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You’ve seen the headlines. Whether ‘‘Fifty Employees Fired for E-Mail Abuse’’ or ‘‘Pornographic Images Found in State
Agency’s E-Mail System,’’ the story is the same. Employees’ accidental misuse or intentional abuse of e-mail systems has led to e-disaster, costing employers time, money, and credibility as the news media rush to cover salacious stories on otherwise dry news days.
How pervasive is e-mail abuse in the workplace? Common enough that nearly 47 percent of large U.S. employers review
e-mail messages, with 63 percent monitoring Internet connections. Fear of lawsuits is the number-one reason for employers’ concern, with 68 percent of organizations citing legal liability as the primary reason to monitor employees’ electronic communications. Not surprising, given that nearly 10 percent of employers have received subpoenas for employee e-mail and another 10 percent have defended sexual/racial harassment/discrimination claims based on employee e-mail and Internet use.1
Mindful of legal, productivity, security, and other electronic risks, more than 81 percent of employers have established written e-mail policies designed to guide employees’ online activity and control content.2 Unfortunately, while written e-mail policy forms the foundation of an effective e-mail program, it cannot stand alone in the battle against workplace e-risks. On the contrary, it takes a comprehensive understanding of technological and legal issues, combined with written policy and formal training, to successfully battle intentional and inadvertent e-mail system abuse.
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