After reading the article Snooping Bosses I must say it does raise quite an interesting matter. Both sides do indeed make valid points, and it seems to be a question of how to keep a good balance.
It seems fair that employers want to ensure that their employers work efficiently and that they do not leak corporate secrets or practise any kind of criminal activity. It is completely understandable to me that companies are checking their employees' web habits (at office computers of course) as mentioned in the article. This is of high relevance to the employers as they do not want their workers wasting time surfing on office hours, and especially not porn surfing. Neither do I find it to alarming that employers disable personal email accounts at office computers and check for red flags in the content of the work mail. In general, I find most so called snooping by bosses similar to what I just mentioned acceptable as long as it is limited to the office during office hours.
However, the matter becomes alarming when the snooping is taken to another level in the aspect of when it is done without the knowledge of the employees, and taken outside the office.
It is impossible for the employers to be in full control no matter how much monitoring and snooping they conduct. To some extent they need to trust their employees, otherwise we are heading towards a scary society. And the trust needs to be mutual. To much monitoring will create a distrust amongst the employees as well. How efficient will the workers be with the disturbance of the feeling of constantly being watched? It is not difficult to imagine that focus on the work task at hand to some extent will be lost when one is in constant fear of doing something wrong.
Hi, Josefine!
SvaraRaderaI do agree that snooping and monitoring by the employer in the office environment are acceptable, though I would not like to do such if I, myself, were an employer. I would like to hire people whom I can trust. And yes, it does become alarming when these activities extend to outside the office. I found it a little amusing, however, when this security guard or patrol driver got caught in the article. It is important to note that he was informed in advance about the software installation that enabled his boss via company cell phone to track his whereabouts. He probably should have switched off the phone, when he decided to take off for Reno instead of going to work! The boss had the right to do what he did. I could not agree more that mutual respect is what is essential between employer and its employees.
It is "too" much monitoring.
Kazumi
Above I meant to say mutual "trust" but, of course, mutual respect is also necessary.
SvaraRaderaKazumi
Well, cannot say much more that I agree with your thoughts. Monitoring the staff during work is okay, but outside the office is not okay for a boss to snooping at his/her staff. I still think CIA or FBI or some kind of federal agency should have the privilege to surveillance over the society. A problem is still that it could be abused or hacked.
SvaraRaderaI also agree with Kazumi if I was the boss I would hire staff who I believe that will do a god job.