The Cost Benefit of Using Employee Internet Monitoring Software

With nearly every US Company aware of the Penn State pedophile scandal and resulting potential lawsuits to Penn State, liabilities due to employee actions while they are on the job are in the forefront of human resource director’s minds. The issue of employees surfing the web during working hours, on company computers or phones leaves companies liable for their employee’s actions, and makes it imperative that they discover the cost / benefit of using employee monitoring software.

As the Penn State scandal illustrates, there is potential for enormous financial fallout from liability, lawsuits and damage to the company’s reputation when employees are caught breaking the law, especially using company equipment or during working hours. In 2001 Public Personnel Management released a report showing that companies lose over 79% of these types of cases and the cost of settlements averages around $1.6 million.

Certainly it is difficult to put an exact number on cost/benefit of using employee internet monitoring software but using an illustration from a hypothetical company can highlight the advantages.

Scenario: A Cost/Benefit Analysis for Internet Monitoring Software

In our hypothetical company, an employee is accused of sexually assaulting a minor after making contact online while on the job. The incident results in litigation that allegesthe company’s lack of monitoring lead to the nefarious activity during working time, on company computers, using company email and contact information.

Had our company invested in employee internet monitoring software, and checked the reports it produces, they could have prevented or at least curtailed the incident. The annual expenditure for such software can be as low as $25 per employee! Compared to a million dollar lawsuit and the hit to the company’s reputation, not to mention the immeasurable damage to the victim, the cost/benefit is justified tenfold!

Liability Protection Using Employee Internet Monitoring Software

An actual cost/benefit analysis can be a useful tool to persuade management about the value of employee monitoring. Proper use of the software can protect the company against the risk of liability and the detrimental cost of negative media coverage that can damage a company’s reputation.

Many employers would like to see what their employees are doing online. Using employee internet monitoring software allows employers to see real-time reporting of every click employees make.The software records email, chat, text, downloads, and websites accessed. In addition, employers have the option to restrict websites that employees can visit, downloads they can make, or time allowed surfing the web.

Employee internet monitoring software records every keystroke, so employers can see chats, videos viewed, pictures sent or viewed, and the order and time they spent in non-work related tasks. To curtail lawsuits before they start, employers can choose to block certain sites such as gambling, social sites, pornography, or others that might compromise the system with viruses.