Do you use Microsoft Teams, Slack or Jabber to banter with your colleagues? Or perhaps a co-worker has pointedly sent you this link.
Since you’ve clicked on this, you’re probably wondering why someone has such strong views on enterprise software. I don’t particularly. What I care about is workers getting themselves fired because workplaces made it too convenient to use their technology.
It’s become normal to treat work technology as if it is our own. First it was a work email address. Then, they gave us work mobiles. Then, in a trend supercharged by pandemic-prompted remote working, instant messaging services replaced face-to-face conversations between colleagues.
These changes are, of course, to the benefit of employers. Workers can — and increasingly are expected to — be contacted at any time. In a world where businesses run 24/7, it’s cheaper to have workers on call than to hire people to work in shifts around the clock. And it’s even cheaper to make it possible for staff to be tempted to just respond to a few emails or a desperate Teams message that pops up at 8.30pm on a weekday night than it is to pay them to be on call. (Hello right to disconnect laws!)
But it’s easy to convince ourselves it’s to our benefit, too. Instead of using the ad-filled Gmail or having to check multiple emails, why not just use your company email to organise your social soccer league that’s on after work? Your boss wouldn’t mind.
When your iPhone 11 starts to get a bit long in the tooth and you don’t want to stump up big bucks for a new one, it’s easy to just use your company phone to watch TikTok and play Subway Surfers when you’re on the loo at work. Thanks to WhatsApp, Messenger and iMessage, you can even get your personal messages on there without too much hassle.
Ding! You’re in a boring meeting when you get a message. Your CMO (whatever that means) is talking about adjusted EBITDA (whatever that means) and is droning on. Your colleague has sent you a message dryly observing that it’s running a bit long. You try to mask your smile from the always-on camera that’s beaming your face into the Zoom meeting grid and write something back about their slide deck. Instead of having to wait until you run into each other at the water cooler — if you ever do, considering flexing working schedules — you can instantaneously bitch about your bosses. It feels good to bond over the shared trauma of a modern workplace.
Okay now imagine you did all of this with your boss standing over your shoulder. That’s what you’re doing when you talk shit, shop online or use Tinder on your work phone. When it comes to tech — whether it’s a device or a service — if someone else owns it, someone else can see what you’re doing. Every single word you type can be pulled up by your superior (with the help of the IT department) at any moment. And the transcript of chitchat between you and your work husband sounds a lot different when you’re hearing it read back to you by a company HR representative.
Legally, there is not what Maurice Blackburn lawyers Alison Barrett and Jillian Barrett called an “unrestricted right to conduct surveillance” on work devices. But many workplaces have very broad policies permitting them to surveil what you do on your laptop, phone or company servers. All it takes is a nebulously worded policy about “social media usage” or “work resources” to justify a claim that you broke company rules and need to show cause or get laid off. It may not even be the real reason someone wants you gone, but it is undeniable evidence of potential wrongdoing. Even if you want to claim wrongful dismissal and you win, that result is years down the track — how are you paying the rent until then?
That’s assuming it reaches the level of official sanction. But there are ways to make your life hell without going that far. Missed promotions, isolation and bullying are all consequences of a nosey boss who looks through what you’ve been emailing without you knowing. Good luck proving it even if you know it’s happening. You might be thinking to yourself that this will never happen with your boss who is so cool and lets you leave early on Fridays. But when you’re suddenly angling for a pay rise or overperforming at work and making them look bad, things can change.
Then there are the new ways that companies are monitoring messages with technology like AI to calculate employee morale or see how people are responding to new company policies. Feeling a bit down on work? You might be flagged as a flight risk and taken off exciting projects in case you quit.
At this point, I daresay you might be recalling your own technically non-work-related use of work tech and becoming a bit nervous. Don’t worry, these aren’t likely outcomes. Most of us will be fine. These risks aren’t evenly distributed, either. Whistleblowers, those in employment disputes, marginalised groups and people who generally rock the boat will be the ones most likely to get the short end of the stick.
The question you need to ask yourself is: why? Why can’t you use your personal email? Why are you using your work phone to scroll Instagram? Why don’t you just kick off a WhatsApp group with your colleagues? Is the benefit of convenience worth the slight chance that this stuff could be used against you? Let’s be real, there’s the tiniest bit of friction on all of these additional steps. In fact, it may even be liberating to fully let loose about your job (or leak corporate wrongdoing to journalists such as myself).
You should be doing this to protect yourself. In fact, you’re even protecting your boss from misreading out-of-context chats and having to punish one of their star employees. These worst-case scenarios will probably never happen to you. I hope they never do! But if you ever find yourself in this situation, there’s a lot riding on the fact that you thought it was easier to send a message on Slack to someone than it was to send a text.
