Many Americans embark on their supervisors violating their privacy. Supervisors are becoming more vicious on how they screen new candidates, as well as their current employees. Normally supervisors will conduct background checks, random drug testing, and maybe even credit checks. Employees need to turn out to be more alert of this state of affairs. Employee privacy laws are limited, which makes it easy for supervisors to invade your privacy.
Some things are private and should remain in that manner. Employees believe that employers need to reevaluate their techniques and approach this ongoing situation and find alternative solutions to this problem. There are limits to everything in life, and there need to be limits set on employee’s privacy laws.
Employer’s privacy laws are limited; they’re not set to protect you. Something desires to be prepared to defend the employees’ attention. Supervisors have the upper hand in this situation. Everyday they find new way to invade employees’ privacy. It’s time to make stand and stop this from happening. We as employees need to get new laws enforced to prevent this from happening to us, and our children. After carefully researching this, Employees found that this epidemic is happening across the nation. This situation can only get better if, we as citizens make it better. It’s time to impede protesting about this and do something.
The Employer’s Interest
Employees have the right to protect their privacy by any means necessary. At the same time, supervisors have an investment to look after. They do have the right to screen their employees by implementing drug screening, background, and at times credit checks. Employees agree that these measures need to be taken to prevent their investment; they’ll be taking a risk if they didn’t. Everyone they hire has a history, some may be criminal.
They have the right to know this. They don’t want anyone with a history of fraud or theft. This is understandable; Employees wouldn’t hire a person with this type of record either. Although they have some valid points, some boundaries shouldn’t be crossed. Many experiences that like some things should remain concealed. Your social life shouldn’t be a factor when your career is involved. As long as you pass all the screenings, everything else should be irrelevant. It’s up to us to make sure our human rights are secluded. As long as we sit and do nothing, nothing is going to change. It’s time to stand up for what’s right and make a change. Confronting this will only make our lives and professions much easier.
Armour speaks on how corporations are taking action against employees who smoke. The outright bans raise new questions about how far corporations can go in regulating workers’ behavior when they are off the clock. The crackdown is coming in part as way to curb soaring health care costs, but critics say corporations are violating workers’ privacy rights. The zero-tolerance policies are coming as more corporations adopt smoke-free workplaces.
Being a smoker is a choice each individual makes and you shouldn’t be held liable for this action. What do you do after the labor hours in each individual’s industry? The decisions we make and the lives we choose to live are pro-choice. (Armour, p1)
Surveillance Techniques
Supervisors closely monitor their employees by using all types of surveillance techniques. Employee observing has become a major issue in society. Different types of observing are currently being used by supervisors, including computer observing, video surveillance, investigators, undercover operatives, spying, eavesdropping and wiretapping, and electronic mail and voice mail, and active badge systems. There are lots of employees that are terminated for these reasons.
While supervisors argue that observing is a way to increase productivity and customer service, others argue it is the modern method of having control and power over their employees. Observing has been used to determine pay and promotion decisions as well as to reinforce disciplinary actions. Objections to computer observing include the issue of privacy. Observing is a simple way of invading an employee’s privacy. For instance, the computer data banks, telephone, and video observing, active badges, and other observing techniques make the private lives of workers easier to delve into without detection. (Mishra, p4)
There are many types of surveillance techniques used to monitor employees. Some of the more common techniques are computer observing, video surveillance, and electronic mail, and voice mail. Corporations monitor all these techniques regularly. They begin observing you from the time you walk into the time you leave. It’s all just a way of keeping tabs on their employees. (Lichtash, p.26) Computer usage is the biggest way corporations monitor their employees. Whether you are using the internet or entering data into the system. (Quinn, p.15)
Conclusion
Employees have the right to social life and shouldn’t have to fear termination of employment for having a life. There are other simpler ways supervisors can maintain the productivity and accuracy of their employees without invading their personal lives. Those who do violate company policies should be punished and face whatever the consequences may be. There may be few bad apples in the bunch, but that doesn’t mean all of them to have to be tossed aside.
The first amendment states that we all have freedom of speech, but why don’t we have the right to live as we please. All of this is a way to keep employees in line; like modern-day slavery. When will this end? This will never end if we as citizens don’t put stop to it now. We have to defend ourselves and our potentials. Everyone has something to lose, and as employees, you’ll suffer the biggest loss; your dignity and privacy. Employees stated at the beginning that employers need to reevaluate this situation and Employees feel strongly that if we began to initiate this process, change will be made.
Works Cited
Armour, Stephanie (2005) Trend: You smoke? You’re fired! USA Today, News, p.1-13.
Lichtash, Ayelet (2004) Inappropriate use of Email and the Internet in the Workplace: The Arbitration Picture, Dispute Resolution Journal, Vol. 59 Issue 1, 11p, 1c, p.26.
Mishra, Jitendra M.; Crampton Suzanne M. (2006) Employee observing: privacy in the workplace? SAM Advanced Management Journal, v63 n3, (11), p.4-10.
Quinn, Bill (2004) Protecting Privacy in the Workplace, NJBIZ, Vol. 18 Issue 11, 1p, 1c, p.15.