News & Information

CCH® HR MANAGEMENT — 3/20/06

Blogs raise privacy concerns but can be managerial tool as well

In a relatively short span of time, concerns about workplace privacy have moved from the realm of locker searches and audio and video surveillance devices to electronic technology that monitors employee e-mail and Internet use, genetic testing and global positioning devices. Science and technology have leapt forward making possible more pervasive monitoring of employees–at and away from work–than was even thought possible a decade or two ago.

As the line between "work" and "home" blurs, employers maintain that such advanced monitoring is necessary in light of the risks posed by employees’ potential misuse of computers and other technology. One potential misuse of computers that employers are paying particular attention to is the relatively recent phenomenon of "blogging." Although not inherently a "bad" use of technology, blogging can lead to the unintended publication of trade secrets or other information that an organization would not want to make public.

The rise of blogging. Blogging is one area where employee expectations of privacy and employer concerns raised by employee discussion of workplace matters can clash. At first blush, blogging by employees would not seem to raise any privacy issues since, by their very nature, blogs are "out there" where anyone may read them.

According to University of Cincinnati Professor of Law Rafael Gely, however, blogs have created a new space—the blogosphere—where employees may communicate about workplace issues and, more recently, where employers have become interested in communicating with employees as well.

According to Gely, a recent study analyzing the content of blogs shows that about nine percent of the comments posted in blogs are related to comments about the blogger's employer. That figure represents a substantially large number of individuals talking about their jobs once they leave the workplace, he pointed out, given estimates of the existence of over 30 million blogs.

Blogs as a managerial tool. "Potentially more significant is a growing interest among employers in using blogs as a managerial tool to influence employee behavior," Gely observed. Gely's premise is that employees make decisions regarding personal issues based, in part, on the expectations of the organizations in which they work. Gely noted a recent survey showing that 10 percent of the CEOs at major US corporations have established corporate blogs that discuss corporate news as well as personal matters. Some have comment features that encourage employees to share their own related personal experiences. Gely believes that corporate executive blogging about non-work matters in particular could have a suggestive impact on employees.

Source: "Examining Privacy in the Workplace," February 9-10, 2006, Lod Cook Conference Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

For additional information on this and other HR topics, consult CCH Human Resources Management or Personnel Practices/Communications.

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