Action-Intention-Trust

I saw a recent post about a company who's boss is demanding the ability to access and read all employee e-mail. It sparked a lively discussion about privacy, control, trust and morale.

The reality is that all correspondence on the company's e-mail system is admissible in court. This means that all the mail can be used in the discovery process in a court case. I have personally had to fend off questions from plaintiff's attorneys while on the witness stand and it can be embarrassing and expensive for the company if employees are not careful in their email correspondence. A good rule to live by: Don't write anything in e-mail you would not want your Mom to see in the paper the next day.

In this particular case the boss (being the owner) sees it as his right to have access to this. Although he does in fact have that "right" he must be careful not to completely ruin any spirit of trust, cooperation or creativity that will likely be crushed when employees find out he has been clandestinely reading this mail.

As the boss, if you are going to do this you need to tell people you are doing it and why you feel it is necessary. If your concerns is company liability there are much more effective ways to manage this. Begin with developing a policy that makes clear why it is important to be careful while writing e-mail. If you are trying to keep a pulse on the employees it will not be effective when they find out you are reading their e-mail. If it is a control issue the victory will be pyrrhic. You may have won the battle for the illusion of control but you will have lost all the support and trust of the employees.