Conflicts Over Privacy in the Workplace

1. Companies should have the right to track employees through company smartphones
and monitor their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts.

It's becoming an increasingly important question. The number of people fired over social-
media posts is rising, and many employers look closely at a job candidate's online
presence before making a decision. For an idea of how prevalent those practices have
become, consider a 2013 survey from CareerBuilder, which helps corporations target and
attract workers. According to the survey, 39% of employers dig into candidates on social
sites, while 43% said they had found something that made them deep-six a candidate—
such as posting inappropriate photos or information, or bad-mouthing a former boss. On
the flip side, 19% said they found information that sold them on a candidate, such as
communication skills or a professional image.

Generally, employers have the right to monitor their employees use of the Internet

(including visiting social networking sites, checking e-mails, and instant messaging) on
computers owned by the employer, during employees on-duty hours

Your employer can require you to use your personal phone for work and can even

terminate your employment if you refuse to cooperate. If you use a personal electronic
device, such as your own smartphone, laptop or tablet, to check or to send
emails, employers are not allowed to monitor what you send or receive.

2. Employees should be able to maintain their personal privacy and not be tracked
through their company smartphones or their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The ethical implications of monitoring an employee’s social media are too high
to risk monitoring. Ethical culture established by a company exists in a manner to
reflect integrity of decisions made. A company that monitors an employee’s
personal activities without an employee’s knowledge or a vague contract that the
employee signed to withdraw any rights from privacy is a violation of integrity.
The ethical implications of monitoring social media deals with the values and
norms that have been established. The company displays a lack of trust of an
individual when there is a 24/7 monitoring of their private life outside of work.
Monitoring is a “fishing expedition”. The private lives of employees are their
right and when an employer fishes foray display of negative behavior to discredit an
employee creates a conflict of interest. Employers should have the ability to trust an
employee because of the ethical culture established, along with the values and
principles. Currently, there are no federal laws that prohibit an employer from
monitoring employees on social networking sites. You can install software on company
computers that does this, or hire third-party companies to monitor online activity

Employee monitoring can injure employee trust. Any employee monitoring policy will

more than likely hurt someone on your workforce, putting into jeopardy
your employer/employee relationship(s). Depending upon the culture of the workplace,
this could be an injury that goes beyond repair.

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