Research In Motion or Really Invasive Management?
I am very much torn on the privacy in the work place debate.
I fully believe that a person has a right to his or her privacy, even at the work place. The company shouldn't have the ability to track conversations they might be having with doctors or lawyers, let alone record and archive them.
On the other side of the coin, it's the company's time and resources. They're paying you to work there, not do things totally unrelated to your job. How many people abuse email and internet access or even phone access? How many co-workers have we all had who got calls all day from their kids?
But doesn't the employee have a right to privacy, even in the work place? Shouldn't it be common sense that sometimes an employee will have to deal with a personal thing at work? Isn't it good for morale to let your employees have the tools available to them if they need to handle an emergency or even grab some shoes online during lunch without fearing that Big Brother is watching?
And switching back again, doesn't the employer have the right to defend itself from employees would could do harm to its business? Shouldn't it be allowed to prove corporate espionage or gross incompetence?
I've always judged this subject on a case by case basis because I find it difficult to truly pick a side. It's easy to say it's the company's resources and time, but reality says concessions must be made.
RIM
If the companies don't like employees wasting time, they oughta be more rigourous in their screening process. This is the sort of bullshit that'd make me work less hard. Not enough to get axed, but enough to the point where I'd say to myself, "Yeah, I could do more work, but these fuckers don't even trust me to make a phone call. Fuck them."
Creating an atmosphere where my employer assumes I'm guilty till proven innocent is precisely the kind of place I don't want to work.
Creating an atmosphere where my employer assumes I'm guilty till proven innocent is precisely the kind of place I don't want to work.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
If they want to invade the privacy of 90% of the good employees (pissing them off in the process) in order to catch the 10% of the shitbirds in the act of being shitbirds, that's their problem. The good people will go elsewhere where they wont have their privacy invaded and the company will need to retain the shitbirds to make up for the loss of good people.
Interesting situation, I think. Getting privacy invasive equipment pretty much ensures you drive your best people away.
Interesting situation, I think. Getting privacy invasive equipment pretty much ensures you drive your best people away.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."