The Silent Watch Controversy at Advertising Inflatables

Task:

You are the human resources director for a company called Advertising Inflatables, which designs and builds the huge balloon replicas used for advertising atop retail stores, tire outlets, used-car lots, fast-food outlets, fitness clubs, etc.  Since you started you’ve seen balloon re-creations of everything from a 50-foot King Kong to a “small” 10-foot pizza.

Not long ago, company management installed the “cyber-surveillance” software, Silent Watch, to track and record employees’ computer usage.  At the time, you sent out an electronic memo informing all employees that they should limit their computer use and email to work projects only.  You also informed them that their work would be monitored.   At your boss’s request, you did not mention that Silent Watch would record every keystroke of their work or that they could be monitored from a screen in their manager’s office.

As expected, Silent Watch caught two of the sales staff spending between 50-70 percent of their time surfing Internet sites unrelated to their jobs.  The company docked (withheld) their pay accordingly, without warning.  Management sent them a memo notifying them that they were not fired, but were on probation.  You considered this wise, because when they work, both employees are very good at what they do, and talent is hard to find.

But now salesperson Jarod Harkington has sent you a letter demanding reinstatement of his pay and claiming he was “spied on illegally.”  On the contrary, company attorneys have assured management that the courts almost always side with employers on this issue, particularly after employees receive a warning such as the one you wrote.  The computer equipment belongs to Advertising Inflatables, and employees are paid a fair price for their time.