Ethics of Employee Location Monitoring

In the contemporary workplace, workers are usually aware that their computer activity, email, and phone conversations may be -- and probably are -- being monitored by their employer. Efforts to limit the consumption of offensive or pornographic material, use of company resources for non-work purposes, and desire to track employee behavior in order to improve efficiency leads managers to install keystroke logs, RFID location tags, cell phone software, and "back door" computer tracking programs. Employees complain that they do not feel trusted by employers who use these strategies, and managers may not have clear guidelines for how to use the information they glean from covert employee monitoring. However, some of these techniques can be used to improve workplace safety and ensure, for example, that employees take regular breaks from work in order to reduce eye strain and the health dangers of sedentary work. Below, I...
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