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Perhaps nothing has changed the way Americans work more than the personal computer and the cell phone. Unavailable to most employees as recently as 25 years ago, these two pieces of equipment now dominate the landscape of the American workplace—including the wood flooring industry. These tools present nearly unlimited opportunities for improved workplace communication. On the flip side, they also provide employees many opportunities to waste work time. Additionally, both tools give employers previously unimaginable opportunities to monitor their employees' workplace activities.
As the owner of a wood flooring business, you would be well-served to take some time to think about how you want to use technology in the workplace to improve your business practices—you should also discuss what limits, if any, you want to impose upon computer and cell phone use. Then, craft policies to address these issues, allowing your company to maximize the benefits of technology in the workplace while minimizing the drawbacks.
Technological Pitfalls
There's no doubt that the personal computer and the Internet are invaluable business tools. Unfortunately, imaginative employees have a variety of ways to use these resources for their own purposes, which may be entirely unrelated to their employer's goals. These abuses can range from the more innocuous abuses—like e-mailing and surfing the Web—to more serious abuses, like circulating sexually explicit and offensive images and text. Another emerging electronic abuse is blogging in the workplace. Even though a blog may be maintained on an employee's free time—or not—it can sometimes be used to disclose trade secrets or to air dirty company laundry. These serious offenses can cast an employer in a bad public light, and the employer may even sometimes be liable for them.
So, what steps can an employer take to maximize technological advantages while mitigating risks? The first, last, and best step is to develop a company policy that addresses all aspects of computer usage as it relates to the workplace. At a minimum, such a policy should describe activities that are strictly prohibited, such as personal Web surfing and e-mail, along with accessing and circulating inappropriate or offensive content.
However, the best policies go even further by educating employees about e-mail etiquette. Because people consider e-mail to be a "casual" medium, they say things in e-mails that they would never say in official company documentation. But, e-mails also create a permanent record, or paper trail; they are usually not gone when you simply hit "delete." Discovery of e-mail records is a major issue in nearly every lawsuit these days, and big problems can arise when the e-mails are inconsistent with "official" company documentation. Here is, perhaps, the simplest rule to pass along to your employees with regard to e-mail usage: If you wouldn't want everyone in your contact list—or a jury—to read your e-mail, it probably should not be sent on your company computer. Always think before you send.
Employees tend to resent employer rules that infringe on their private time, so creating a company policy on blogging is tricky. One way to approach off-duty blogging is to tie in other workplace rules in your employee handbook. Most well-drafted employee handbooks contain statements requiring employees to treat co-workers, supervisors and customers in a professional and courteous manner. These policies prohibit the publishing of false, vicious or malicious statements about the company, its employees and its customers, and also prohibit disclosure of confidential company information. An employee blogging policy that incorporates these rules is a good way to address the problem without appearing to be over-reaching.
Eavesdropping or Monitoring?
Employers should also consider what monitoring tools, if any, they'd like to use. Many computer programs allow employers to monitor just about all aspects of an employee's computer usage. However, before using such programs, consider the true motivations. Do you have a legitimate business reason for accessing the information, or do you simply want to satisfy your curiosity about what your employees really do all day? When considering whether and what to monitor, there are two rules of thumb: 1) Use the least invasive method available to obtain the information for which you have a legitimate business need; and 2) Let employees know about the policy.
Few federal restrictions affect a private employer's right to monitor its employees' e-mail usage (although you must be careful to check your own state's laws— they vary across the country). Still, employers worry about invasion of privacy claims. Luckily, under most state laws, such claims are very limited against private employers. For an invasion of privacy claim to succeed, the employee must prove that he or she had some "reasonable expectation of privacy"; after an employee has consented to employer monitoring, they cannot prove this. Thus, explaining your intentions and obtaining the employee's advanced consent is the single best practice before engaging in monitoring activity. Finally, all computer usage policies should have a blanket statement declaring the employer has the right to monitor all use of its company systems and that the employees should have no expectation of privacy in these systems.
Phone Policies
In the hardwood flooring industry, almost every employee has a cell phone, and it is important to create clear guidelines for their use. Are personal cell phone calls allowed while on company time? If so, can an employee use a company cell phone for these calls, or does the employee need a personal cell phone? If personal cell phone calls are permitted, will there be any limitations? All of these issues should be carefully considered and addressed in a clear cell phone usage policy.
Such a policy should also address safety issues that arise from cell phone use while driving. Many employers have prohibitions against conducting company business on a cell phone while driving. Others prohibit such usage unless a hands-free device is utilized. You should consider what policy fits your business to ensure that your employees are as productive as possible while being provided the safest possible working environment.
With Global Position System (GPS) technology included with many cell phones, employers can even monitor employee whereabouts throughout the day. It sounds tempting to use this technology discreetly—and surreptitiously—but employers must carefully consider the wisdom of both surveillance and taking any action based on such surveillance. Ask the following question: Would a jury of my employee's peers consider the action that I am about to take to be fair? Most juries have an intrinsic mistrust of surreptitious employer activity. So, before using GPS technology to monitor employee activity, employees should know it will occur, and their consent to such monitoring should be obtained. These are simple but reasonable steps.
The best way to take advantage of the technology in the workplace is to take the time to consider what you are trying to accomplish and what you want to prevent. Draft clear, direct policies letting your employees know the rules. By clearly communicating with your employees about the use of workplace technology, everyone will benefit.
BUSINESS Q & A
BY JIM BLASINGAME
Home Sweet Home
Q: What are the most important elements of an effective homepage?
A: Several elements are essential for an effective homepage, but here are the three most important elements:
1. Design. It should be pleasant on the eye and easy to read. Don't bog your homepage down with lots of pictures, words or flashy animation. Use your logo (for branding consistency), a photo of yourself (for personality), some copy about what you do and maybe a well-placed testimonial. Remember: White space is good.
2. Content. Your page should answer the visitor's question, "How can you help me?" You should know the challenges your visitors face, or the products they're seeking. Your message should show that you have, and/or are, the solution.
3. Key words. Face it, search engines are critical to an effective Internet presence. All the copy on your home page should include the key words germane to your industry that prospective visitors would use to search for you.