Question

Give two examples of how technology is creating employer-employee rights and policy issues. Then suggest some possible actions that may be needed to deal with the issues. Are there other conflicts being created in today's society that are not technology related?

Answer 1

Technology is crossing the fine boundary between employer rights to information anad employee privacy. The company have access to technology and use it in varied ways to keep a rael time watch on the employees. Two example of how technology is creating employer-employee rights and policy issues are as follows:

First, Many manufacturing units have CCTV coverage which is covering every movement of the employees on the shop floor, in the material stores, inspection areas and in the companies offices too. There is a security team which is constantly monitoring the employees closely. The CCTV actually meant to monitor the security of the team and to ensure there is no theft is nowadays used to track employees performance, behavior and sometimes also track their daily activity. Most employers make employees sign a document at the time of hiring which clearly states that they are under CCTV coverage.

Second the IT security team is consistently monitoring the employees social media, there computer usage, email access and also their mobile usage. Privacy is directly invaded. The employees are monitored and tracked consistently. If the social media posting is not as per the employers norms the employee can be given disciplinary warning and in some cases will be fired. Most companies have a social media policy which employee signs at the time of joining the organization. The rules are clearly highlighted so any posting related to work will not be shared online ever.

In both cases The company has to draw a line as to how they can protect the employees privacy and ensure that the organization rights and safety is ensured.

I recommend that employees build trust and loyalty in employees and encourage ethical behavior without continuously monitoring the employees. The company should not treat employees as outsiders. The ethical behavior and atmosphere should be built as an integral part of the companies environment. There should be trust building activities and training as a part of organization training. The Human resource team can hold short quizzes and a monthly award for ethical employee of the month. This will encourage employees to perform their duties conscientiously without the need to constantly monitor them or pull them up for their every action. Employer and employee relationship should be built on trust and mutual understanding rather than fear of being monitored. Making the employee feel part of organization and creating sense of ownership will build a long term commitment of the employee towards the organization.

Conflict which are being created today are the need to continuously excel and earn more money than the next person. This need is dominated by the desire to acquire more. This results in dissatisfaction and conflict in mind. Then there are biases towards particular class or religion. This is again leading to conflict. Social biases are also creating a lot of conflict in the work place and in the community.

To conclude it important to have a fine balance between surveillance and watching the employees and also becoming to invasive. The employer should known where to draw the line and learn to trust the employees. The environment of the organization should train employees to perform ethically and to become conscious of their activity and role. Force and fear will be temporary measures and create a relationship of distrust leading to more conflict.