Workplace Privacy

It is not a secret that companies use surveillance methods to monitor their employees. Monitoring can be used for the workers own protection; however, companies should have safeguards to protect employee’s privacy. Furthermore, employees should be entitled to two general safeguards. First, employees should always be informed when they are monitored, and second, there should not be monitoring whatsoever in entirely private areas such as locker rooms or employee lounges. 

Employees are supervised not only at work but also on social media. David Scher, an attorney and a principal of The Employment Law Group in Washington, D.C., recommend that an employer should have a very clear yet reasonable social media policy. And, he states that a social media policy should advise employees that information they obtain while using corporate computers is company information, and could be surveyed or used in any context including an investigation; so, employees are on notice that if they are using their computer for personal reasons of any kind that information could actually be obtained, even if it is so fleeting as a text. 

In conclusion, companies keep eye on workers for the company and employees’ protection. However, workers’ privacy must also be protected inside and outside the workplace. Moreover, some studies indicate that the electronic monitoring affects the performance of workers. It reduces the quality of performance due to the high level of stress that this surveillance exerts on employees.