ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > December > 07 > Entry
Is somebody watching you at work?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The holiday rush is on! That means many of us will be trying to sneak in a few moments of personal time during the work day to check some things off our personal holiday to-do lists. We may find a few moments to do some on-line shopping or put off working on a new project in favor of sending a friend some photos from last week’s holiday party.
From time to time, we all have to attend to something personal during the work day. For a lot of people a quick personal email or even an on-line purchase made during your lunch hour may not be a major problem. Most companies have some kind policy in place that regulates on-line activities.
Ever get the feeling that your every move is being monitored at work? The degree to which your on-line activities are monitored does vary, but in many cases this policy states that employees should have no expectation of privacy in using company technology.
In the past several years, we’ve seen the introduction of Instant Messaging, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, as well as the advent of blogging. You may assume that your company has instituted “Big Brother” policies to monitor your on-line activities because they don’t want you wasting company time.
While this is probably true, a lot of people don’t realize the risk of liability a company faces when an employee’s on-line activities get carried away. To mitigate the risk of potential lawsuits centered around confidentiality leaks, harassing communication, inappropriate email content, or even illegal on-line activities, companies are continually revising their policies to keep up with new technology.
In the end, they’re much more interested in protecting the company from damage than they are concerned about the gift you bought on-line for Aunt Mabel last week during your lunch hour.
If you’re unaware of your company’s policy on on-line activities, your human resources staff will happily share this information with you!
Permalink | |
