Employees and the Internet: control or freedom?
Careful, someone is watching you... online
Monitoring and surveillance of e-mail and other online communications is becoming mainstream in companies. Where are the limits between the manager’s right to know and the employee’s right to privacy? It’s a tough managerial question. e-Business Center PwC&IESE is carrying out a study among Spanish companies to find out what kind of policies and practices managers must follow both to comply with the law and to respect employee liberties.
Resumen
The use of electronic mail and the Internet in business has opened a new chapter in the debate about restrictions on privacy and monitoring. It will be hard for either of the extreme views expressed –defending absolute control over the new technologies on the part of the management or advocating their entirely indiscriminate use by employees– to find a place in business. It is only when they are viewed ethically, with each party considering the rights and duties of the other, that a middle way will be found.
El uso del correo electrónico e Internet en las empresas ha abierto un nuevo capítulo en el debate sobre los límites de la privacidad y el control. Las posturas extremas, tanto las que proclaman un control absoluto de las nuevas tecnologías por parte de los directivos como las que defienden un uso totalmente indiscriminado por parte de los trabajadores, difícilmente prosperarán. Sólo desde actitudes éticas, en las que se consideren los derechos y deberes de unos y otros, podrán encontrarse medidas conciliadoras. |
    
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