2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey: Over Half of All Employers Combined...

2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey: Over Half of All Employers Combined Fire Workers for E-Mail & Internet Abuse

NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
From e-mail monitoring and Website blocking to phone tapping and
GPS tracking, employers increasingly combine technology with policy to
manage productivity and minimize litigation, security, and other
risks. To motivate compliance with rules and policies, more than one
fourth of employers have fired workers for misusing e-mail and nearly
one third have fired employees for misusing the Internet, according to
the 2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey from American
Management Association (AMA) and The ePolicy Institute.

E-Mail and Internet-Related Terminations:

The 28% of employers who have fired workers for e-mail misuse did
so for the following reasons: violation of any company policy (64%);
inappropriate or offensive language (62%); excessive personal use
(26%); breach of confidentiality rules (22%); other (12%).

The 30% of bosses who have fired workers for Internet misuse cite
the following reasons: viewing, downloading, or uploading
inappropriate/offensive content (84%); violation of any company policy
(48%); excessive personal use (34%); other (9%).

Internet, E-Mail, Blogs and Social Networking:

Employers are primarily concerned about inappropriate Web surfing,
with 66% monitoring Internet connections. Fully 65% of companies use
software to block connections to inappropriate Websites--a 27%
increase since 2001 when AMA/ePolicy Institute first surveyed
electronic monitoring and surveillance policies and procedures.
Employers who block access to the Web are concerned about employees
visiting adult sites with sexual, romantic, or pornographic content
(96%); game sites (61%); social networking sites (50%); entertainment
sites (40%); shopping/auction sites (27%); and sports sites (21%). In
addition, companies use URL blocks to stop employees from visiting
external blogs (18%).

Computer monitoring takes many forms, with 45% of employers
tracking content, keystrokes, and time spent at the keyboard. Another
43% store and review computer files. In addition, 12% monitor the
blogosphere to see what is being written about the company, and
another 10% monitor social networking sites.

Of the 43% of companies that monitor e-mail, 73% use technology
tools to automatically monitor e-mail and 40% assign an individual to
manually read and review e-mail.

"Concern over litigation and the role electronic evidence plays in
lawsuits and regulatory investigations has spurred more employers to
monitor online activity. Data security and employee productivity
concerns also motivate employers to monitor Web and e-mail use and
content," said Nancy Flynn, executive director of The ePolicy
Institute and author of The ePolicy Handbook, 2nd Edition (AMACOM,
2008), E-Mail Rules (AMACOM 2003), Instant Messaging Rules (AMACOM
2004), Blog Rules (AMACOM 2006), and other books related to workplace
computer use.

"Workers' e-mail and other electronically stored information
create written business records that are the electronic equivalent of
DNA evidence," said Flynn, noting that 24% of employers have had
e-mail subpoenaed by courts and regulators and another 15% have
battled workplace lawsuits triggered by employee e-mail, according to
2006 AMA/ ePolicy research. "To help control the risk of litigation,
security breaches and other electronic disasters, employers should
take advantage of monitoring and blocking technology to battle people
problems--including the accidental and intentional misuse of computer
systems and other electronic resources," Flynn said.

While only two states, Delaware and Connecticut, require employers
to notify employees of monitoring, the majority are doing a good job
of alerting employees when they are being watched. Fully 83% inform
workers that the company is monitoring content, keystrokes and time
spent at the keyboard; 84% let employees know the company reviews
computer activity; and 71% alert employees to e-mail monitoring. But
are employers doing enough to educate employees on their specific
policies?

"Most employees receive policies regarding use of office business
tools and privacy issues on the first day of employment, but too often
they don't read them. Employers need to do more than hand over a
written policy," says Manny Avramidis, senior vice president of global
human resources for AMA. "They should educate employees on company
expectations and offer training on an annual basis."

Telephone and Voice Mail:

Six percent of employers have fired employees for misuse or
private use of office phones. Fully 45% monitor time spent and numbers
called, and another 16% record phone conversations. An additional 9%
monitor employees' voicemail messages. Most employers notify employees
of phone (84%) and voicemail (73%) monitoring.

Video Surveillance:

Almost half (48%) of the companies surveyed use video monitoring
to counter theft, violence and sabotage. Only 7% use video
surveillance to track employees' on-the-job performance. Most
employers notify employees of anti-theft video surveillance (78%) and
performance-related video monitoring (89%).

Global Satellite Positioning and Emerging Surveillance Technology:

Employers who use Assisted Global Positioning or Global
Positioning Systems satellite technology are in the minority, with
only 8% using GPS to track company vehicles; 3% using GPS to monitor
cell phones; and fewer than 1% using GPS to monitor employee
ID/Smartcards. The majority (52%) of companies employ Smartcard
technology to control physical security and access to buildings and
data centers. Trailing far behind is the use of technology that
enables fingerprint scans (2%), facial recognition (0.4%) and iris
scans (0.4%).

The 2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey is
co-sponsored by American Management Association (www.amanet.org) and
The ePolicy Institute (www.epolicyinstitute.com). Of the 304 U.S.
companies that participated: 27% represent companies employing 100 or
fewer workers, 101-500 employees (27%), 501-1,000 (12%), 1,001-2,500
(12%), 2,501-5,000 (10%) and 5,001 or more (12%).

About AMA

American Management Association is a world leader in professional
development, advancing the skills of individuals to drive business
success. AMA's approach to improving performance combines experiential
learning--learning through doing--with opportunities for ongoing
professional growth at every step of one's career journey. AMA
supports the goals of individuals and organizations through a complete
range of products and services, including seminars, Webcasts and
podcasts, conferences, corporate and government solutions, business
books and research. Organizations worldwide, including the majority of
the Fortune 500, turn to AMA as their trusted partner in professional
development and draw upon its experience to enhance skills, abilities
and knowledge with noticeable results from day one. For more
information visit www.amanet.org.

About The ePolicy Institute

The ePolicy Institute is dedicated to helping employers limit
electronic risks, including litigation, through the development and
implementation of written policies and employee training programs. An
international speaker and trainer, Executive Director Nancy Flynn is
the author of 10 books published in 5 languages. As a recognized
authority on workplace e-mail and web usage, Nancy Flynn also serves
as an expert witness in e-mail-related litigation. Since 2001, The
ePolicy Institute has partnered with AMA on an annual survey of
workplace e-mail and Internet policies and procedures. Nancy Flynn is
a popular media source who has been interviewed by Fortune, Time,
Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, Business
Week, USA Today, Readers' Digest, New York Times, NPR, BBC, CNBC, CNN,
CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox Business News among others. For more
information visit www.epolicyinstitute.com.

G.S. Schwartz & Co. Inc.
Doug Novarro, 212-725-4500
dnovarro@schwartz.com
or
The ePolicy Institute
Nancy Flynn, 614-451-3200
nancy@epolicyinstitute.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008