By: Staff Writer
Over the past decade, there has been a technological revolution in the workplace as businesses have increasingly turned to technology as the primary tool to communicate, conduct business, and store information. As the use of technology has increased, so has the concern of employers that their technology resources may be abused by employees. As a result, companies have developed various “computer conduct” policies and implemented strategies to monitor their employees’ use of e-mail, the Internet, and computer files. National surveys have reported that many companies are engaged in such practices. Federal and state laws and judicial decisions have generally given private sector companies wide discretion in their monitoring and review of employee computer transmissions, including the Internet and e-mail. However, some legal experts believe that these laws should be more protective of employee privacy by limiting what aspects of employee computer use employers may monitor and how they may do so.
No matter where people stand on the issue of privacy, one thing continues to be critical in the courts, in the media and in the work place. Employers are expected to clearly communicate the organizations position to employees as it pertains to employee conduct and privacy.
As an employer, one of the challenges has been keeping up with written policies that describe and make clear what the employee should know about the organizations expectations of technology use when the technologies available change at such a rapid rate. Many organizations have an “Email Policy” an “Internet Use Policy” a “Communications Policy” and often a general section outlining general office technology use in an “Employee Handbook”.
The situation above has developed because organizations tend to layer additional policies as new technologies present themselves in the work place. As a response to this situation, more and more organizations are creating a single “Technology Use Policy” that pertains to all of the various technologies and communication mediums in the organization.
There is now a broad enough understanding of the interaction between employees and the internet enabled world to refine the employer’s expectations in a single “Technology Use Policy” that will address elements such as email, webmail, web surfing, telephone/cell phones, social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc.), Blogs, instant messaging (IM) and texting.
The courts, specific industry associations and experts agree that establishing a comprehensive policy on employee technology use is incomplete without strategies to disseminate the information. Experts pointed out that informing employees about these policies not only established the limits of employee expectations about privacy but also allowed the employee the opportunity to conform their behavior to the circumstances of having limited privacy. Don’t allow your organization to send conflicting messages to employees because technology specific policies have been layered on top of each other as new technologies make their way into the work place. Focus on replacing multiple policies with a single “Technology Use Policy”.
By: Staff Writer
Over the past decade, there has been a technological revolution in the workplace as businesses have increasingly turned to technology as the primary tool to communicate, conduct business, and store information. As the use of technology has increased, so has the concern of employers that their technology resources may be abused by employees. [...]
By: Staff Writer
Over the past decade, there has been a technological revolution in the workplace as businesses have increasingly turned to technology as the primary tool to communicate, conduct business, and store information. As the use of technology has increased, so has the concern of employers that their technology resources may be abused by employees. [...]
By: Staff Writer
Over the past decade, there has been a technological revolution in the workplace as businesses have increasingly turned to technology as the primary tool to communicate, conduct business, and store information. As the use of technology has increased, so has the concern of employers that their technology resources may be abused by employees. [...]
By: Staff Writer
Over the past decade, there has been a technological revolution in the workplace as businesses have increasingly turned to technology as the primary tool to communicate, conduct business, and store information. As the use of technology has increased, so has the concern of employers that their technology resources may be abused by employees. [...]
As more and more people go online to create profiles, share photos, news and gossip with friends and spend hours updating their details and friend lists, organizations are starting to reassess their approach to social networking in the workplace.
What makes social networking on the Internet so popular is the power it gives individuals to create, [...]
By: Staff Writer
Over the past decade, there has been a technological revolution in the workplace as businesses have increasingly turned to technology as the primary tool to communicate, conduct business, and store information. As the use of technology has increased, so has the concern of employers that their technology resources may be abused by employees. [...]
By: Staff Writer
Over the past decade, there has been a technological revolution in the workplace as businesses have increasingly turned to technology as the primary tool to communicate, conduct business, and store information. As the use of technology has increased, so has the concern of employers that their technology resources may be abused by employees. [...]
Lora Bentley
Social networking is part of the new normal in business, according to Gartner. Understandably, not every company can go so far as, say, Zappos.com or Southwest Airlines in their enthusiasm. But it’s also not smart to ignore it. At some level, employee use of social networking tools should be addressed and a policy adopted.
In [...]
By David Holthaus
dholthaus@enquirer.com
Shoppers spent about $900 million Monday not by going to the mall but by pointing a computer mouse and clicking from the comfort of their desks. Undoubtedly, many of those sales on what retailers bill as Cyber Monday came from workplace computers on company time, raising the uncomfortable question: Was anyone actually working [...]
Rolling Meadows, IL, USA (21 October 2009)—Employees plan to spend nearly two full working days (14.4 hours) on average shopping online from a work computer this holiday season, according to a survey conducted on behalf of ISACA, a nonprofit association of 86,000 information technology (IT) professionals. One in 10 plans to spend at least 30 [...]
At a conference last month in San Francisco, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts credited an employee’s use of Twitter with helping to change the cable giant’s corporate culture toward customer service.
Yet a recent survey of corporate technology executives by Robert Half Technology of Menlo Park found that 54 percent of companies prohibit employees from using social-media [...]
Ralph Schaefer
Social networking is creating workplace havoc.
Employers are faced with decisions varying from a total ban of the services to developing policies that allow the use of on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and other new communication methods.
Employees must deal with the ability to maintain contact with people outside the workplace in a timely fashion without violating [...]
By Scott Campbell, ChannelWeb
Do you work for a company that allows access to Facebook and Twitter during company time? If so, consider yourself lucky.
A new study by Robert Half Technology found that 54 percent of CIOs said their firms do not allow employees to visit social networking sites for any reason while at work.
Nineteen percent [...]
Managing Social Media Risks
By Bridget McCrea
Name an online social networking site, and there are liable to be thousands of teachers, administrators, and students using it connect with people. Whether it’s Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or one of the more “specialized” online venues, all are replete with individuals looking to tap into the growing social networking wave.
Like [...]
As more and more people go online to create profiles, share photos, news and gossip with friends and spend hours updating their details and friend lists, organizations are starting to reassess their approach to social networking in the workplace.
What makes social networking on the Internet so popular is the power it gives individuals to create, [...]
More than ever, companies want to know what their employees are up to
IF THE workers at Japan’s Keihin Electric Express Railway Company seem unnaturally cheerful for drizzly autumn mornings, it is because they are being watched. The firm has installed cameras with special scanners at 15 of its stations to measure employees’ smiles, ensuring that [...]
