Snooping Bosses...

Think your employer is checking your e-mail, Web searches and voice mail? You're probably right ;-)...When one of his employees phoned in sick last year, Scott McDonald, CEO of Monument Security in Sacramento, Calif., decided to investigate. He had already informed his staff of 400 security guards and patrol drivers that he was installing Xora, a software program that tracks workers' whereabouts through GPS technology on their company cell phones. A Web-based "geo-fence" around work territories would alert the boss if workers strayed or even drove too fast. It also enabled him to route workers more efficiently. So when McDonald logged on, the program told him exactly where his worker was--and it wasn't in bed with the sniffles. "How come you're eastbound on 80 heading to Reno right now if you're sick?" asked the boss. There was a long silence--the sound of a job ending--followed by, "You got me."

For every employer who lets his staff know they're on watch, there are plenty who snoop on the sly. A general manager at a computer outfit in the Northeast wondered about a worker's drop-off in productivity. Using software called SurfControl, the manager saw the man was spending an inordinate amount of time at an innocently named website. It turned out to feature hard-core porn. The worker was conducting market research for his escort service, a venture for which he soon had plenty of time after he got canned. "I don't give a rat's rear what they do at home," says the manager, who wishes to keep his and his company's name private. "But what they do at work is all my business."



Lesson To Be Learned...
Work While You Work...
Play While You Play... (My dad used to say this to me)