Are My Office Emails Private?

By Wendy Oliveras on Saturday, May 08 2010

This is a very legitimate question, since the debate between employers and employees regarding what is considered private and what is not has become a heightened one.

The core issue is whether or not it is acceptable for an employee to utilize his/her company time and communications technology for personal use.  On the one hand, employees argue their privacy rights are being violated, and on the other hand, employers argue they are not invading the employees’ privacy, just enforcing their rights to protect themselves from litigation due to illegal conduct or leakage of confidential information.  This is a key point which employers make because if they have an employee who has conducted illegal activities by way of the company’s communications technology, i.e., cell phone, Blackberry, laptop, or desktop, and the company is subsequently sued, then the burden of liability falls upon the company as well. 

Regardless of the method of the communication being used by an employee, the fact remains that employees use not only work email for personal use, but they also surf the internet on company time for pleasure and/or shopping.  It is estimated that 42% of full-time employees in the workplace frequently use their company email account for personal communications and another 29% sometimes do. (These statistics are based on a 2010 workplace privacy study conducted by Ponemon Institute, a data-security research firm located in Traverse City, Michigan.)
 
Now, if we consider people work from home as well, then where do we draw the line? The truth of the matter is sometimes it is difficult to separate your personal life from your work life, since technology is the catalyst for fast and easy communication between people.  That said, as communications technology continues to create more innovative options to reach out to others, then perhaps the “rule of thumb” should be clear in going forward for both employees and employers.  More particularly, if you work for a company and have an assigned email account, do not expect the emails you send from work, home, or on the road to remain private.  Be mindful of what you write.  Now, employers can protect themselves by alternatively having a policy or agreement in place which asks the employee to waive his/her privacy right.  In this way, both parties are clear as to their respective roles and responsibilities to one another.  The fact many companies do not have such a privacy policy or agreement does not mean employees can automatically expect their personal emails to be held private.  Either way, employee emails are not considered private.  Don’t forget your IT department has access to all company emails and are backed up or saved.
 
The bottom line is that if you work for someone else, keep in mind you also have an obligation to the company to respect their policies, whether written or not.  There is a fine line between what is private and what is not private.  Use your discretion and be careful as to the nature of your emails because regardless of what you think, employers are more vigilant about these types of situations than they use to be.      

Wendy Oliveras is an entrepreneur, columnist, author, search consultant, and career planning and development advisor.  She can be reached at either (201) 947-6662 or via email wo@oliverascoinc.com.  Please also visit her at http://www.twitter.com/wendyoliveras, http://www.linkedin/in/wendyoliveras, or http://www.oliverascoinc.com.

To view my previous articles, please visit http://www.examiner.com/x-22670-NY-Search-Consultant-Examiner.  Thank you.