Renad Ghanem

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH —  Private sector employees have been upset after it was discovered that their office phones are being bugged and their computers brought under close scrutiny.



The practice started by a small number of employers has now become a phenomenon, employees claim and they wonder whether the policy adopted by their employers is ethical or not. They are also debating if the employers have the right to eavesdrop on their private calls on official phone sets.



Employers maintain that office phone lines and computers should only be used for official work, and monitoring them does not fall under the category of spying. They also claim that by monitoring them, they are following up work progress and finding out how employees are dealing with their clients.



Many employees fear that the person assigned the task of monitoring may not be very honest. They maintain that the employers should ensure that the person monitoring them sticks to his task and will not abuse the information he is exposed to.  Ahmed Al-Salemi, a private sector employee, said he does not trust using the company line. He usually uses his mobile to make a call, whether private or official.



“I don’t trust the company phone, email or computer; I have experienced it myself in my previous company. There official phones and computers were monitored, and the two people who were responsible for filtering the calls and information were misusing the information,” he said.



Ahmed added: “I don’t find any excuse for the company to monitor our calls and computers, I don’t feel comfortable being in such an atmosphere, it’s hard for me to work while having a feeling that there is no respect for my privacy," he said.



Another private sector employee, who preferred to remain anonymous, believes that monitoring employees' phones and computers is an unethical act.



“I was working in a company for three years. I didn’t know that they monitored our phones. I sometimes called my family or friends, and the call only lasted a few minutes. The person who was responsible for monitoring the calls was the general manager himself,” she said.



She added: “Of course it was a great chance for him to blackmail me, as he gained personal information about me from the phone calls I made.



“I had a problem at home and he heard that from my call with my husband. Next day he came to my office and started asking me personal questions. I was shocked,” she said.



A lawyer interviewed by Saudi Gazette said the company has the right to spy on phones and the computers of employees to guarantee the quality of services given to clients. “At the end of the day, telephones and computers installed in offices are specialized for work, and when the employee breaks this rule by using them for personal calls he/she has to suffer the consequences. As long as an employee is not misusing the phone or the computers he/she has nothing to be afraid of.”