Office spies still out in the cold

Surveillance in the workplace is less widespread than previously thought.

That's the verdict of advocacy group The Privacy Foundation, which found that few organisations use employee monitoring technologies.

Some reports suggest that up to 80% of employers use surveillance techniques, but The Privacy Foundation believes the figure is closer to 25%.

A Privacy Foundation report shows that just 15% of workers have their email routinely monitored, while 19% have their web habits tracked.

This may change, however, as the average cost of monitoring a single employee has fallen to just over $5 a year.

The Foundation's figures are significantly lower than those released last month by the American Management Association (AMA), which showed that 78% of US companies used some form of monitoring, while 47% routinely check emails.

"As costs fall, email filters and web tracking software become more common," said Andrew Smith, the Foundation's chief technology officer.

"However, we found that most companies are limiting their activities to spot checks and specific investigations rather than spying."

The Foundation claims its reports are more accurate than those produced by management groups, which may have a vested interest because they are based on the number of user licences.

The AMA's survey was based on responses from HR departments.

Many companies are reluctant to admit that they don't monitor staff in case they inadvertently encourage them to break codes of conduct, says Smith.

"These statistics exaggerate the real threat to privacy in the workplace. I don't think these inflated figures help the cause of privacy," he said.