70 percent would leave a job if their digital activity was secretly monitored

70 percent would leave a job if their digital activity was secretly monitored
June 28, 2018
https://betanews.com/2018/06/28/employee-digital-monitoring/

 

Answers in introspective self-reports, hypothetical scenarios, and questionnaire ratings usually are not consistent with actual behavior in real situations.

 

Probably 80% would be fired!

Having run a business I do have some sympathy for employers (at least in my jurisdiction), because you're liable for employees digital pronouncements, or accessing dodgy sites.

These days, I'd insist on them using a VM for personal stuff and routing that out over a VPN, so it was nothing to do with the business.

 

I wouldnt let employees do personal stuff on my office computers in the first place.

 

Virtually impossible to ensure - you can't ban FB et al because people use it for business. It's much better to have a level of mutual trust.

 

True. Except that you could let employees know that ALL keystrokes on a company machine are absolutely recorded. Infractions of company policy would immediately mean you "used to work here but not anymore". They sign off on acknowledgement the day they are hired, promoted, or before any raise in compensation. HR loves it, they acknowledge, and then THEY determine if they keep their jobs.

 

Hum ………….. Is this article for real?

Corps. have been monitoring everything you do on your work PC for ages. Its their equipment and they can do with as they please. The smarter ones display a splash screen at logon stating "Big Brother" is indeed monitoring everything you do. Many don't inform as directly and imbed such restrictions in employee hiring agreement, policy handbook, etc. Futher, many employers have restrictions on use of personally owed devices in the workplace.

 

Employees use their work systems to order personal stuff on Amazon/E bay and get the packages sent to the office. Especially those who work in big cities. This has become a norm now. Even grocery deliveries. There is no-one at home during the day to take delivery of packages so they are fodder for thieves - but the office has a receiving desk. One manager told me that his company is OK with it because it keeps the employees in the office, at their desk, available, at least 9-5. They allow social networking from work systems only on scheduled breaks and off peak, so they are obviously spying to keep tabs on it. It appears the employees/management at this particular company are OK with it. Win-win, I suppose.

 

I will state this. If you value your privacy and more importantly your career with your current employer, just don't do anything personal from employer provided network equipment. Everyone has a Smart phone these days and almost all personal web based activities can be done from that.

 

This article shows me that 70% of all employees are unhappy with their positions ("Is the boss gonna Bust me for screwing around because I am bored tearless?").

Personally speaking, considering the excellent nature of my work, the office view, Salary, and bonuses, I could care less if I discovered my Employer was monitoring the surfing habits of every Person, Dog, or Cat (excepting Ophelia, obviously) on the Planet.

(but again, Ignorance is Bliss- perhaps that is why I always smile...)

 

That is why there are overpasses falling down killing people, etc. incompetence is the norm now.
Spending company time on personal time. Get rid of them.

 

Really? And where would they go?
With unemployment figures ranging from 5% - 20% I think financial reality would kick in over a "rush of blood to the head" reaction.
@Circuit - I'm glad you were never my boss.
@emmjay - This is now an accepted practice in many offices. It was in mine. Not every company can give you the pay increase it would like to, but these "fringe benefits" keep the employees happy - and productive.

 

Well, just like people love to go back and stand in the way of train wrecks like facebook (who has an abysmal record of doing ANYTHING BUT acting openly and honestly) they'd be no different if employers monitored their activity and 70% is nothing but a speculative figure.

As for people surfing on the companies dime, whatever happened to a fair days pay for a fair days work? If anyone thinks people have gained more integrity as a whole where they'd not abuse/extend those "fringe benefits" they need to get their head out of the sand. For the most part people are greedy self entitled narcissists (me generation) and FB and the like would have it no other way. When people first started acting like spoiled brats coz employers monitored their surfing habits was a strong indicator of a slippery slope that spelt worse, not better.

 

@Circuit - I'm glad you were never my boss.
.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, that makes it unanimous,
my wife says the same thing.

 

BS less than 10% would leave. This is the FB age. If this was 10yrs+ ago it'd be higher.

 

I think it depends what employee have been hired, kind of job and salary. Some people are quite motivated to keep their job or get promoted.
I also think lines are sometimes blurred what is personal time and work time. Does 30 minutes a day of browsing Stack overflow for junior software developer is something he does to get the work done or is this time spend on self-improvement (personal)?

 

Couldn't agree more!

 

There's another factor which needs to be pointed out here:- companies have been ruthless in eroding personal time, expecting employees to be connected pretty much on call with smartphones, and even to answer stuff while on holiday. If you're going to be doing that as an employer, it's rather rich to complain if people do some personal stuff in official work time - as pointed out above, that's quite necessary sometimes.

Would you expect people to carry around 2 smartphones, 2 laptops.....

 

It's always going to be dependent on the type of employment one is in. If you're in tech then it would naturally follow there'd be allowances made for that, but that's only a small percentage of what goes into the total workforce. It all comes down to guidelines and agreements properly laid out so everyone knows what's expected of them. Whatever the case, it would pay to be very careful how you used your companys computers for personal use, even if they're fine about you doing so. I'd prefer to keep well away from that.

Youre quite right if in fact an employer abuses his/her position - it goes without saying those should be brought to heel just as much as slack workers should. It's a smart employer who takes job satisfaction into account, and there's many ways to accomplish that without feeding the potentially endless appetite resulting from social media addiction. I just don't see that social media plays a beneficial part.

 

But wait, do I detect a sense of humour? Might need a rethink on that.
.

 

You are right. Given that most people willingly give away their private information to Facebook, most people could care less about the fact that their communications are being monitored by unsavoury government agencies.

 

Some people would be outraged. First of all most all signed employment agreements agreeing to this. And when told & digested they'd just shrug.

Because in the US an overwhelming majority of people are ONE missed paycheck away from being homeless. They can't quit (leave - so polite) their jobs.

And the minuscule percentage who feel safe that they have their basic needs covered for long enough to feel safe. They with crushing numbers are FB, Insta, Twat or whatever users. So either they don't care & quickly forget or get outraged when they read/hear about these things AGAIN. This cycle is repeated over & over again.

For me I take a modicum of privacy precautions. Not tough at all privacy precautions at least as far the 3letters go. That privacy is lost forever. Even to big business my privacy is lost forever. Don't get me wrong I do take the easier way out. But I'd say my privacy precautions are more thorough than 99% of those online in the US.

So to sum up unless I go all mirimir & have a working time machine. I just concentrate on security. My privacy is lost. I don't approve but without a time machine I'm an open book to the 3letters & big business. I don't believe anything contrary to this can ever happen.

 

Well arnt you just miss perfect and let me tell You something. Just because I look envious doesnt mean I am. I could be faking it.

 

You are right. Nothing can hide you from the watchful eyes of Big Brother. But you gotta at least be able to protect your privacy from a random person on the Internet, I guess.

 

Rock- Seriously- If one tends to screw around on the computer while on the job, this means that they are either totally bored because the job is intellectually beneath them, or that person has no interest in what they are paid to be doing and are just in the incorrect field.

Either way, that person is Unhappy, and Life is much too precious (and short) to constantly wear a frown for the majority of one's existence.