How would you feel if your employer put GPS tracking on your phone?
Question by Red:
How would you feel if your employer put GPS tracking on your phone?
Today, my company is putting out a new policy for everyone with a company cell phone to sign. They have enabled GPS tracking for all drivers, managers and outside salesmen. Today, I have the very fun task of reviewing this with all of my staff and getting them to sign the form.
The GPS positions of all employees will now be monitored by both the dispatch department and senior management. As a regional manager, I like being able to know where my drivers are at on their delivery routes but I feel a bit uncomfortable with my footsteps being tracked as well.
Why do I feel uncomfortable even though I’m not doing anything I’m not supposed to be doing?
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Answer by Spock (rhp)
you’ve been reading about Big Brother is why you feel this way. which is a bit silly since no one at company has the time to pay attention to this on any regular basis
get over it. Since company pays for the phone, they’re within their rights in the US [you are in the US, correct?]
the 1st time the GPS is sued to find an employee who was in a traffic accident and needs help, everyone will be fine with it.
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Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
about 1 year ago
Because you are losing some degree of freedom. Even though you never did anything wrong, and it is helpful to know where staff, drivers, etc. are, nobody likes to be scrutinized like that. It’s giving someone the power to know where you are at all times, and is open to abuse.
about 1 year ago
If the company is paying the bill, you should have the right to put GPS on them, to track your employee’s. When the employee’s get out of work, they should be able to shut the phone off, and that is their personal time, and you won’t be tracking them anymore. Explain to them that you are using this for when they are on work hours so you know where they are to best help your customer’s out when they need to know where your shipment is. Good Luck!
about 1 year ago
If I worked in an organization like yours I would feel as though the company did not trust me. Personally I would not give my consent and would decline the use of their cell phone. I feel its a breach of privacy and employer / employee trust.
It can be a good thing for drivers in case of an emergency or as you point out their position to help plan routes etc but then you could also use satelite tracking on company vehicles.
Dint agree to do it it could also be abused and be held against you, like you could take a short cut through a bad neighborhood and be accused for drug dealing or you could drive past a red light zone and get accused for picking up hookers or etc…
about 1 year ago
It virtually impossible to buy a cell phone that doesn’t have some degree of GPS associated with it.
the operational issue is, is your company willing to spend extra to establish the system needed to track these phones.
in most cases they arent. they just want cheap phones. the added bonus for them is they TELL you it has GPS capabilities…..that may be enough to keep you out of the sushi bars.
about 1 year ago
Even though this sounds like a breach of personal freedom the employee must understand that while s/he is at work they can legally be subject to monitoring with devices such as a GPS, CCTV camera, Internet History Monitors or packet sniffers.
Employees are company assets, just like a computer, truck or building and the employer has every right to monitor their assets.
If I were an employer – and especially if my business involved my employees traveling, I would want to monitor them as well. It is protection for the employer to help him get the best work for the salaries that s/he pays out.
There are a lot of uses for GPSs these days and asset tracking is one of them – the definition of an asset is not limited to a inanimate object.
You can find more about GPSs and their usage at http://gps.miclika.com