| Product: |
email privacy |
| Date: |
06/10/02 (131 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: x
Disadvantages: x
Email Privacy And Employers
The nation has a new epidemic. Employers now spend more time disciplining employees for abusing company email systems than for any other offence.
In many cases, it is treated as theft. The use of internal company property (the computer system or the software that supports the email system) for non-company purposes. The potential outcome from a typical internal disciplinary hearing ranges from verbal warning, to written warning and even dismissal.
We have seen the Swire effect. A young lady whose boyfriend rather uncouthly repeated details of an intimate moment on a company email to a colleague who, via others, copied in the planet online! This week the Sun front-paged with the email tale of a gentleman who gained unexpected pleasure from another lady while watching West Ham on telly, with his girlfriend away on business.
So, what do employers consider email abuse? My own company dislikes swearing, any use whatsoever that is personal, chain emails and more. There is, in fact, a five-page list of how not to use email. Technically, sending an email saying THANKS is an abuse as it can clog up the system, which is considered a valuable company resource. The risk of introducing a virus is also cited as a reason for strict email use rules. The law, as it stands, allows companies to snoop, if they so wish, on the content of emails.
Apparently, some companies even install software to identify swear words in email. Software that has the ability to dissect the syllables to find out who hides their swearing! Typing in the word Scunthorpe regularly is the best way to overload this software. Used in the correct context, you should not suffer a disciplinary hearing with the personnel department!!
What do I think? Well, I fully defend a company?s right to protect their property and ensure that employees are working on company time rather than playing on their computers.
At
the same time, if you have ever worked in an environment where your employer completely bans all personal telephone calls, you have worked in an oppressive workplace.
I would argue that allowing occasional use of email for personal use should actually be allowed. Emphasis on the word occasional. Prohibit content of an offensive nature. But to allow personal banter between colleagues, either spoken or emailed, is to allow a good team spirit to develop within a business and should actually make a business more successful. To allow people to very quickly and easily arrange a drink after work is often quicker by email and more productive for the business.
The difficulty then lies with management and personnel. They need to know what rules are right for their business. Agree them with their staff or union. Implement them sensibly. Know when to allow personal use of email. Know when to have a quiet word about excessive personal use. Know when to have a firm word. And know when to use the full mite of the available disciplinary procedures. And then to use fairness and balance within that. Final written warning and dismissal is a way to demoralise a successful workforce and should be used only for exceptionally strong cases.
As for the employee, beware somebody else having an auto-forward! Anything you put in email can and probably will come to the attention of somebody you genuinely do not want it to. Saying what you think about the boss in email is NOT recommended!
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