"Employees should expect no privacy while on the job, even when engaging in personal communication via telephone or e-mail. Employers are paying for their employees' time and have a reasonable expectation that this time is spent solely on work-related activities."
RESPONSE:
The Emplolyer's payment to their employees is an investment by the employer in employee's time, as per the capability of the employee. As every investor, the employer wants its investment to work to the best of its capabilities & fetch great benefits for employer.
Let's take an example of a company's 2 executives A & B. A is more capable & draws a higher salary as compared to B. Both of them are given the same task individually, & the same time frame, lets says 8 hours a day. Both of them work properly & give exactly similar returns. The employer is happy that the job is done. However, a close monitoring reveals that employee A invested around 2 hours a day in personal e-mailing & telphonic conversations whereas employee B did not do any such thing. The employer A has every reason to believe that had employee A not been wasting his time on personal communications, he would have performed better & given better results. Here, employer is not getting its fair share of returns from employee A.
In another example, in two different companies, work 2 different employees A & B. They are similar in every aspect, namely the capabilities & the salaries they draw. However, as per company policy, A is allowed personal communications while on the job whereas B is not. When they are given exactly same task, A manages his personal communications well & performs to the best of his ability. On the other hand, B, cut off from his family & friends during the work hours, is not able to perform properly & his work is affected.
In the examples above, we can clearly see that both the extremes are not advisable. The best way forward could be to employ a mechanism which allows the employees to have their personal communication channel open, but expects them to compensate for the lost time & productivity. This will motivate the employees & will ensure the best possible results to the employer's money.
RESPONSE:
The Emplolyer's payment to their employees is an investment by the employer in employee's time, as per the capability of the employee. As every investor, the employer wants its investment to work to the best of its capabilities & fetch great benefits for employer.
Let's take an example of a company's 2 executives A & B. A is more capable & draws a higher salary as compared to B. Both of them are given the same task individually, & the same time frame, lets says 8 hours a day. Both of them work properly & give exactly similar returns. The employer is happy that the job is done. However, a close monitoring reveals that employee A invested around 2 hours a day in personal e-mailing & telphonic conversations whereas employee B did not do any such thing. The employer A has every reason to believe that had employee A not been wasting his time on personal communications, he would have performed better & given better results. Here, employer is not getting its fair share of returns from employee A.
In another example, in two different companies, work 2 different employees A & B. They are similar in every aspect, namely the capabilities & the salaries they draw. However, as per company policy, A is allowed personal communications while on the job whereas B is not. When they are given exactly same task, A manages his personal communications well & performs to the best of his ability. On the other hand, B, cut off from his family & friends during the work hours, is not able to perform properly & his work is affected.
In the examples above, we can clearly see that both the extremes are not advisable. The best way forward could be to employ a mechanism which allows the employees to have their personal communication channel open, but expects them to compensate for the lost time & productivity. This will motivate the employees & will ensure the best possible results to the employer's money.
