70 percent would leave a job if their digital activity was secretly monitored

A new Harris Poll commissioned by insider threat detection company Dtex Systems looks at employee attitudes towards the monitoring of their digital activities.

Carried out in the wake of data collection, monitoring and privacy scandals at Facebook and elsewhere, it shows that 45 percent of Americans believe it is at least sometimes acceptable for employers to monitor employees' digital activities to protect against security threats and data breaches.

A much higher percentage (64 percent) believe that employers have the right to monitor employees' digital activities on personal or work-issued devices used to conduct work for security purposes, as long as they are transparent about it and let employees know up front that it is taking place. In fact 77 percent would be happy with monitoring of their digital activity on personal or work-issued devices, as long as employers are transparent about it and let them know up front.

Views about monitoring policies are sufficiently strong though that they may affect people's choice of job. 71 percent of Americans surveyed would not accept a job with an employer that monitors its employees' digital activities without letting employees know about monitoring up front. In addition 70 percent would consider leaving an employer if they found out that the employer was monitoring their digital activities without telling them.

"The world has lost its tolerance for deceptive data practices, aggressive surveillance and privacy invasions. It's also become more lawless; Edward Snowden, Waymo vs. Uber and the insider who sabotaged Tesla are all stark reminders of this reality," says Christy Wyatt, CEO of Dtex Systems. "This survey shows that Americans understand the situation and expect their employers to maintain a level of security that protects them and their jobs. It also shows that Americans who expect to have their privacy protected will reject legacy monitoring technologies that record their every keystroke and record everything they do."

You can find out more about the findings on the Dtex website.

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