Mis Essay, Research Paper

In this article, Ed Bott is talking about the main tools companies are using to monitor their employees. Such tools have eliminated any form of privacy in the working field. Also, the author suggests survival strategies for employees about how to protect their privacy.

Currently, 45 % of all companies and 17 % of fortune 1000 companies use monitoring software to watch their workers. By, 2001 this number will jump to 80 %. An increasing number of bosses want to know that their workers are actually working and not spending time checking stock prices or placing bets at online casinos. The consequences of inappropriate electronic behavior can be swift and sudden and the article provides two examples. Approximately 20 workers at the New York Times administrative center in Norfolk, Virginia, found out how hazardous inappropriate e-mail can be to your career. They received pink slips in their e-mails and were reprimanded for their behavior. Last, but not least, 40 Xerox employees around the country were summarily dismissed for spending as much as eight hours a day browsing X- rated web sites and e- shopping during work hours.

The companies use various electronic monitoring methods to check their work force. The most common is to track telephone calls (numbers vs. time spent on the phone). This accounts for 39 % of the overall monitoring system. Next, is to store and review e-mail messages, which counts for 27 % of the system. Storing and reviewing computer files makes up 21 %, and checking online times, telephone conversations, and voice-mail messages consist of the remainder percentage. Thus, there is always a way for your boss to track you.

If you are employer, there are several tips you should do to protect your privacy and your career. Avoid using your company s e-mail to send personal messages, and eliminate any unsolicited commercial e-mail, especially messages that contain sexual content. Finally, avoid reading forwarded jokes, cartoons, chain letters, or other e-mail debris from your company computer. Following these tips will allow you to keep your job.

Conclusion

Ed Bott is using effective examples to make clear how easy is to lose your job at now days. We can draw two points from this article. First, each boss cares about his firm and tries to use different ways to ensure that his employees are working. Second, some of these ways are inappropriate, because they violate employee s privacy. However, who is right and who is wrong, is a hard question to answer. Is it he boss who is looking to maximize productivity or is it the worker who is loosing his privacy?

1. Bott, Ed, Are You Safe? Your Boss is Watching you . PC Computing March. 2000