"Americans cherish free speech as a birthright."

Is freedom of speech unconditional? What happens when employers attempt to limit that freedom?

Interesting Fast Company interview with the CEO of eTelemetry, a company whose hardware and software lets companies monitor employees' email and Internet usage. The article is about freedom of speech – timely for us with some of the recent posts in here.

Bruce Barry: Americans cherish free speech as a birthright. Employers cherish the freedom to manage their workforce as they please. I'm concerned about what happens when the two collide. Pressures to protect brands, cope with uncertain markets, and maximize financial results lead many firms to be reflexively suspicious of otherwise harmless worker speech.

Sfakiyanudis: As an employer, it comes down to time and place. Employers recognize that the demand on an employee to put in more time at the office requires them to be more flexible with regard to Web browsing, online shopping, and communicating via instant messages. However, when an employee takes advantage of this flexibility, the entire enterprise suffers.

Barry: The moderation you articulate masks difficult choices. If the only issues were recreational browsing and online shopping, it would be easy to strike a middle ground. But the hard problems involve political and religious speech, community activism, and professional identity. Many employers are too quick to worry that expressive activity by employees might affect the firm's image. They shouldn't be able to compel workers to forfeit the freedom to associate and to communicate freely as a condition of job security.

Read it all here.

Recruiting.com. Talkdigger, Slashdot, Digg, Delicious.

Looking for a talented Names Sourcer or for Trainers to teach you or yours how to names source? Look in the Database section of the Sourcers Guild!

The BOOK OF SCRIPTICALS is ready for purchase! Telephone names sourcing scripts THAT WORK!

“We will either find a way or make one.” ~ Hannibal

Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/Trainer and Sourcers Guild Guide
513 899 9628
maureen at techtrak.com

Comments

[Richard Becker]

Maureen,

This is a great pick up because the confusion continues as people make the issue more complex than it really is. The First Amendment applies to government, not businesses, which leaves much of this up to the discretion of the employer.

Sure, some people are running around claiming censorship because their employers won't allow them to blog badly about the company while at work. But really, who are we kidding? No one would be so forgiving of a sales clerk did it in person when you're trying to buy a handbag.

The only real problem comes into play outside of work. Since companies do not own their employees, it does not make sense that the company be overly concerned about what employees do on their own time with rare exception: if the employee uses the company to establish credibility; if the employee has a certain amount of credibility within the company (or is a noted spokesperson); if the employee is engaged in illegal activities or using their off time for the sole purpose of badmouthing the company. On the flip side, if a company were to attempt to censor unionization outside of work, conduct covert operations on employees during their off times, or fire someone for showing up to the "wrong" political rally, then that is different.

As the old saying goes, there is a time and place for everything. People would best serve themselves by keeping their personal lives and work lives separate. As for online shopping, etc. ... it kills me to even see this discussion in the same context of free speech. Heck, if some employees weren't shopping so much then maybe the employer wouldn't need them to stay longer. ;)