Results from an American Management Association national survey: The Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey revealed that 25% of employers have fired employees who misused e-mail (e.g., offensive language or excessive personal use), while roughly 33% discharged people for using the Internet inappropriately (e.g., surfing for pornography).102 “Computer monitoring takes many forms, with 45% of employers tracking content, keystrokes, and time spent at the keyboard. Another 43% store and review computer files. In addition, 12%
monitor the blogosphere to see what is being written about the company, and another 10% monitor social networking sites.”103 Consider how electronic monitoring impacted Kary Nagel.
Kary Nagel, 24, was regarded as a good employee until she criticized the owners of a credit-repair agency on her personal e-mail. She was immediately fired after the owners read her e-mail. “I never signed anything saying it was OK to monitor my e-mail or Internet activity,”
Nagel said. “So I assumed it wasn’t, which was a horrible assumption.”104 Companies believe that electronic monitoring will reduce the estimated 30 to 40% decrease in productivity associated with Internet surfing during work hours.
Interestingly, companies such as WakeMed Health &
Hospitals and Butterball do not even inform employees that they are being monitored at work. Some people believe that the failure to tell employees about monitoring activities is just plain wrong.

1. Electronic surveillance signals a distrust in employees, erodes morale, and ultimately hampers productivity. Explain your rationale.
2. Employers sign the paychecks and own the equipment, so they have the right to make sure they are getting their money’s worth, and their equipment is being used properly. Explain.