'Lack of trust' | Employee surveillance is legal - but is it an ethical employer practice?

Just how private are our conversations with our colleagues?

The uncomfortable reality is that they aren’t private at all. When employees are angry, frustrated, or just fancy a good moan, the temptation to send off a quick message to a colleague can be hard to resist.

But when it happens on company software – be it email or messaging platforms – employees lose their right to privacy. In cases where messaging strays from mere gossip or a throwaway complaint to sustained criticism or personal attacks on co-workers, employers may have no choice but to intervene and even fire the quick-fingered employees in question.

This can make employee surveillance an uncomfortable topic for most employers. In many forms, it’s legal. Email monitoring has been an established practice for years, and most U.S. companies have policies that allow them to monitor messages and screen contents taking place on a company-owned device.