Case Study Chapter 8 Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business?

By Michele SchatzMarch 7, 2005

Case Summary

The Internet and email are important tools

Employees abuse the Internet and e-mail during work hours

Companies must have written policies that are easy to understand and follow

Employers using a variety of monitoring software

Exhibit of Computer Usage Policy

Business is business!

Competition is stronger than ever before

Internet and e-mail use is steadily growing

Internet and e-mail help businesses expand their territory, customer base and sales

What are employees doing during business hours?

Surfing the Internet for personal reasons

and

Sending personal e-mails to their friends and family

What sites are they surfing?

Sports sites

Retail outlets

Investment sites

Adult and child pornography sites

Is It Really A Problem?

At least 25% of employee’s on-line time is spent on nonwork-related surfing

Does Internet Abuse Cause Problems?

Employee productivity is lost Employee morale is low Employees who witness their co-

workers surfing the web: First, complain silently to themselves Second, complain to other co-workers Third, complain to supervisor

Sexual harassment lawsuits

Does E-mail Abuse Cause Problems?

Some e-mails are racist, sexually implicit, or contain other potentially offensive material

Sexual harassment lawsuits have been filed and settled

Trade secrets can be lost or stolen

Personal e-mails can have damaging viruses

Personal e-mails can clog the network

Eight Ways Computer Abuse Can Hurt a Company!

1. Loss of time and salary: Example:

• 1,100 employees • average salary is $15 per hour• all employees waste one hour per day • costs $16,500 per day • costs $82,500 per week• costs $4,290,000 per year

Cont. Eight Ways Computer Abuse can hurt!

2. Loss of productivity 3. Loss of potential revenue 4. Slow working network bandwidth 5. Having to update bandwidth 6. Overcharging clients 7. Lawsuits8. Bad publicity

What Can Employers Do?

Monitor e-mail and personal use of Internet

Policy regarding Internet usage to protect against employee lawsuits.

Explicit ground rules in easily understood language Includes who has what rights and under what

circumstances Vague terminology cannot be applied fairly Allow specific times for personal e-mail and Internet

access Implement a zero tolerance policy and modified

usage policy

Monitoring Software

SurfWatch www.surfcontrol.com

MailSweeper www.mailsweeper.com

CommandView Internet Manager www.zixcorp.com

Good Business Practice

An automatic message Warns all employees of the written

policies

Reminds employees about monitoring software

Significant decrease of abuse has occurred

Conclusion

Internet and e-mail are two very important tools

Need written policies

Monitoring software

Exhibit A Internet Usage Policy

Internet Usage Policy Use of the Internet will be allowed regarding the following Internet usage:

Use of the Internet for personal business, such as personal e-mail or Internet surfing is permitted ONLY during the following periods: before stated company business hours, after stated company business hours, or an employee’s lunch hour.

Information Services Department is allowed to monitor employees to provide weekly reports detailing Internet and e-mail usage during normal business hours per employee.

Zero tolerance policy will be strictly enforced regarding the following Internet/Email usage:

Use of the Internet/E-mail to discuss or distribute information related to the company’s trade secrets, policies or practices. Monitoring software will be employed to scan outgoing e-mail for company sensitive terminology and related subject matter

Use of the Internet causing disruption to the facility’s services including reduction of bandwidth available for company business.

Transmission of harassing, discriminatory or otherwise objectionable e-mail or files (as determined by the recipient) is strictly prohibited.

The Internet must not be used to access, create, transmit, print or download material that is derogatory, insulting, obscene, or offensive, such as slurs, epithets, or anything that may be construed as harassment or disparagement based on race, color or religious. Monitoring software will be employed to block the availability of these types of sites