Spies are everywhere!

I actually watched TV this morning. That’s actually a pretty rare occurrence here.

There isn’t much on daytime television to choose from. Talk shows, soaps, 80′s reruns, and the news. One clip I saw while flipping channels really caught my attention, though. A company this woman had previously worked for made a policy that their employees could not smoke. Cigarettes. Period. Ever. And they didn’t just ban smoking in the building – these people went so far as to test employees that reportedly smoked in their homes, or in some cases, they tested nonsmoking employees who had spouses that smoked. ALL these people were at risk of losing their jobs over this!  Now, I can understand random drug testing. Illegal drugs are illegal, and you gotta admit, a crackhead employee can blow up that sweet $10,000 server in 2 minutes or less. Or, for more physical jobs, cause even more damage and injuries.

But cigarettes are LEGAL. They affect your long term health, true. Bad for you, also true. But what right does my employer have to say what I can and cannot do in my own home, on my own time? If somebody sees me out with a friend, I light one up, and the boss hears about it, I could lose my job.

Strangely enough, it sounded like they don’t have a policy in place for drinking. (I could have missed it – I was flipping channels alot. But I was settled on this for a couple of minutes) So, does this mean I can go get slobbery drunk, and not worry about my job? God forbid, that I choose to get in my car and drive at that point, too. Even though that is so dangerous and I would never do that, it’s quite ironic that these people are worried about cigarettes instead.

Anyway, that got me thinking about some recent experiences that I have had, and a newsletter that I get on a weekly basis. The newsletter’s subject matter was about telecommuting or remote employees, and the trend towards monitoring them. Some people want to work from home for the flexibility, while others may not want to dress up, and others just may work better without the boss or fellow employees distracting them constantly. I fall into all of the above categories. I work 3 times faster at home than I do in most offices. I schedule as little as possible to be done on site for that very reason.

So, if I am supplying my own computer, why do I need to be monitored? Frankly, if somebody hires you as a remote worker, or telecommute employee, they do NOT have the right to monitor your entire computer all the time. Nor do they have the right to monitor any calls you are on without notifying you and your customer they may be monitored. THESE ARE VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL LAW.

Now, we have all heard the recording, “Your call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes.” That’s pretty standard, we have all heard it in most cases. We’re used to it, accept it, and go on with our lives. And if a company I am working with wishes to monitor my calls in that system, fine. Let me know. But, if I work for you, then find out later you have been monitoring calls without telling me in writing it’s a possibility, I’m more than a little annoyed, and you just may have to answer to the Federal Government.

And the trend towards monitoring these computers gets me too. What I do on my own time is really nobody’s concern but my own. If I want to play Bejeweled online for hours on end, so be it. Why do you care? Again, if I am logged into your system, and your system tracks what I do there, fine. But, when I log off, what I do is no longer your concern. If you want to monitor the computer I work on 24/7, again, this is fine, but you should either be notifying people or supplying that monitored computer for them. If you monitor somebody’s personal computer all the time without their consent, you crossed a line you shouldn’t have crossed. It’s illegal. Could be major repercussions from doing that to people.

So, anyway, I am interested in finding out more. I’ve heard some people have pursued other opportunities after finding out either phone monitoring or computer monitoring was in place without their consent. If you know it’s there, and you expect it, fine. But, violations of privacy against Federal regs? Not a good thing, especially when you work from home.  You want somebody listening in every time you call your mom, or send her an email? Not me. Take it into consideration, and thoroughly investigate any company you may choose to work with remotely. Find out what their policies are on these things, and decide if it’s worth it to you to have everything you do watched all the time. You just may be better off in that office until another offer comes along.