Posted by arlene

Anyone with proper access to the company’s computer network can read any e-mail message coming in or going out to the Internet. As a result, determining whether Steve Smith is sending a price quote to a customer or a résumé to a competitor is as easy as scanning his e-mails.

Just because this is technically simple, however, does not make it an optimal approach. A large corporation can have literally thousands of messages flowing through its system every day, making manual review impossible. Small and large companies alike may wonder whether reading employees‘ e-mail is even legal. One can easily imagine privacy arguments comparable to those made by people whose phones were tapped or letters opened.

The good news for U.S. business owners and managers is that, by and large, it is legal to monitor employees‘ communications in the workplace. In a number of cases throughout the United States, employees who protested when their bosses read allegedly private e-mail were rebuffed by the courts on the grounds that the e-mail system is the property of the company and meant for company business only, and that the company (as owner) was permitted to ensure that its resource was being used properly.

For the most part, employees are understood not to have a right of privacy in the workplace, particularly in regard to a company-wide e-mail system. It is noteworthy, though, that in most of the cases and commentaries that come down on the side of the employer, the employer has published an e-mail policy stating that employee e-mail may be monitored. It is also important that, before you implement any sort of e-mail monitoring, you check with the current laws in the state or states in which you operate.

The legality of monitoring is not your company’s only concern. E-mail is often felt to be a particularly private activity, even when employees know (or should know) that the system is meant for business. Employees who would never dis‑truss customers or coworkers on the telephone or around awater cooler will do so in an e-mail message to a colleague. A lovestruck staffer will send steamy electronic notes to a spouse or significant other. Both types of messages can be devastating to the sender and recipient if publicized or read by management. There are few things other than layoffs that are worse for morale than a feeling that management treats employees without respect. Monitoring e-mail can quickly become a rallying point for dissatisfied workers.

Should your company monitor e-mail? Most employers will not as a rule read every message sent or received by their staff. However, it is crucial that in your e-mail policy you reserve the right to do so, since there may be cases in which your business depends on learning the contents of an e-mail sent over your system. You may also wish to put filtering software on your server to automatically watch for risky communications (for example, your chief competitor’s domain name, or unusually large file attachments).

Once a potentially suspicious message has been flagged, a manager aware of both the stated policy and the risk issues may wish to review it and, if it turns out to be damaging to the company and in violation of the policy, to take appropriate action.

By the same token, any employee who is illicitly monitoring others’ e-mail without authorization (whether an IS technician or a curious manager) should be admonished and, if necessary, denied access to the e-mail files. It’s important to prevent abuses that could incite employees and interfere with the necessary monitoring the company wishes to do.

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