Employers advised to be more Big Brother over office emails

Big Brother might be over, but businesses are today being advised to tighten up their policies over monitoring staff emails as employment expert Croner warns that the humble office email is being silently used by employees to bully, harass and air prejudices against their colleagues.



Emails are binding documents which can be used as evidence against employers, in the same way as written letters or memorandums, in Tribunal cases involving sex, race, religious and disability discrimination, sexual harassment and constructive dismissal claims.

Croner, part of Wolters Kluwer UK, says too many employers are unaware of this, too complacent that it íwonít happen to themí, and unsure over the ethics of monitoring employeesí emails.

With experts estimating that at least 35 percent of all outbound office email is unrelated to work and with almost half of employees admitting to íoftení using internal email for personal reasons, Croner, one of the UKís leading providers of business information and advice, is issuing guidelines to help employers keep a watchful eye over email conduct and minimise the risk of potentially libellous content.

Richard Smith, HR expert at Croner, says: In the past a controversial opinion might have been inappropriately voiced between colleagues over a drink in the pub, nowadays employees are also making these exchanges using office email. But whereas verbal harassment is difficult to prove, convicting email evidence could be sitting in a recipientís inbox, creating serious legal issues for the company.

Employers canít afford to be blas and are best advised to adopt a more watchful íBig Brotherí attitude over emails sent using their network.

Even a íharmlessí joke between colleagues could be taken as offensive if accidentally discovered by the innocent party. Take the example of two partners in a London law firm. One jokingly emailed the other to ask for a íbusty blondeí as a replacement for their black secretary, who had already resigned from the company. The email was intercepted and the secretary successfully sued the firm for sex and race discrimination, rumoured at 10,000.

As businessí email systems are owned by the company, an employer can insist that all emails sent by employees are solely for business purposes and may, provided that employees are adequately warned, scrutinize email content and destination.

But Smith cautions: It might be thought that by using a companyís email system for personal exchange, an employee is completely forfeiting their right to any privacy of its content. However, although we are advising them to be more vigilant, they must also be careful when monitoring email use, which is in fact regulated by employment legislation and Data Protection rules. Employers need to take care not to encroach on employeesí privacy - although they can monitor email to an extent, they are limited in what they can do.

Smith adds: A sensible employer neednít take email observance to the extreme, but should be taking email conduct very seriously and may think about looking into an email monitoring system which will alert them to potential bullying, harassment, discrimination or slander.

Croner is providing the following advice to employers:

Employers will be held accountable for bullying, harassment, discrimination or slander by an employee using the business email system.

Adopt and enforce an open email policy with email conduct guidelines for acceptable content and personal use.

Make clear that emails can form the basis for legal agreements, and require employees not to enter into contracts by email.

Make employees aware that communications using their business email address either within the company or externally may be monitored for content.

Encourage employees to adopt a íthink firstí approach when transmitting emails for both business and personal purposes.

Consider installing a technology solution which monitors emails and flags up suspicious content or anomalies.

Research figures from Email Systems, www.emailsystems.com

Research of 1763 respondents worldwide, by Quocirca Ltd, May 2004