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How to search your employee’s computer and email (legally)
| Guest post by: Michael Smyth |
Article Overview: You begin to notice that your employee has more meetings outside the office than normal. You don't know who these meetings are with. Are you suspicious? You then notice that the same employee always leaves the office to take calls on his mobile phone. Does this make you more suspicious? And then, whenever you approach this employee's desk, you notice that he switches screen from his web browser to word before you get close. Now are you suspicious? Whilst we would all like to have explicit trust in all our employees, there are some behaviours that just arouse suspicions and the answers to these questions will often lie somewhere in your employee's hard drive.
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Free Download - Download a template or see a lawyer? By Michael Smyth |
How to search your employee’s computer and email (legally)
You begin to notice that your employee has more meetings outside the office than normal. You don't know who these meetings are with. Are you suspicious? You then notice that the same employee always leaves the office to take calls on his mobile phone. Does this make you more suspicious? And then, whenever you approach this employee's desk, you notice that he switches screen from his web browser to word before you get close. Now are you suspicious?
Whilst we would all like to have explicit trust in all our employees, there are some behaviours that just arouse suspicions and the answers to these questions will often lie somewhere in your employee's hard drive.
But can you search it
If you were staying in a hotel how would you feel if the maid came in to your room and started going through your belongings on the instruction of the hotel? Not very impressed I'm sure because even though the room belongs to the hotel, and the maid has a right of access to your room for preparing it, we nevertheless have an expectation of privacy. That expectation may not be the same if we leave something in plain view of the maid to see, but if we put it in a drawer then we expect it to remain private.
Now consider the work computer. You own the computer and the hard drive. Your employees use it for business and personal use with your permission. Does that give you the right to look through their personal information? The answer will depend on what your employee's expectation of privacy is.
What is your employee's expectation of privacy?
If you could take a random cross section of employees of the street and asked them the same question, you would probably get a variety of answers. But the correct answer is actually determined by you: it depends on how you have communicated that expectation to your employees. The way you communicate it is through policies.
The way you frame your computer/internet policy is entirely up to you. For example, if you say that work computers are only to be used for business purposes, then there would be very little expectation of privacy by employees. However, most employers recognise the need to allow personal use provided it is reasonable. That's when things start to get a little grey. In these circumstances there is a modified expectation of privacy. If you stipulate that email use and browsing history may be monitored, then the employee can reasonably expect you to monitor such things for policing further breaches of policy (e.g. excessive use of the internet (or use of objectionable websites) or breaches of the employment agreement (e.g. breaches of the duty of confidentiality). However, such monitoring needs to be measured and would not extend to acquiring personal details about your employees that had no relevance to any of these things (details about personal relationships, marital conflicts etc).
The consequences of getting it wrong
If you don't have well drafted policies in place, then two things could happen. First, you may struggle to justify dismissal based upon the evidence you have obtained in the Employment Relations Authority or you may end up with an unjustified disadvantage claim if the employee finds out what you have done. Second, you may end up with a complaint to the Privacy Commission. Neither of course is palatable so it is best to spend some time making sure your policies are correct and allow you to do the searching that you need.
You should also keep your policies under review
Once you have set your policies up, make sure that you keep them under review. We are currently in an age where technology is moving very quickly and your policies need to reflect that. For example, many employers now give their employees smart phones whose location can be tracked using the inbuilt GPS - again if you monitor an employee's whereabouts make sure you have a policy to that effect. For an audio discussion of the use of the GPS tracking software and Smartphones click here (interview courtesy of Radio NZ).
If you are looking for sample internet and computer policies, templates are available in the Secret Library.
The last thing you want is to suspect that your employee may be passing confidential information to a competitor and be hamstrung in terms of what parts of the hard drive you can search if at all.
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Article Tags: employees computer, mobile phone, privacy, web browser
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About the Author: Michael Smyth RSS for Michael's articles - Visit Michael's website Click here to visit Michael's website   How to get free credit without burning bridges How to get rid of the employee that doesnt fit Could you website end up costing you money How to protect your IP being stolen by your employees Why you need to get your legal agreements sorted for 2011 |
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Re: Recommendations for going Wireless
- [size=130:3farizrp][color=#cc3333:3farizrp]Notebook/Netbook[/color:3farizrp][/size:3farizrp]
As far as your notebook preferences, I got a netbook about a year and a half ago (January 2010) for notetaking in classes, and for ultimate portability of computing power. The only limitation to the netbook is multi-tasking ability. I tend to do many, MANY things at once on a computer, and that was the biggest limitation for me. If you don't plan to be running 15 programs at a time, then I'd definitely suggest a $300~$350 investment in a netbook.
[size=130:3farizrp][color=#cc3333:3farizrp]File Synchronization[/color:3farizrp][/size:3farizrp]
A bit late on the chime-in, but there's another tool, similar to Dropbox, called Syncplicity. I originally chose Syncplicity over dropbox because Syncplicity allows you to sync a folder with Google Docs, and it allows you to select which folders on your computer to sync (where Dropbox forces one folder for use). I have since moved to a combination of Syncplicity and Dropbox.
But really, either way, Syncplicity and Dropbox are both easy to use, and a great way to sync files from one computer to the other. Highly recommended that you look into it, if you haven't done so already.
[size=130:3farizrp][color=#cc3333:3farizrp]Email Synchronization[/color:3farizrp][/size:3farizrp]
Assuming you use something like Gmail as your primary email account, set up an email client (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.) on both of your computers and use IMAP to access your email. IMAP is a protocol that "pushes" email to your client, similar to a blackberry, instead of POP email, which "pulls" email from the server every x minutes. IMAP also updates server information, such as where you've moved an email, if you've read it, replied to it, etc.
Best of luck!
Re: 4 minutes exercise
- I guess there are probably a lot of us on this forum that look at a computer all day. Another tip: set a cactus next to the computer and it will sap up a lot of the harmful rays that your computer gives off. It will also lessen the likelihood of getting a headache. I read this in a magazine and I'm believing that it works, as I have one next to my computer and I have noticeably fewer headaches.
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I agree with Alan, the best "SEO" can be done the best within a company. The word SEO is so mis-used & mis-understood that people are scared of it and feel they don't understand it. But, all search engines & users are looking for is good content. If you produce good content, create a good page title, and distribute that content in the right places then you will do fine.
In fact, many times when you hire an SEO company they need to spend months learning your business. They need to do market research that includes keyword discovery, competition analysis, and market analysis. I like working on projects where I am working as an internet marketing consultant, and I have at my disposal employees from the company we are promoting.
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Re: How long can you stay away from your Computer?
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Personally, I'd prefer being able to use my computer (or at least someone else's) to check my email at least once a day.
I think at one time, my home internet broke down for about 5-10 days... and while it was difficult to bear with at first, I think a person can be weaned off computer/internet usage. I wonder what's harder: quitting smoking or internet use?
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