Essay

It is important for employers to be concerned about the efficiency of their workers. Electronic surveillance makes sense on a small scale if the goal is to improve efficiency. Employers should not be concerned with efficient workers that spend a small amount of company time for personal use. If a single employee is not meeting goals, or not living up to expectations, the employer should only monitor that individual, rather than the entire company. That way, the employer faces no repercussions from breaching the trust of every honest employee. By working at a job they enjoy and by working for a boss they like, employees are likely to be more efficient than if they hate their boss for restricting their freedom at work.

On the other hand, there are certain pros involved with electronic surveillance. By visiting certain websites and by forwarding jokes or videos through e-mail can create a hostile environment within the workplace. These things can make people uncomfortable and they can place a lot of pressure and responsibility on the employer. Employees do not always exercise good judgment when it comes to engaging in behavior that can be considered sexual harassment. If sexual harassment takes place at work, the victim has the right to sue the company. Therefore it is in the company’s best interest to prevent this from happening. However, there are ways to do this without having to resort to electronic surveillance. Such as before, electronic surveillance is not necessary unless a trend arises. At that point the company would have no choice but to initiate electronic surveillance and the blame would fall on the employees themselves. If the employees understand that there is a need for electronic surveillance they would be much more willing to sacrifice their privacy.

Along with email and internet surveillance, employers have begun to utilize vehicle tracking. Some companies have installed global positioning systems on their employees’ vehicles in order to track...