Right to Privacy in the Workplace

Employees should have the same right to privacy in the workplace as they do outside the workplace.
Describe a specific situation in which an employee should not have the same right to privacy in the workplace as outside it. Discuss what you think determines whether or not employees should have the same right to privacy inside the workplace as they do outside it.
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Given the advances in technology, employers have the ability to monitor virtually every aspect of their employees' jobs. For instance, they can listen into and track telephone calls, read all emails written from company-owned computers, and check websites visited throughout the day. Indeed, working for someone else entails giving up a degree of privacy. Employers have various reasons for monitoring their employees--including their need to ensure that work is being done efficiently. However, employers should balance their monitoring activities and employees' basic rights to privacy. Indeed, a complete lack of privacy in the workplace could lead to the diminished morale of employees and lack of mutual trust.

Most employees realize that they will need to give up some privacy in order to work in an office. However, they should have the right to know exactly how they are being monitored. Employers ideally should hand out a document detailing their monitoring activities and ask for the consent of employees. Furthermore, employers should honor a common-sense, basic right to privacy that need not be detailed on paper. For instance, videotaping bathroom stalls, hacking into employees' personal cell phones, and accessing genetic and psychological testing would be considered as pushing the boundaries.

Employers feel compelled to monitor workers mainly because of a need to protect the organization. In order to maximize profits, they must make sure that employees are making responsible use of time and company resources. Employers are also well aware of the common problems that organizations in general face with regard to internet use in the office---i.e., temptations to view pornography, surfing social networking sites, etc. Employees, of course, have the full right to access these types of web pages on their own time using their personal computers.

Employers have the responsibility to make sure their organizations are run in the most efficient manner possible. Monitoring employees' use of technology is an especially important task in running an office, especially given the well-known ways employees abuse internet usage. However, employers must be sure to maintain a balance of its monitoring activities and the employees' need to feel trusted. One way to maintain trust in the office is for the employer to advise the employees on what information they have access to, as well as the reason for collecting certain data. Indeed, monitoring employees in an extensive way could lead to the dangers of low morale in the workplace and resentment over being micro-managed.