Abstract

On the one hand, surveillance technologies are more and more infiltrating the employees’ workplace; on the other hand, recently employees’ privacy issues have received considerable attention. Widely reported data protection scandals of well-known companies have led to an increased public awareness concerning employee privacy. Monitoring of employees is nothing new, but within the last years, effectiveness and techniques of observations changed in a dramatic way. Employers monitor for example Web connections, email communications and use camera surveillance and location tracking. First, this paper aims on an analysis of current workplace surveillance issues such as concepts, technologies and relevant studies; second, on related privacy approaches and effects on workplace monitoring as well as managerial implications. Among others, findings of this review show that the question of balancing the employer-employee relationship generates diverse implications on workplace surveillance and related aspects of employee privacy.