IT Work - Monitoring internet and e-mail use.

A large estate agency with multiple branches monitors all network activity by its staff (including each internet access and each e-mail) using content monitoring software.
Website access is strictly controlled and monitored. The amount of time accessing different categories of websites is logged. Each month a report is sent to the line manager of each employee so that any undue time spent on the internet or any part of the web can be immediately seen and discuessed with the employee. Sites deemed unsuitable can be blocked and reported immediately by e-mail for immediate action.
E-mails are scanned for inapporpriate usage. Pornographic and defamatory content is blocked by recognition of particular keywords and reported. Keywords such as "salary", "cv", "job", "employment", and other details related to the possibility of moving to a new employment are also scanned for. E-mails containing these words are parked in aspecial area where the netowrk manager can read them. He decides if they are harmless, and thus sends them on, or whether the emploee should be reported.

Task -

• Describe the advantages the content monitoring system has for an organistion such as this estate agency.

You can tell if someone wants to leave the job and then give them incentives to stay, for example a pay rise or bonus at the end of the month for "good work" or "a good sale" or discuss what is wrong with the place.

Also you can keep employees doing what they are supposed to do without them going off on tangents and doing something that they are not allowed to. This will keep them focused on what they need to do so they are able to increase their productivity.

• Describe the negative impacts it might have for the organistation.

It might make people feel as if they are being watched and they will not want to work as hard ebcause they will be to busy trying to dodge the system so not to be caught doing something that they did not mean to do. This will lower their productivity.

• Describe the advantages it has for employees.

They will be able to keep on track with what they are doing and they will not feel pressured by other colleges because they are doing something they don't want to do. It will make it feel a safer place to work because there will be less things to start to tempt people away from what they are doing and they are more likely to work better causing thier managers etc to think they need a bonus or pay rise for good work.

• Analyse the problems this system might have for an employee who only uses the system for business purposes.

They might need to access something and it will have been blocked because another employee would have used it for another purpose that was not work related. For example, in the school some of the work set you need to go to links, these links have been blocked because someone else somewhere has not used the site for its intended purpose or it has a keyword that needs to be blocked, for example, the NHS site is blocked due to "explicit words".

• Make recommendations about the use of this system.

To block things that will not be used or should not be used. For example a games site that someone is using to play on rather than for work purposes. This will help maximise work producitivity and lower the amount of distractions. The company should also have some form of communication service where employees can appeal to people to have the sites or their e-mails unblocked and give reasons why they need it or why they did what they did.