What Were They Thinking?

C H A P T E R 9

Why Spy on Your Employees?

Building Trust in the Workplace

WITH THE EXPLOSION of communications technology have come two trends that seem at once inexorable and logically interrelated. The first is employees’ growing use of company resources, particularly computers and Internet connections but also personal digital assistants, instant messaging, and telephones, for personal business or recreation while at work. ComScore Networks found that, excluding auctions, 59 percent of all 2001 Web purchases made in the United States were made from the workplace. A survey by Vault.com reported that 47 percent of employees spend at least a half hour a day cruising the Web for personal reasons. According to a study by IDC Research, 30 to 40 ...