking place in workplace. Companies use multiple types of surveillance to monitor their employees. One of the biggest types of surveillance that is starting to effect views and ideas on surveillance is the monitoring of employees' emails. Every day this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue. Many times when an employee gets bored of his/her work, they immediately turn to their communication through email. This is something that needs to be monitored because many employees simply waste time writing personal emails that end up being pages long. The writing of these emails could lead to conspiracy or even planned theft from within the company.

Today the largest method of surveillance used is the monitoring of internet use. Companies monitor what sites employees connect to as well as what type of games, shopping, etc. that they do on the World Wide Web. Most of any time wasted in the workplace is due to the use of the internet. Most companies now have a firewall or some sort of protection set up that prohibits employees to log onto certain websites. As shown in Picture 1, 63% of enterprises that monitor the use of company equipment and systems is the monitoring of the internet.

Another form of surveillance that is not as commonly used is the monitoring of phone calls. Most times when this is used, it is primarily used when there is an incoming or outgoing call. When employees make a phone call outside of the office it is normally taped for security purposes. Many times one who is not even an employee will have their call monitor. Normally, most companies that have a customer service number to call will tell you before you talk to an associate that your call may be monitored.

There are also computerized systems that monitor employees. These systems can be used to track many different actions. It can track the number of keystrokes an employee does, the number of errors an employee makes, and/or the number of customer service calls and the duration of those calls. This type of surveillance does not necessarily contribute to the monitoring of the good and bad actions of employees, but it does exist in the workplace.

Video surveillance is one of the most useful forms of surveillance around, because it allows employers to watch employees interactions with customers and visa versa. One of the biggest reasons video surveillance is used is not to monitor the employees but to ensure the safety of their employees. Video surveillance over the years has helped solve many crimes and robberies that have gone on in the workplace. For this, most employees feel safer, knowing that there is a surveillance camera that is looking over their shoulder in case anything was to happen.

Second Major Topic (Privacy Acts)

Many privacy acts have been passed in order for employees to have their rights protected by the law. These privacy acts have been passed in compliance with surveillance in the workplace. Privacy and loyalty of the employees is an imperative issue in the workplace. These acts allow for companies to still use surveillance to supervise employees, while still allowing for employees to feel safe and comfortable in their work environment. The acts cover all the different types of surveillance from the use of video surveillance to computer and phone tracking systems so that employers are aware of the dos and don'ts of surveillance.

The Workplace Video Surveillance Act, 1998 was implemented to limit and control the use of video surveillance equipment in the workplace (Harding) This act has a provision that covers overt surveillance and covert surveillance. By overt, we mean obvious, out in the open surveillance, such as the cameras and their housing being clearly seen by anyone in the workplace. By covert surveillance, we mean hidden surveillance that cannot be clearly seen by the naked eye. Covert surveillance is forbidden and illegal in most incidences. It is a breach of the Act for an employer to carry out open video surveillance if any of the following has not occurred. There must be at least a 14 days notice given to employees who will be under surveillance. The majority of employees must agree on this use of surveillance. Caution signs must