Beware!Boss is reading your mails

November 5, 2008 10:13 am 6 comments

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Downloading, chatting, Youtube, even Facebook is a major NO in most of the office environment- and that for a valid reason. Most employers like their employees to be totally focused on work and nothing else, since this is the exact reason employees are hired for so that the employer’s right to monitor and limit your unofficial online activities.

However, there are two sorts of monitoring, ethical monitoring and un-ethical monitoring. These days, online monitoring is one of the recent ways to judge an employee’s performance. Companies have well defined policies regarding usage of internet. This online monitoring may have many positive aspects but this also raises the chance of unethical monitoring. I tell you what unethical monitoring is, that is reading your emails, chats or personal data without your consent or knowledge under the pretext of monitoring.

Most of us, when come to office in the morning, first thing we do along with checking our official email is to check our personal account as well. How many of us stop and think of what if your boss or any other techie person in your office is also reading your personal emails or chats? Or what if there is a spyware on your computer without your knowledge? This is actually happening! Now if getting the work done is the employer’s right then privacy of checking personal email is the employee’s right too. If the employer fears of valuable information being exploited or leaked then these websites should be banned from the workplace instead of being monitored discreetly as this is I believe, totally unethical.

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6 Comments

  • Totally agree with you and your classification of “ethical” and “unethical” monitoring. Every company should have a clear “internet-usage” policy and all the employees should follow it. However, since that seems to be an *ideal* case, companies should at least inform their employees prior to monitoring. The notice “you will be monitored” alone will make the employees limit all their personal(not work-related i.e.) internet activities; actual monitoring might not even be needed :)

  • I’m agree too and i think every company should define such things in their policies that all employees will be monitored rather then monitoring in unethical ways that spoils the work environment:)

  • Danyal

    If the employer doesnt want specific information to leak out then why even allow the personal use of internet. either block it or dont complain. Allowing the personal usage of the internet and abusing the pvt info of the employees is unethical in the clearest sense.

    Everyone has the will to say whatever about whoever they want. if you dont like it then dont allow it.

  • Mohsin

    I work in IT and happen to install and support such monitoring, so I’ll tell you a couple things about it.

    If the employees have been advised their PCs are being monitored, they should take care themselves and not check personal emails or do things they don’t want the employers to see.

    That said, it is completely wrong and against the law (well, at least in England) to monitor PC activity discreetly.

  • I Personally does not such restrictions of not to visit any website for your personal work or interest. Employees must have right to entertain them self and make your self up-to date with the world. So employees must be loyal and sincere and may watch website like, youtube, xchangetube, facebook, technical3danimation or any one which provide them knowledge skills and self enrichment. So Employers should think so and employees should show their responsibility.

  • Muhammad Rafi Chaudhry

    Dear Sir,
    It is very aprciable that u offer 50% increase on card telephonically talking abroad specially on Eid eve. Sir I use your card for this purpose for telephone abroad. It is pointed out here that u never mentioned the time period i.e. the validity of the card. Last time I bought a Wateen card for Rs.100/- but SORRY TO SAY THAT IT WAS EXPIRED WHEN THERE WAS A BALANCE FOR RS.75/-. I TALKED TO YOUR HELP LINE AND INQUIRED THE TIME i.e.THE VALIDITY OF CARD AND THEY INFORMED ME IT IS ONE MONTH. I WAS TOTALLY UNAWARE ABOUT IT. I ASKED TO EXTEND MY TIME PEIROD BUT THEY TOTALLY REFUSED TO DO SO AND ASKED TO CONTACT U ON THIS ADRESS. IT IS NOT GOOD. FIRST OF ALL U SHOULD MENTION THE TIME ON YOUR CARD SO THAT PEOPLE MUST BE AWARE OF IT.

    NOW I REQUETS TO EXTEND MY TIME SO THAT I MAY NOT SUFFERED. MY CARD NO.WTN000000588441 I HOPE U WILL COPERATE WITH ME AND SAME ME FROM SOME LOSS i.e. RS.75/- AND MAKE ME ABLE TO CONTINUE YOUR GOOD SERVICE THANKS
    PLEASE INFORM ME ON MY MOBILE NO.(PAKISTAN LAHORE)

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