Installing A Office Surveillance System

Did you know that 58% of employers have fired workers for Internet and email misuse? And 48% justify employee video monitoring as an effort to “counter theft and violence?” According to the “2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey” of which 304 U.S. companies participated in, computer-monitoring results have led to the highest cause of employee termination. These companies used several tactics to eavesdrop on employees while claiming to be managing productivity or for security purposes. Some argue that surveillance is absolutely necessary to help protect and grow a business; others argue that employee and customer rights come first. However, companies that use such tactics often violate the privacy of individuals, exploit their private information and even punish those that do not conform to their standards.

* In today’s world of fast-developing technology, in which the click of mouse can dispense a plethora of information, privacy for job seekers and employees is a significant issue. One type of privacy issue in the workplace occurs when a company gathers or circulates private or personal information about employees or candidates for employment.

1. Use of on premise security cameras to spy on the activities of fellow employees

Employers have to monitor employees for security concerns relating to intentional or accidental release of sensitive data. Mohl, shows in a 2006 survey by Proofpoint Inc.

Whenever a company looks at their employees and they are posting photos of themselves at work, they are expected to be working and in dress code. This can give criminals an idea of the types of people that are hired at the location and enforcement of management the location

In Brian Trent’s article, Technology and Tomorrow: A Challenge to Liberty, Trent describes how electronic surveillance has increased and how it will continue to spread amongst people. In Craig Silverman’s article, Smile, Big Brother’s watching, Silverman explains that the amount of time and surveillance that corporations conduct over employees is increasing, but having some negative effects. Both of these articles explain how electronic surveillance will increase so much, that almost everyone will be able to be seen when not in the open [monitored]. In this essay I’ll be going more in depth to describe both articles and I’ll explain whether I agree with their arguments and why.

As much as a company should not invade the rights of its employees , it has the equal responsibility of ensuring that its privacy and that of its employees are not divulged or used in any personal intent by other employees . According to Nyman (2005 , more companies are being held accountable by employees whose privacy was compromised in the workplace because of what is seen as a lack in its measures to ensure their privacy . Therefore , if employers are being held accountable for such situations , Nyman believes that they should be given enough power to protect themselves from such liabilities

In the United States, billions of emails are sent from any business regarding the business done, and sometimes things that aren’t business at all. I’m talking about things such as company sports, company games, or even company free time. Because of this, many companies’ these days monitor their employees’ emails in order to discourage the use of company time for leisure work. These seemingly random checks can tell the company when and/or how an employee has misused their time and misused the companies’ resources for their own gain. According to Halbert and Ingulli, employers have had a long history of interest in scrutinizing their workforces (Halbert & Ingulli, 2006, p. 87). Today, “spying” on their employees has been made many times easier due to technology. Monitoring emails

As part of our service to our gracious client; Juggernaut Industries we have provided a set of policies and procedures in relation to Workplace Privacy. We encourage you to use this as a guide so you can formulate your own workplace surveillance policy, in the near future. Please note that we will focus upon workplace ‘surveillance’ within the context of workplace privacy. This template of the policy and procedure outline also quotes the Workplace Surveillance Act 2005 (NSW) and is directly bound by this legislation.

The article “Little brother is watching you” by Miriam Schulman is an informative article that speaks of workplace privacy, specifically the monitoring software “Little Brother”. This program allows employers to access anything that their employees are accessing at work using company technology. This software allows employers to access intimate, and private information that is accessed at work. In this day and age, we live in a world where it’s impossible to “turn off” your work life, you are expected to check emails and answer calls whether they are on the clock or not. Miriam argues the case that if an employee writes a letter to their boyfriend on their lunch break with a pen and paper that is property of the company, does the employer have the right to open and read that letter?

E-mail has rapidly become a staple of the modern office. Currently, two-thirds of employees in medium and large companies in the United States now have Internet access, compared with fifteen percent only two years ago. The availability of e-mail allows for messages to be widely and rapidly distributed, improving efficiency and reducing cost. In addition to being one of the components of the new workplace, e-mail is also the center of a hot privacy debate. Part of this is because, unlike regular mail, which is difficult to monitor, e-mail can be scanned with ease, allowing employers to engage in monitoring at an unprecedented rate, and raising the specter of a workplace free of privacy. As this relatively new technology gains ever increasing prevalence, certain questions

Businesses putting in cameras and monitoring computers are not uncommon now a days. Observing the work area and its employees allows employers to find out who works and who doesn 't. Well-placed cameras and software helps companies detect and identify any employees who may be stealing company property or slacking off on work computers. A 2005 survey by the American Management Association showed that more than half of the employers use video surveillance at work to counter theft, violence, or sabotage (AMA 2010). And 16% of the employers surveyed used video surveillance to monitor employee performance (AMA 2010). When talking about property damage, having the surveillance cameras monitored by security personnel greatly increases the chance of catching anyone misusing or stealing company

Workplace surveillance has become a controversial issue in the workplace environment. The technological surveillance has developed as a necessity, it doesn’t only help in monitoring what the workers’ do, but it also helps to know how they do it. The modern technological development may have helped the employers’ to have an aerial view of the workplace environment, but it has created a controversy between the employees’ and the employer about the employees’ right to privacy being violated. The employees’ believe the act of workplace surveillance to be hateful that violates their right to privacy and liberties. The surveillance at the workplace often effects workers mental health, productivity, future success in their work and their relationship with the employer, despite being a necessity for the employers’ to protect themselves against the liability, many employers’ in the process of achieving efficiency through surveillance mistakenly ruin their relationship with their employees. The workplace surveillance is helpful in improving the performance of workers or it is contributing towards degrading the performance of workers and their work relationships.

It has been proved that computers help a business ease its activities such as record keeping, monitoring employees and word processing among others. However, the use of computers in the workplace breeds concerns such as security threats and privacy issues. Computer systems are not only prone to hackers but also other security issues that may compromise the company’s activities and social integrity. The research will probe into some of the advantages and disadvantages of computer surveillance.

In The Los Angeles Times (2013) an article titled, “Tracking workers’ every move can boost productivity,” stated how employers are using surveillance software to monitor employees every movement. Employees are criticizing the monitoring software since it has caused harsher work environment. Employees feel with the monitoring system, employers see them as human machines a way to drive costs down and increase production (Semuels, 2013). Employees are finding that monitoring technology have cost jobs