MS. MONA PAMELA DEBRA

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MONITOR AT THE WORKPLACE Monitoring employees in the workplace is a touchy topic. As technology progresses and the capabilities of monitoring staff members is literally at a manager's fingertips, the debate on whether or not monitoring employees is acceptable has reached new heights.

There are many advantages and disadvantages of workplace monitoring. Finding an optimal balance is not always an easy thing to find for most company executives. Since technology and the Internet have become such an integral part of daily processes, businesses have run into some unique kinds of problems they haven't had to cope with before.

As are result workplace monitoring is on the rise. The bigger question is whether or not this practice is ethical or acceptable. Do employers have the right to monitor what their employees are doing?

It can be argued that since the company owns the business’s resources and they are paying employees to do a job, they have a right to know what happens throughout the work day. That being said, the question begs asking of whether or not they should do it.

Advantages of Monitoring Employees The decision to monitor employees is not a light one to make. When making the choice to monitor, many employers keep the advantages in mind; these are a few of the reasons that may help them come to the decision that monitoring employees is more beneficial than not. Ensure Technology is Being Used Correctly One of the biggest problems employers encounter today is inappropriate computer and Internet use by employees. Unfortunately there is a percentage of employees that abuse Internet privileges during the work day. This has a negative impact on productivity, which at the end of the day lowers profitability if an employee spends the majority of the day surfing the web or hanging out on social networks. Employees who use their work e- mail address for personal reasons such as signing up for e-lists or other website registrations can cause problems with spam, which is costly for the company.

Decrease Technology Risks If company computers are infected by malware, this could significantly impact daily processes. Any infection could have a serious impact because it may cause computers to do down and lose valuable business. Any degree of offline time can put a significant damper on a company; additionally malware infections can be costly to fix, especially if the infection has spread across the company network. Higher Security In some instances, using equipment such as video surveillance is not only for the protection of the employer, but for the employee also. If the organization is prone to needing a higher level of security, video surveillance may be a necessity

Disadvantages Privacy Issues Privacy is probably the largest issue that employees have with being monitored. After all, who likes being watched every moment of the day? In many societies people Decreased Morale Trust is a prominent piece of any relationship, and this includes the relationship between the employer and the employee. Staff members who feel they aren't trusted are more likely to suffer from decreased morale. By interpreting a lack of trust, employees may feel a lower sense of competency which can cause workplace issues and impact productivity.

Lower Productivity Organizational studies strongly suggest that there is a distinct correlation between decreased morale and lower productivity. Employees who suffer from low morale due to monitoring practices may not feel inclined to give their all in terms of performance.