Personal emails@ work can get you fired
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Personal emails@ work can get you fired
| Thu, 12-17-2009 - 12:23pm |
You probably don't think twice about sending personal messages through your work e-mail. But sending e-mails about a seemingly innocuous hobby cost one financial advisor his job when his employer tapped into his work account and read his messages. (see link)
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/GadgetGuide/supreme-court-employee-rights-privacy-workplace-emails/story?id=9345057
Edited 12/17/2009 12:53 pm ET by cookie09z

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Personally, I would prefer an employee who spends a few minutes here and there planning their wedding, but goes above and beyond the call of duty when necessary; as opposed to someone who has a micro-manager hanging over their shoulder, they hate their job and it shows.
Nobody spends just
~Who indeed can harm you if you are committed deeply to doing what is right?~
you hit the nail right on the head.
York - you seem intent on asserting that there is no way that people can engage in personal business at work and still be valuable employees who do their jobs well. While I believe this is true if you work at Burger King where your job is task and time driven, for professionals this is generally not the case. When you are dealing with employees working at the professional level it is important to allow for work life balance. There are certainly those who take advantage but their surfing the net or taking personal phone calls at work is not the real issue. Their work would suffer even if no distractions were available or allowed. Valuable employees who are given the freedom to balance work and life are more often than not more productive than those who are micro-managed. If I expect to be able to call my employees in the middle of the night or on weekends with issues that crop up and need immediate attention or ask them to work late to meet a pressing deadline then it seems reasonable to me that if they want to spend some time reading a blog, answering personal emails, or paying bills online they should be allowed to do that. Most professionals are dedicating way more than just eight hours of their day to the job and that needs to be recognized.
I agree much depends on one's type of employment.
Example: My DH is on 'vacation' but still checks his work email & follows up if an emergency occurs. Normally he works from his home office two days a week.
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