More and more companies are starting to monitor their employees electronically. For the past four years active employee monitoring has increased from 35 percent to 80 percent. This is according to the annual survey done by the American Management Association (AMA). Ellen Bayer, AMA’s human resources practice leader said, “Privacy in today’s workplace is largely illusory. In this era of open space cubicles, shared desk space, networked computers and teleworkers, it is hard to realistically hold onto a belief in private space.”

Reasons to Monitor Employees

The AMA listed down five reasons given by the companies as to why they have decided to monitor their employees:

1. Legal compliance – In some regulated industries such as those that involve telemarketing, taping conversations between the employees and the consumer provide legal protection for both sides in case of conflicts or problems.
2. Business ethics – It’s difficult to track what the employees are doing so it’s possible that they may be engaging in unethical practices without the employer knowing. Monitoring ensures that things like that don’t happen.
3. Performance review – Employees are monitored so that their job performance may be evaluated and improved as necessary.
4. Productivity – Many employees take advantage of access to the internet or telephone for their personal purposes. Monitoring them ensure that their productivity is not hampered due to these non-business related distractions.
5. Security – It’s also of vital important to protect corporate information. This is a big concern since information transmission is as quick as a few clicks of the mouse because of email and internet.

The survey also found that 90 percent of the companies that monitor their employees inform them of the monitoring procedures. Most of the monitoring done is a random spot-check and not ongoing for the entire work period. Technologies have made it easier for employers to monitor their employee’s performance at the workplace.