Monitoring Employees' Use of SNS during Work Hours

The use of social networking sites (SNS) has become an indispensable part of people’s everyday lives. The uncontrolled use of such websites has also crept into the professional world. The extent of damage SNS can cause bothered some companies. Some employers think that allowing employees to freely use SNS during work hours can bring detriments to the company. To prevent problems, some companies want to monitor their employees’ use of SNS during office hours – a directive that met a lot of negative feedback, especially from employees.

Companies that wish to monitor their employees’ use of SNS during office hours will do it to limit time that is spent on such activity. They do not want employees to just use SNS instead of finishing work-related tasks. If the employees are aware that they are being monitored, they will be cautious about using SNS.

Moreover, it is a way to ensure that employees are being responsible with the use of SNS while they are officially under the care of their companies. Since anyone can post almost anything on their personal accounts, anything negative done by an employee on SNS during work hours may negatively reflect or affect the company he or she works for and the other members of that company’s workforce.

Companies that want to monitor their employees’ use of SNS during office hours also claim that they are concerned about its collective and long-term effects. The time lost, money spent for resources used such as electricity consumption and the computers, and the possible damage that employees could do to the image of the companies they work for would add up to cause major losses for the companies.

On the other hand, those who oppose this directive say that monitoring the use of SNS during office hours is a violation of the employees’ privacy. SNS accounts contain personal information that does not have anything to do with any company’s operations.

Naysayers also say that there is no definite way for companies to fully monitor their employees’ use of SNS as these sites can also be accessed through personal devices like smartphones and tablets. Those who are against companies monitoring their employees’ use of SNS during work hours suggest that it would be better for companies to just implement a total ban on such websites on company-owned computers or gadgets. They can block all SNS so that employees cannot access them while they are at work. This way, they do not need to lurk on employees’ personal accounts and they would not need to worry about the other negative effects of allowing employees to use SNS during work hours.