Best Workplace Practices that contribute to high performance - Essay Example

first Workplace Practice The US Defence department not only owns the responsibility of safety and security of the country but also has to constantly safeguard its own internal assets and resources from potential threats. Working in the IT sector is highly challenging as these threats are multidimensional. Potential threats include cyber threats, theft from external enemies, disloyal and/or negligent employees, fraud, disruptions or losses, and any other destructive forces (Sims, p.45). Hence, it becomes utmost necessary for the organization to constantly protect its resources, assets and information from these threats.

Data security therefore becomes very important aspect of running the business. Data security ensures all information related to the company and its services is constantly safeguarded from enemies and destructive forces, and every employee at every level is responsible for Data security at all times. Data security at our organization is ensured through a variety of ways such as training and orientation, policies and procedures, safety and security measures. One of the strongest and fool-proof measures followed is the Restricted Access Practice (RAP), which ensures data, either in the form of electronic or printed, is not transferred outside the company’s domain.

For this, employees’ access to electronic data is limited to only official work domains; this means no employee can either send or receive information to or from any external sources, respectively. Employees are not allowed to carry any form of printed material outside the organization’s premises. This access is limited to only one department, which liaises with external entities, like the US Government bodies and external vendors, whenever required. Moreover, all electronic information, either in the form of applications, data, programs etc, created by the employees will be company’s property and for its use thereby protecting any form of breach.

Any form of breach of this practice is dealt immediately with strict disciplinary action. The RAP has been extremely helpful in safeguarding company’s and its clients’ information thereby increasing its credibility and reliability. Moreover, this practice eliminates or mitigates any form of selfish intentions of employees from taking any undue advantage of the organization’s resources, information and data. Thereby, this practice also helps in orienting all employees towards the company’s goals.

For the business, this practice has helped in earning credibility of its largest client, the US Defence Department, which continues to rely on us for its IT-related services. This practice makes employees understand the significance of their work and therefore has instilled a sense of pride and commitment to a certain extent. This practice does not stop employees from learning as it does not restrict employees from sharing information and learning. However, due to restricted access, employees are forced to work longer hours and do not have the liberty to work in flexible timings and from other places.

With increased work pressures in recent times, RAP seems to limit employees’ ability to perform better. Hence, increased work load demands alternatives to the RAP but without compromising data security. One alternative would be to continue RAP through secure access that links and allows all electronic information storage and exchange with company’s server, which will also allow flexible working for employees but no access to convert electronic information to manual or printable information.

As explained by Anthony (par. 10) in his report, the new technology should be linked to HR systems to establish clear identity of employees’ usage and activities, ensure secure access and conduct regular access audits. To conclude, the RAP as a best practice has helped the organization in accomplishing its objective, but needs some changes in terms of the technology and proper controls in order to continue to help the employees be more productive and efficient considering the increased work load and business requirements.

Works CitedAnthony, Joe. “The Evolution of Online Data Access: Keeping It Secure.” TechNewsWorld. 12 November 2011. 19 October 2013.http://www.technewsworld.com/story/73941.html Sims, Shane. “Insider Threat Investigations.” CyberForensics: Understanding Information Security Investigations. Ed. Bayuk, Jennifer L. New York: Springer, 2010. (45-52).