Do employees have the right to expect privacy in the workplace? The answer to this question has become a controversial topic when it comes to employers keeping tabs on their employees. Indeed, employee monitoring has raised concerns among several groups. From company managers to employees and privacy advocates, everyone has their own reasons for or against employee monitoring. Employee monitoring is the act of monitoring the actions of employees to ensure that they use equipment correctly and are productive during working hours. As the use of technology is prevalent in the workplace, employee monitoring has become a common practice to prevent fraud, theft or dishonesty. Although employees find monitoring to be an invasion of privacy, employers have the right to monitor their employees as long as it is legal and ethical. Indeed, employers must monitor their employees to ensure productivity, greater organizational safety, and reduce the liability employers face for employee actions. Companies monitor employees to ensure productivity. Organizations are fully aware that employees are engaged in non-work related activities such as browsing the Internet while at work. In fact, among the employees interviewed, “60.7% said they visit websites or browse for personal use at work” (Martin & Freeman, 2003). These behaviors can be destructive to the organization. Time spent on business equipment for personal use is time spent away from business operations and tends to decrease business revenue. It is the company's responsibility to take necessary measures to ensure that employees perform while on the job (Pheifer, 2013). It is for this reason that 77.7% of all businesses conduct some sort of su...... middle of paper... using business equipment. It is important to realize that companies must keep their own interest and that of their stakeholders in mind. By monitoring its employees, an organization conducts business according to the theories of profit maximization and utilitarianism which "suggest that employers undertake the course of action that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of relevant stakeholders" (Mujtaba, n.d.). In essence, employee monitoring gives companies the opportunity to ensure employee productivity, plan for increased organizational safety, and reduce liability created by employees. In order to encourage ethical behavior of all involved and prevent legal consequences associated with employee monitoring, a Code of Ethics and Acceptable Use Policy must be signed by all employees and kept on file by the company.