A question from Tamie and I (long)

[Fishbone†]

Actually Tamie asked me to post this to see what your thoughts are....

Our MIS department at work...... if you can call two guys a "department"...... monitors our email and internet use. Now, I realize that this is probably standard procedure in most companies.... especially to "control" personal use of the company equipment. Our problem is not that they do this..... as I guess that's just part of the world we live in, our problem is that he reads everything, including internal emails between..... say my boss and I, the HR department and employees, my boss' boss and him......., and I'm sure he's not bothering with the "boring" new release information. It's just the "juicy" stuff he's interested in. I seriously have a problem with this for two reasons:

1) I don't think that's appropriate.... if the email is internal and "work" related, I don't think there should be monitoring of the email (especailly by someone NOT in the HR department). I'm not comfortable with his knowing what is being communicated between some of these combinations (boss to employee, HR to employee, HR to boss of employee).

2) I know that he reads them (the "juicy" ones), because he makes comments, and I think "Now, how did he know about that". I REALLY think this is totally inappropriate.... if he's making comments to me about an email that went between my boss and I, what is he telling others. And I have reason to worry about this because I know things I shouldn't know for that very reason. And, he, of course reads the personal email (husband to wife, friend to friend) if he's reading internal ones.

He comments on where we've been on the internet, even if the time stamp and location is "okay", meaning we can surf at lunch if the site is appropriate, and yet he will say "I saw you were on Baby Center at lunch"..... "Oh, I noticed you were listening CPR last night after hours (which is a Christian Internet Radio site that he listens to all day long)". I seriously think his actual reading of the emails, and commenting is very inappropriate. As Tamie would say, that would be as inappropriate as the HR director saying "Oh, I saw one of your insurance claims come through. You were at the Gynocologist, huh?" or "How's that $3,000 raise going for you?" or "Hey, I see you got written up, huh?"

What do you guys think? Are we crazy to think this is WRONG?

 

[minniepumpernickel]

Well, I would have to say that it's safe to assume that nothing you do at work is private. I wouldn't do anything but work related research, etc, in your situation. I guess, it's their company policy!

 

[Serena]

It seems very unprofessional to me.

 

[Princess Michelle]

I don't think it's appropriate that he reads the emails, even if he has to monitor your usage he does not need to read inter office emails and he ESPECIALLY does not need to be commenting on it to others.

As part of my job I open all of the mail that comes into our office. I see some things that would make great gossip but it would not be very professional of me to run to everyone in the office and tell them stuff that they don't need to know. It's not even any of my business so I have no place telling anyone what I've seen.

 

[mrsv98]

I used to be the Tech Coordinator at a private K-12 school along with two other guys. One was head of the Dept. and the other worked in the Middle and Upper schools. A few years ago, he started making comments to people about stuff he could have only known if he had been reading emails. Now, we had access to everything and readily told the students that we could read their email which helped keep them on the stright and narrow. There were instances when I read some email, but I made it a personal policy to tell the student and the reason why. Anyway, he started to focus on one teacher and it was pretty clear he was reading her email and then hanging around her, not really stalking but being a nuisance. After a school year of this (and other complaints about his work), the school did not renew his contract (we all worked on one year contracts).

It sounds to me that this person is doing the same kind of thing and bragging about his "power" by letting you know. I would make a formal complaint to HR and state that this invasion of privacy is unprofessional and could compromise your workplace, especially if he is reading his boss's communications. Good luck.

 

[Fishbone†]

Hey Michelle!!!

In your job is it your duty to just open the mail for distribution, or to actually read through every word of it whether it applies to you (and your job) or not. I guess I just have to question the "need" for him to ready EVERY word of the email when it's not the point.

and bragging about his "power" by letting you know.

That's it!! He's flaunting his power!! You hit it right on the head.

And Minniepumpernickel (that's quite the handle), while I've figured that out already, it's not always personal things. My boss and I communicate "personal" work-related issue via email, as well as his boss or HR communicating "issues" and things via email.... I guess I don't necessarily think it's his business what I may make, or what transpired between my boss (or higher) and I. That's all.

 

[Princess Michelle]

Heidi, I do have to read it to a point to see who it needs to go to because sometimes people send it in attention one person when it really needs to go somewhere else and some of it needs to stay with me. Anyway, I only read as much as I need to, to determine where it needs to go. I don't see any need for him to read your emails. He can monitor without reading but the thing that really gets to me is that he repeats what he's read. That is so unproffesional. My company trusts me enough to let me deal with all of our mail private and professional and I can't see betraying that trust by reading every detail and spreading it around.