· Keyboard Monitoring (counting keystrokes, eg. data-entry);

· Undercover Workers (similar to spies);

· Monitoring Staff Locations (electronic locators).

Over seventy five per cent of employees in the USA are being monitored in some form as they go about their day-to-day routines, many of which are unaware that the surveillance is even in place (Serwer, 2003). This highlights the magnitude of workplace surveillance, yet its application is expected to grow significantly more in the near future.

There are numerous reasons as to why workplace surveillance has become such common practice in the everyday workforce, mainly relating to employees being less productive, and in some cases behaving in an inappropriate or even illegal manner.

Instead of monitoring only those employees whose exhibit suspicious behaviour, many employers are instituting “continuous, systematic surveillance” in the workplace in order to identify any wrong doing by all employees (Schulman, Privacy

Although the implementation of workplace surveillance is almost inevitable, satisfying the interests of all concerned requires a balance between monitoring and privacy. Falling on either side of that knife’s edge could pose significant costs an organisation.

Having discussed some of the negatives that result from surveillance in the workplace, there are also positives that arise from its use. Employers believe that monitoring is justified for a number of reasons:

§ Internet Conversation Logging - Log both sides of all chat and instant message conversations for AOL/ICQ/MSN/AIM/Yahoo Instant Messengers.

Some topics in this essay:
Discussion Despite, Conclusion Workplace, Staff Locations, Unlimited Internet, Worklife Report, Management Association, Monitoring Programs, Logging Log, Cameras Traditional, Privacy Foundations, workplace surveillance, log files, logging log, mental health, monitoring employee’s, privacy issue, reasonable proximity, activity logging, electronic monitoring, sending emails,