Today, employers want to be sure that their employees are doing their jobs. At the same time, employees don't want to feel that their employers are policing their every move. Therein lies the central conflict in today's workplace environment — monitoring employees' use of technology.

With technology deployed throughout the workplace, today's tools allow employers to monitor virtually every move and keystroke employees make on the job.

As a general rule, unless there is a company policy that specifically states otherwise, employers may listen, watch, read and record all of your workplace use of these technologies. Although, rules vary from state to state, this practice is generally unregulated.

E-mail mismanagement tops the list of electronic risks facing employers today. As many recent court cases have indicated, costly lawsuits and actions by disgruntled employees and competitors can topple even the strongest of businesses. Abuses of company e-mail systems can easily bring down the ship.

Survey Says

According to a recent survey from the American Management Association, one in four (24%) organizations have had employee e-mail subpoenaed and 15 percent of companies have gone to court to battle lawsuits triggered by employee e-mail. In addition, 26 percent of employers have terminated employees for e-mail misuse. Another two percent have dismissed workers for inappropriate instant messenger (IM) chat, and nearly two percent have fired workers for offensive blog content, including posts on employee personal home-based blogs.

Today, a majority of employers monitor their employees' use of company-owned technology. Many are concerned about litigation risk and the increasing role that such evidence plays in lawsuits and government agency investigations.

American Management Association surveys found that approximately 75 percent of respondents  monitor their employees' Web site visits in order to prevent inappropriate surfing. In addition, 65 percent of those surveyed use software to block or filter connections to Web sites deemed off limits to employees, while about one-third (33%) track keystrokes and time spent online. Over 50 percent review and retain e-mail messages sent to and from their employees.

Any Limits on Playing Big Brother?

How far can an employer take technology monitoring? The short answer: pretty far!

At the workplace, when it comes to your e-mail and voice-mail, it is not private. If you use an e-mail system provided by your employer, your employer is allowed to review its content. Keep in mind that content includes all incoming and outgoing, as well as internally generated, employee to employee dialogue.

It doesn't stop there, if you plan to view personal Web-based e-mail accounts such as AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, Google, as well as sites hosting instant messaging portals such as AOL, your employer has an open window to that activity if you choose to view it using equipment and connections provided by your employer.

As for voice-mail, the same rule holds true, never assume that your activities are not being monitored and are private. Workplace privacy court cases have been decided in the employer's favor, in such cases as, Bourke v. Nissan (Cal. Court of App., 2nd Dist., No. B068705 July 26, 1993), Smyth v. Pillsbury (914 F.Supp. 97 (E.D.Penn. 1996)) and Shoars v. Epson (Cal. Court of App., 2nd Dist., No. B073234 April 14, 1994). These three cases show first-hand how employers can prevail when it comes to monitoring employee usage of company owned technology.

What if the employee deletes messages that have been received? Can they still be reviewed by the employer? Yes, through the use of tape and other forms of backup systems, very often, employees' e-mail content is permanently backed up.

You often hear the comment that my e-mail system allows me to mark e-mail "private." Does that allow me to send e-mail to friends and business associates and put my employer on notice that such content is private and should not be subject to oversight? Usually not. Although many systems have this option, there is no guarantee that such messages are kept confidential. However, if the employer's written e-mail policy states that messages that are marked "private" are kept confidential, then you are likely OK with that assumption.

How about the simple use of your laptop, notebook or desktop during the day in the office? If you use any of these or similar pieces of equipment, keep in mind, they act as your employer's window into your workspace.

It is not uncommon for employers to literally "shadow" your productivity during the day. A tiny application is loaded on your piece of equipment by the employer's IT department before it is deployed for your use. That tiny little application allows the employer to track your every move. Your employer has the ability to record your Web site visits, track how much time you spent on those visits, what you did during those visits, as well as every key you pressed on your keyboard during your stay ... "every key" ... including user names and passwords to any site requiring such authentication!

Big Brother's Role in the Accounting Industry

Our industry has not gone untouched by these concerns. In the AICPA's 2008 Top Technologies Survey, made public in January 2008, topics such as Information Security Management, Privacy Management and Identity and Access Management were voted most important by 26.5 percent of those surveyed. For more details on this survey check out Top
Technologies — 2008.

There are a number of groups that are actively involved in workplace monitoring issues. These include National Work Rights Institute, 9 to 5 National Association of Working Women, Workplace Fairness and American Civil Liberties Union.

In Summary

CPA firms are encouraged to develop a Technology Acceptable Use Policy to be followed by the employees within your organization. You should also monitor and sporadically test the compliance with your policy to insure it is being followed.

If you are an employee, you should be aware of acceptable and unacceptable use of your employer's technology. Remember, your employer provides you access to e-mail, Internet and other technologies to allow you to do your job. Never assume anything is private or confidential when utilizing your employer's technology and most of all, use common sense and use that technology the way you would if your employer was looking over your shoulder.

James C. Bourke, CPA/CITP, is a Partner at WithumSmith+Brown where he is Director of Firm Technology. He is a past president of the New Jersey Society of CPA's and currently serves on AICPA Council and the AICPA CITP Credential Committee.