Every employer has the right to protect their
interests. One such way is to monitor
computer usage. There is an abundant
amount of information that can be shared, manipulated and possibly destroyed
over the computer.
Employers are not
just trying to control this information but are trying to control costs. If they are able to monitor an employee’s
activities they can see when an employee is or isn’t being productive. For companies that do not have strict web
restrictions there may be a lot of internet misuse or the potential for
it. By having the capabilities to
monitor the daily activities it can reduce the chances that this will happen
because employees do not want to face the consequences of what will happen if
they get caught.
Many employees want to argue that their right to the 4th
amendment is being violated when companies decide to monitor their usage on
company owned
computers. The 4th
amendment guards against unwarranted searches and seizures. In most cases however, courts will rule in
favor of the employer. The only way an
employee would have a case on this would be if the company does not have a
written policy stating that they have the right to monitor what you are doing
on company owned computers during work hours.
However, most companies do, so this is a non-issue.
I think that companies have every right to see how their employees are using their time on computers owned by the employer. I believe that if you want to look at something online that might not be appropriate in a workplace setting then you should do so on your own time and with your own computer.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that companies have the right to monitor what their employees view while using company provided equipment. If I had a company I would not want my employees using the computers that I supplied to seek out things to buy on sites like EBay, or constantly reading and updating Face book. As Chris stated, If you want to look at something inappropriate for a work environment then you need to do it on your own equipment and own time.
ReplyDeleteI believe I would agree with most courts on this. For these employees to be jeopardizing their jobs over something like online social media or gambling or whatever unproductive website they visit is crazy. Their uncontrollable urges might lead you to believe in internet addictions!
ReplyDeleteIf an employee is doing their work, getting their job done, and using their computer for work related tasks, there would not be any need for them to feel like their 4th amendment is being violated. If an employee is on the clock and getting paid than that time of their's is owned by the company therefore the person that do not keep their computer's work related is the one truly violating the use of company time. Company time is company asset, so for those employees that misuse company time, their actually wasting company asset which can be consider as stealing company asset.
ReplyDeleteI think if there has been multiple occasions where the employee has been caught mis-using the company computer during work than I think they have the right to monitor how the employee is using the company's resources.
ReplyDeleteI believe that an employee personal use of company computers can mean lost money. Employees have an ethical obligation to dedicate work hours to work, since this is what they're paid for. Workers might be neglecting job responsibilities, pretend productivity when they're attending to personal matters on their company computers. Missed deadlines and careless customer service might be by products of employees using company computers for personal reasons on company time.
ReplyDeletei think they should monitor employee's computer usage because as long as people have a computer next to them they will use it for their personal use.
ReplyDeleteI think that the employer should inform the employee about their internet policy. If the company states that the internet usage will be monitored then employees can not complain. However I do not think it is right if the company monitors employees with out notification.
ReplyDeleteJames Todd
I worked for a retailer that had a monitoring company, and at one point had to write an essay explaining why I exhibited one behavior on the equipment. It mad me realize that Big Brother was watching and made me a bit more reticent and aware of what I was inputting into the computers at work.
ReplyDelete-Tom Cornell
I don't think that it is unethical to montior computer usage when you are being paid to perform a job. I think that it would be much easier for jobs to block certain sites. I wonder how much it could really cost for someone to "monitor" each employee's usage though
ReplyDelete