Eavesdropping on Employees: Spurred by fears of litigation and diminishing
productivity, U.S. employers are keeping close tabs on employees’ workplace
activities. The American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute say
nearly half of U.S employers have fired employees for misusing corporate e-mail
or Internet access. About two-thirds use software to prevent employees from
surfing the Web for porn and other questionable content—up 27 percent since
2001, when the two organizations launched their annual Electronic Monitoring
& Surveillance Survey.
Technology plays a role also in monitoring the content of workers’ e-mail,
with nearly three-quarters of companies deploying automated tools for this
purpose. About 40 percent of firms designate someone to “manually read and
review” employee e-mail.
Surveyed firms report keeping tabs on how much time users spend browsing the
Web, the number of keystrokes used, and the type of content being accessed.
About one in four companies capture and review computer files, while 12 percent
troll blogs to see what employees may be saying about their companies. Social
networking sites receive attention from about 10 percent of wary executives.
Aside from listening in and peering over employees’ shoulders virtually, many
companies (45 percent) monitor their phone use as well. And 16 percent go so far
as to record phone conversations. But according to the survey, nearly 85 percent
of companies let employees know they are being surreptitiously observed.
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