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Workplace Privacy As usual, future workers should be monitored by their employers. It is necessary for quality control and performance purposes as well as for health care, tax, and background checks. Employers try to collect personal information of different kinds. As a rule, while gathering personal information, employers interfere in workers private life (either the consent, or at least the knowledge, of employees). Thats why workers have to protect their privacy. With the development of new technologies and job market, the very structure and nature of the workplace have been changed.
As a rule, surveillance has become automated. As a result, monitoring practices have become more invasive and sometimes even covert. They violate persons privacy and dignity within the workplace. With the help of technological means, supervisors get ease and efficient information about employees performance, behavior and communications. With modern technologies, employers know every aspect of a workers life. Software programs provide exact screen images, telephone management systems monitor the destination of calls, miniature cameras and Smart ID badges are used to supervise an employees behavior and movements.
There are a large number of tests used in workplace recruitment such as psychological tests, general intelligence tests, performance tests, personality tests, honesty and background checks, drug tests, and medical tests. Most of all, the discovery of DNA gave a birth to new kind of tests - genetic testing. It means that an employer has access to the most intimate details of an employees body. From one side, the measure allows to predict some diseases, medical and behavioral conditions.
It helps an employer to choose the best candidates, taking into account health and safety, customer relations or legal obligation. By the way, monitoring employees, employers can reduce security risks and sexual harassment But from the point of view of human dignity, it is a violation of workers property and can seriously compromise dignity of employees. Most of all, it can lead to unhealthy environment in the workplace, increase worker stress. Surveillance techniques can be used to harass and discriminate.
So, the problem is what measures should be taken to protect workers privacy, at the same time, thinking about the best way for recruiting employees. With the purpose to know what the right way is, it is necessary to examine types of privacy-invasive monitoring. They include drug testing, closed-circuit video monitoring, Internet monitoring and filtering, E-mail monitoring, instant message monitoring, phone monitoring, location monitoring, personality and psychological testing, and keystroke logging. Lets take, for example, the most common ways: performance monitoring, telephone monitoring, e-mail and internet use monitoring, and drug testing. Performance monitoring has been spread in recent years. Modern networked systems gave opportunity to employers to know about software being more frequently run, as well as, how often, and in what manner.
Even if a workplace is staffed with highly skilled specialists, their bosses often use automated workplace monitoring for spying on every detail of a workers performance. According to the study made by the American Management Association, forty-five percent of U. S. firms have the right to record and review employee communications and activities on the job. (Hebert) As a result, they fire almost all employees who misuse telecommunication equipment. Telephone monitoring has become popular throughout the public and private sector. Telephone analysis technology is often used by companies.
In many highly developed countries employers have broad discretion to monitor employees calls for business purposes. (Hebert) For example, reservations clerks in the U. S. must wear telephonic headsets. They control the length and content of all telephone calls, as well as the duration of their bathroom and lunch breaks. (Hebert) Most of all, there are others who were monitored based on how many times they use a customers name during a call or how often they try to overcome a customers initial objections to buying a ticket. (Hebert) Employers have the right to control e-mail of their workers, either reviewing e-mail transmissions or selecting key terms to flag e-mail. (Hebert) It means that a company can check its entire e-mail traffic seeking for messages that are not legitimate company business. They can search "for specific keywords and damaging phrases. (Hebert) There are several facts that show how e-mail monitoring influences workers. In July, 2006, 50 employees were fired from Dow Chemical Company in the U.
S. because they had offensive material in their e-mail. In 2005, 23 employees were fired from the New York Times because obscene messages were found in their e-mail. And there are a lot of other facts. It is evident that there is no the only one answer: what is right. The cases are rather complicated from legal and ethical point of view.
What about an employees fundamental right to privacy and due process? (Hebert) Most of all offensive e-mails can be sent accidentally or maliciously. Should an employee be dismissed on the grounds of sensitive personal information? (Hebert) By the way, there are a lot of cases that a company dismissed and / or sued its employees because they were suspected to divulge company trade secrets. Such cases are known as John Doe cases. Drug testing has been used in many countries for a long time.
It has become a standard of working life for many employees. The tests are taken on the recruitment stage or at intermittent periods, because during these periods there is no evidence of misconduct, poor performance or any other reason to suspect drug use. (Workers Privacy Part II) It should be pointed that drug testing is accessible and do not need extra expenses. There are a lot of easy to use kits. They determine traces of drugs within minutes and without the need for a laboratory. For a lot of drug tests it is enough to have hair or urine samples. Many drugs such as amphetamines, marijuana, cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine's can be detected.
Nowadays, with the development of legal protections of workers, violation of privacy is still one of the burning problems at workplace. In many countries, a great gap in protections has appeared because there are no certain laws for keeping up with the technology. In other countries, there are significant exemptions for enforcement. The most frequently discussed issues relate surveillance of communications. Even in the most democratic countries, there are a lot of court cases concerning the problem. According to the annual report of The U.
S. State Department of human rights violations, more than 90 countries illegally monitor the communications of workers. The problem has been carefully examined by privacy advocates. They emphasized that, before engaging in monitoring or surveillance policy, employers should know and follow strong privacy principles in the workplace.
Code of Practice on the Protection of Workers Personal Data was established by the International Labor Office. These guidelines were issued in 1997. They were based on three comprehensive studies on international workers privacy laws. (Hebert) The Code was created to protect employees personal data and fundamental right to privacy in the technological era. (Workers Privacy Part II) According to the demands, mentioned in the code, an employer has a right to take personal data only for reasons directly relevant to the employment of the worker. (Workers Privacy Part II) The data should be taken lawfully and fairly. Sensitive personal data such as a workers sex life, political, religious or other beliefs, trade union membership or criminal convictions (Workers Privacy Part II) are not allowed to be collected.
But the sensitive data can be monitor if they are relevant to an employment decision or in conformity with national legislation (Workers Privacy Part II). Polygraphs or truth-verification equipment are not permitted to be used for testing procedure. While collecting medical data, certain demands should be taken into account. First of all, an employer should follow national legislation and principles of medical confidentiality (Workers Privacy Part II) as well as drug testing. The other demands say that an employer should inform workers in advance. Most of all, it is pointed that the results of the tests should not be regarded as the only factors in evaluating performance. (Workers Privacy Part II) The security of personal data should be guaranteed by an employer; and they cannot be lost.
They should be used only by authority. Employees should have access to that data. (Workers Privacy Part II) The code is mainly used in the U. S. It is not an international law. Different countries have different laws. In some countries there are only few legal limitations on workplace surveillance.
Most of all, courts sometimes are slow recognizing employees rights to privacy. A lot of people think that if employers have more rights to control workers, they (employees) will lose all rights and expectations to privacy and freedom. But it is evident that surveillance, monitoring and testing have become a part of conditions of employment. The American Management Association have reported the information that 43 percent of companies use basic skills testing while hiring employees; 69 percent use tests for specific skills; and about 46 percent test psychological condition. Recently legislators have introduced a new law that prevents employers from secretly monitoring the communications and computer use of their employees. (Hebert) It has been one of the first steps for better protection of human rights. A lot of aspects should be reviewed and changed; but the only thing that, for sure, should be taken into account is: people are the most complex from all creatures; and should not be measured only by means of new modern tests.
Frequently, personal relationships are so complex that there is no machine that can measure them. Constitutions of many countries guarantee personal privacy and freedom to people. Any state should monitor the fulfillment of it. Bibliography: Dow Chemical Fires Employees over Inappropriate E-mails. (2000). ABCNEWS.
com, July 27, 2000. Hebert. (2000). Employee Privacy Law, Volume 2, Chapter 12, West Group, 2000. Workers Privacy Part II: Monitoring and Surveillance in the Workplace. (1993).
International Labor Office, 12 (1)
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