Discussion on Employee Monitoring: Balancing Privacy and Productivity

This discussion post delves into the controversial topic of employee monitoring in the workplace, particularly concerning employee privacy rights in the digital age. It highlights the balance between an employer's need to monitor productivity and ensure proper use of company assets, versus an employee's right to privacy. The author argues that monitoring is acceptable if employees are informed and the company acts ethically with collected data, referencing personal work experience and legal articles to support this view. The discussion touches on the legality of workplace surveillance, including video recording and monitoring of company-supplied devices, emphasizing the importance of legitimate business reasons for such practices. Desklib is a valuable resource for students seeking similar solved assignments and past papers.

Running head: DISCUSSION
Discussion
Name of Student-
Name of University-
Author’s Note-

1DISCUSSION
The employee’s right to privacy in workplace is now considered as a controversial topic
with the increased in dependence on computers and on electronic mails for doing a business.
Technology has helped the management to monitor the activities of employee in a workplace and
established a communication among the employees in a workplace via internet or email.
Employees many feel that monitoring a violation act under the privacy rights, but it is
actually allowed under the constitution (Chory, Vela & Avtgis, 2016). Many activities of other
employees that include private conversations and some physical spaces in workplace such as
locked drawers needs more protections. There are also several other activities such as drug use
that has led to testing for using abuse substance.
With the inventions of these high-tech monitoring systems, the concept of employee
monitoring is not at all new to business world. Monitoring of employees has been used in
manufacturing industries many years ago for tracking the output, general efficiency and the
inventory (Moussa, 2013). Before 1913, cyclometers (mechanical keystroke counters) and many
other methods were used to measure the output and by 1920, tracking of telephones were also
possible.
To my view, what has changed the method of monitoring in recent years is the
supervision method and the capability of gathering information. Monitoring email is a new
version of monitoring in not considered as more invasive compared to traditional supervision.
For some of the employees, it is less invasive than the personal supervision.
The employee needs to have a clear as well as know the specific right of privacy in
workplace. All the rights are balance with the privileges of employees for monitoring the
operations in businesses.

2DISCUSSION
References
Chory, R. M., Vela, L. E., & Avtgis, T. A. (2016). Organizational surveillance of computer-
mediated workplace communication: employee privacy concerns and
responses. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 28(1), 23-43.
Moussa, M. (2015). Monitoring employee behavior through the use of technology and issues of
employee privacy in America. Sage Open, 5(2), 2158244015580168.