Employment

EmploymentEmployment

Source : http://www.ruthtrumpold.id.au/itgswiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Employment

Employee Surveillance

Employee Surveillance

Is the supervision and making sure that they are spending their time working.

Electronic employee monitoringElectronic employee monitoring

With the advanced use of technologies, many companies use an electronic employee monitoring to be sure that their employees are working appropriately.

Examples of what employers can monitor by using electronic employee monitoring system.

E-mail sent and received E-mail alert (notifies you when specific

words are typed by employees) Voice mail sent and received Web sites visited

Files downloaded, copied or removed Launched applications Network connections Keystrokes typed Stored information on screens and hard

disks Bandwidth consumed

Examples of what employers can monitor by using electronic employee monitoring system.

Telephone Monitoring

Listen to employee’s phone call Record phone calls and messages Keep record of phone calls

Check this website : http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs7-work.htm

Advantages

Save company’s money by reducing employees’ waste time do online (“Computer Economics estimates that companies lost $5.3 billion to recreational web surfing in1999”.)(Visit English Discourse-the e-journal)

Increase productivity Protect company’s secret

Advantages

Control employees’ inappropriate behavior

Avoid legal troubles (e.g. downloading music illegally)

Provide a hospitable and safe working environment

Prevent hacker or virus from invading company’s database

Reduce harassment

Disadvantages

Violate employee’s privacy Violate employee’s right of freedom of

speech Stressful for employees (it may cause to

decrease productivity)

Social and Ethical Issues

1.Security : > Administrators need to protect their

data from unauthorized access such as hackers and virus

> Prevent from leaked out information

Social and Ethical Issues

2. Privacy and anonymity > Invade employees' privacy > Restrained employee's freedom > Some company does not inform

employees about monitoring

Social and Ethical Issues

3.Intellectual property : >Someone's idea may be duplicated

4.Control >Employers gain more power >Behaviors of employees are totally

controlled by employers

Social and Ethical Issues

5. Policies and standards >Employers have the right to monitor

phone calls as long as it is within 'the ordinary course of business'

Telecommuting

What is Telecommuting? “Telecommuting, e-commuting, e-work, telework, or working from home(WFH) is a work arrangement in which employees enjoy unlimited flexibility in working location and hours. In other words, the daily commute to a central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links.”

Telecommuting

Telecommuting first used in the United States, and was spreading many countries in the world especially in Europe.

Telecommuters are required to have high skills to operate computers. They communicate with virtual companies, other telecommuters, and clients by using video cameras, voice mailing, and digital messages.

Telecommuting

Starting a telecommuting, you need to have laptops, personal computers, printers, fax, microphones, and cameras.

Telecommuting is a symbol of the Information Revolution. However there are both advantages and disadvantages of using telecommuting.

Advantages

Save traveling time Save traveling fee Save office spaces, parking spaces Less stress Enable to communicate over a larger

distance Improve workers flexibility Increase productivity

Advantages

Improve employee effectiveness Decrease numbers of traffic jams Friendly to environment (air pollution,

petroleum use) (“If 10% of the workforce telecommuted

once a week, we’d save more than 1.2million gallons of fuel, resulting in 12,963 tons of avoided air pollution”) (Visit wikipedia)

Advantages

Enable to spend more time on oneself (e.g. mother with small children)

People who living in remote areas can work

Friendly for handicapped people

Disadvantages

Telecommuters feel isolated Work hours are not certain Many distractions at home Lose face-to-face communication Cost a lot of electronic fees

Disadvantages

Have to catch up with high-tech Hard for employers to evaluate Hard to control Become idle Unhealthy (e.g. Using a computer all the

day)

TelecommutingSocial and Ethical Issues Reliability Reliability of computers, software and data

makes big difference on telecommuters' job Security Since there is no office, secret information of

company may leak Anyone can access company's database Easy for hackers or virus to invade databases

TelecommutingSocial and Ethical IssuesAuthenticity Telecommuters should identify

themselves before they start working

Equality of access People who have no access to Internet

cannot start telecommuting

TelecommutingSocial and Ethical IssuesControl Employers may lose their control because

employees are not working in offices

Globalization and cultural diversity Companies are able to do world-wide

businesses Telecommuters may have to install many

software of different languages

TelecommutingSocial and Ethical IssuesPeople and machines Too much dependence on machines

Job Obsolescence and Retraining Increasing pressure of competition with

other companies, rapid technology advances, and increasing complexity of jobs make workers lose their jobs because of skill obsolescence.

Obsolescence is the states, process or condition of being or becoming obsolete.

Job Obsolescence and Retraining To prevent from job obsolescence, it is

necessary for company to retrain employees.

Not only employers but also business and labor unions, and government provide retraining programs.

Since technology is developing so fast, the need for retraining will increase more and more in the future.

Job Obsolescence and Retraining Retraining should not be a burden for

employees. A retraining program should not only contain “teaching”. It should include a support system (e.g. child care), a counseling system, and a general skills program.

Goals of retraining

To increase employees’ basic skills To improve job performances To adapt to new technologies and IT

systems To provide new skills

Advantages of retraining

Employees can gain new skills Employees may be able to get better jobs Employees can earn more salary Refreshing companies Increase productivity

Disadvantages

Costs money Takes times Needs experts for the retraining courses Employees taking courses might have to

sign a contract with their companies for 2 years or more and if they leave before that they will have to pay the training courses’ cost.

Social and Ethical Issues

Integrity Information which is taught by retraining should

be correct Software and any kind of technologies should

be updated

Equality of access Maybe not all the employees will be able to

take those courses for money or time limitations.

Social and Ethical Issues

Control Employers may have the power to

control their employees by making them sign a contract.

Any ideas of other social/ethical issues related to job obsolescence or retraining?

Online Job Search

If you want a job, you can search it online. In the past, people use to search jobs by magazines, advertisements, or posters.

Thanks to the Internet, people are able to search jobs speed by online. Wherever you are, and whenever it is, online job searches help you to find a job, which appeals to you the best.

You can search a job online by…

Keywords Location Job category Employment type Job posted time Your degree Company’s name Types of industries Salary data

Advantages

Fast Easy Search enormous numbers of jobs Open for anyone Latest information

Disadvantages

Not all information are reliable Too much information Overlapping information Cannot see employers’ faces