Case of surfing the internet on company time - Essay Example

Surfing the Internet on Company’s Time Surfing the Internet on Company’s Time It is obvious that the internet has become an indispensable tool to enable business transactions. However, it is apparent that employees violate the use of internet at work and use it for personal use other than for work-related functions. In effect, various companies have come up with a variety of policies to address issues of using the internet for something unrelated to work operations, which some employees regard as an intrusion to privacy.

Using case "surfing the internet on company time", this expose elucidates whether there was an invasion of privacy, the key elements of internet policy at work and investigates whether there was justification on the action taken on the employee. From the beginning, it is important to point out that Helen Barnett’s actions did not invade James Esrkine’s right to privacy. In view of this, employees have traditionally used other methods that are similar to intrusion of the right to privacy by employees.

According to Lane (2003), employees have used methods such as drug testing, performing background checks on their future employees, performing psychological examinations, video surveillance within the place of work, and using lie detectors. In effect, Helen Barnett, as James’ supervisor, had every right to play her responsibility of supervising and ensuring that employees under her watch played his or her role effectively according to their functions and letters of appointment. In this regard, Helen Barnett never intruded on James’ right to privacy since it was her role to supervise.

It is important to point out that it was prudent to take some form of disciplinary action on James. However, the issue in this case remains whether suspension was the right form of disciplinary action to take. On one hand, National Insurance lacked a written policy prohibiting internet use for other purpose not related to work. However, this should not be a justification of using the internet for other uses apart from the work-related use since there was no any written policy. On the other hand, James claims that he was on his break while surfing the internet.

However, he forgot that he was using work-related objects for personal use. Secondly, National Insurance engaged with their employees based on trust, which is trust that James broke. Besides, James exposed his colleagues to pornography, which is not appropriate. In effect, his actions justify his suspension from work although National Insurance should work on publicizing a policy on surfing the internet while at work. Finally, one of the key elements in an employee computer and Web use policy is a clear determination of the level of autonomy.

In this regard, defining the extent to which employees should use the computer and the Web is essential for an effective policy. Second, another element should be a description on using the computer and internet for work related operations, which is only during working hours, which defines personal access to the internet as unlawful. Finally, the policy should contain the element that defines all work done through the internet and computers as belonging to the employee who has the right to access the data at any given time.

In conclusion, the importance of the internet and computers at work is evident in the contemporary society. In effect, employers face a problem related to intrusion of their employees’ right to privacy when they access the internet for personal use. In the case of National Insurance, Helen was right since she supervised James at work and his behavior at work had an effect on productivity. In effect, there is a justification of the suspension although National Insurance should come up with a policy meant to guide employees about computer and internet use for personal work using the elements discussed in the aforementioned.

Reference Lane, F. S. (2003). The Naked Employee: How Technology Is Compromising Workplace Privacy. New York, NY: American Management Association.