Ethical and Secure Computing by Joseph Migga Kizza

Author:Joseph Migga Kizza
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030039370
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

6.5.2 Electronic Monitoring

Electronic monitoring is generally the monitoring of employees using electronic devices such as video cameras, computer equipment, audio devices, and many other concealed gadgets. In most cases, it measures the quality and usually the quantity of work and the ability and effectiveness of the worker. In other cases, it also measures the worker’s habits on and off the work premises because some employers believe these habits have a great bearing on employee performance. For example, if the employee is a drug user, the effects of drugs will eventually affect the quality of that employee’s work.

Electronic monitoring of employees is characterized by workers’ ignorance that they are being monitored, fear of the ever-watching eyes of the supervisor, and fear of how much that supervisor knows about them. Let us illustrate these fears by two short examples from Nussbaum [29]. She first cites the case of Mary Williams v. United Airways in which Mary Williams was first disciplined for her remarks to a coworker, sent to a psychiatrist, and subsequently fired from her work at United Airlines because she confided to a coworker about an obnoxious customer while management was listening. In another example in the same paper, Nussbaum cites a New York data processor whose boss kept flashing the message “you are not working as fast as the person next to you” on her computer screen.

There are thousands of cases similar to these two arising from employee monitoring . Although there are no comprehensive studies on the spread of electronic monitoring in the workplace, it is generally believed that electronic monitoring of employees is on the rise and is already enshrined in the banking, insurance, and airline industries, to name but a few.

As technology becomes cheaper, therefore more affordable, smaller, and easier to conceal, the trend is likely to pick up momentum as the pressure for quality, quantity, and standards increases because of global competition. This pressure is likely to force more companies to resort to electronic monitoring as a way to control employees to extract more performance, compliance , and probably more money. In fact, in some sectors of employment the percentages are already high. For example, according to Grant et al. [31], in the USA 25–35% of all clerical workers are electronically monitored for work performance.

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