Anti-Descrimination Laws Related to Employment Research Paper

Anti-Descrimination Laws Related to Employment - Research Paper Example In order to control these tendencies by employees who use company electronic media, especially the internet, for activities, which are not work related, many companies and organizations have chosen to adopt electronic usage policies whose purpose is to ensure that there is responsible use of this resource. In addition, these policies have been put in place to ensure that electronic resources are not used by employees for purposes, which are not compatible with the objectives of the organizations in which they are used. Recent surveys by human resource managers on employees in a diverse number of companies have found that approximately two thirds of employees spend at least some of their work time on non- work related internet activity. Among the employees who use social networks sites, it has been found that approximately half of them check their social network profiles during their normal workdays and that fifteen percent of this group spends at least one hour a day browsing the int ernet on non-work related sites. It was further found that over half of employees sent personal emails, with nineteen percent sending more than five personal emails per day. The response of many institutions and organizations to non-work related internet activity has been to establish tougher  policies  regarding internet  usage  and  electronic  means to ensure that their employees are monitored. It has been found that the most dominant method of controlling the internet behavior of employees, is through the blocking of those sites that are most commonly used, the monitoring of internet usage  and email, as well as the firing employees for  violating the electronic usage policies of their companies. The developments in employee potential misuse of electronic technology, and the reactions of employers to this changing environment, has further come to be evidenced by surveys that were conducted between 2001 and 2007. These surveys show that there was a dramatic increa se in the  use  of  electronic monitoring by employers, and this was mainly used as a tool to avoid potential lawsuits. According to a survey conducted in 2001, over half of the companies that responded monitored their employees' internet activities, with forty six percent monitoring e-mail, and thirty six percent monitoring storage and the retrieval of company files (Cappel, 1993). By the time another survey was conducted some six years later, the figures had risen to sixty six percent of companies monitoring Internet connections. There is a high possibility that this trend in  electronic  monitoring by companies as well as other employers will continue as the technological development of both hardware and software continues to improve and becomes less resource intensive to install and  use. Ethical Concerns Ethics have come to play an immense role in influencing the process of regulation of the internet within a diverse number of businesses and their success will depen d on how strict the said businesses are in implementing its electronic usage policy. The regulations of the content displayed on the internet are done ethically because they mostly deal with material that is of no use to the business, illegal or both and this is done to ensure that employees get to use this resource responsibly. A responsible business should ensure that the internet content that has been proven to have been wrongfully