Oops, Your Job Search Is Showing
By Janet Attard

So you're looking for a new day job. Maybe you think your company is going to be the next dot-bomb. Or, that you'll be one of the sacrificial lambs next time your blue chip corporation decides to layoff workers so it can meet it's profit goals and still give the CEO a raise. Or, maybe you want to scare up some new customers for your sideline business and don't get home early enough from work to call prospects before they go home for the day.

So, when you think the boss isn't looking, you log onto the Internet to check out job opportunities and email your resume (or a sales pitch for your business) to a few likely prospects. Or you make a few phone calls. Who's going to know, right?

Wrong.

According to a survey conducted in March 2000 by the American Management Association (AMA), nearly 74 percent of large companies record and review conversations and other communications on the job. That percentage is double what it was in 1997, the AMA says. Not surprisingly, the bigger the company, the more likely it is that it monitors employee communications.

Internet connections are one form of communications that come under close scrutiny. Fifty-four percent of firms reported monitoring employee Internet connections at least occasionally. Thirty-eight percent reviewed emails, and nearly 31 percent reviewed computer files. Twenty-nine percent blocked selected web sites.

Talking on the phone on your desk may be hazardous for your workplace health, too. Some 45% of companies' monitored telephone usage and 12 percent sometimes record and review office phone calls.

Checking oral and written communications isn't the only measure being used, either. Some 35 percent of companies video tape employees for security reasons.

For additional information, view the complete report on the AMA web site:
http://www.amanet.org/research/pdfs/monitr_surv.pdf

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About the author
Janet Attard is the owner of Attard Communications, Inc., which provides editorial content, online community and web development services. She is the founder of the award-winning  Business Know-How small business web site and information resource. Janet is also the author of The Home Office And Small Business Answer Book and of Business Know-How: An Operational Guide For Home-Based and Micro-Sized Businesses with Limited Budgets.  She can be reached at (631) 467-6826 or by email at attard@businessknowhow.com.

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