E-mail Monitoring
E-mail monitoring is a touchy subject among
employees and employers alike. Many employees feel that email
is a personal matter and that their employers have no right
to take measures to monitor e-mail. On the other side of the
fence, however, a great many employers believe that it is
fully within their right to use email monitoring measures.
The thought is: if you're on the clock, you're on our time
and anything you say or do can be used against you when you're
called on the carpet.
I made the mistake of saying the wrong thing on a company
email system once. Lets just say that it was ugly.
I vowed to never make the same mistake. Of course, that was
in the days before the Internet ... and long before I left
the corporate nest ... I had no clue that my e-mail was monitored
...
The e-mail monitoring issue is shaking out state-by-state.
A bill (SB
1841) that stalled in the California legislature last
year sought to ensure that employers let their employees know--in
writing--that their e-mail is being monitored. While the e-mail
monitoring bill had passed the Assembly, it stalled in the
Senate, with no chance of being signed into law by Govinator
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Law or not, it's just good common sense for employees to
be given written notice if e-mail monitoring is in place.
Anything less is a betrayal of a common bond of trust. And
if that notice is given with a return receipt requested, employees
there will be no question whether or not the message was received.
Something this important shouldn't be lost in the shuffle
between notices for the company picnic and the cafeteria menu.
If your company is considering an e-mail monitoring system,
you'll find no shortage of choices, with applications like
DynaComm i:mail, IntelRex, Spector Pro, Tumbleweed, SurfControl,
and many others.
Use them with caution.
|
E-mail MonitoringE-mail monitoring is a touchy subject among employees and employers alike. Many employees feel that email is a personal matter and that their employers have no right to take measures to monitor e-mail. On the other side of the fence, however, a great many employers believe that it is fully within their right to use email monitoring measures. The thought is: if you're on the clock, you're on our time and anything you say or do can be used against you when you're called on the carpet. I made the mistake of saying the wrong thing on a company email system once. Lets just say that it was ugly. I vowed to never make the same mistake. Of course, that was in the days before the Internet ... and long before I left the corporate nest ... I had no clue that my e-mail was monitored ... The e-mail monitoring issue is shaking out state-by-state. A bill (SB 1841) that stalled in the California legislature last year sought to ensure that employers let their employees know--in writing--that their e-mail is being monitored. While the e-mail monitoring bill had passed the Assembly, it stalled in the Senate, with no chance of being signed into law by Govinator Arnold Schwarzenegger. Law or not, it's just good common sense for employees to be given written notice if e-mail monitoring is in place. Anything less is a betrayal of a common bond of trust. And if that notice is given with a return receipt requested, employees there will be no question whether or not the message was received. Something this important shouldn't be lost in the shuffle between notices for the company picnic and the cafeteria menu. If your company is considering an e-mail monitoring system, you'll find no shortage of choices, with applications like DynaComm i:mail, IntelRex, Spector Pro, Tumbleweed, SurfControl, and many others. Use them with caution. |