It’s Not Paranoia…

when they really are after you.

And while I feel that employees should spend their time at work working, I don’t feel that companies should be monitoring what employees are doing outside of work, provided that they are not disparaging the company in any way.

This company apparently doesn’t agree. From the article:

“We certainly have tried to ‘do the right’ thing,” Newman says via e-mail, pointing to a white paper that outlines Techrigy’s position.

To quote from the paper:

We strongly believe in the freedom of expression and any company that would try to restrict that freedom would likely not retain talented employees very long. However, the freedom of expression does not apply to revealing trade secrets, sharing proprietary company intellectual property, sexual harassment, or breaking other company or organizational policies.

Organizations should not leave it to employees to decide if and how blogging is acceptable. Without a set of guidelines to clearly tell when someone steps too far over the line, the result is the Wild Wild West. The vast majority of employees will use common sense when blogging. However, best practices require an organization to not only “trust” but also “verify.”

I do agree that companies should not leave it to employees to decide how blogging is acceptable, but rather than snooping, Companies should just make it very clear to employees how they are expected to conduct themselves as a representative the company.

This just seems above and beyond. And judging from the comments on this article, I think most agree.

(Thanks to Jonathon Moore for the tip).