AMG ‐ 0416

4 Signs Your Boss Is Spying on You

Megan Elliott February 12, 2016

Adapted from http://www.cheatsheet.com/money‐career/4‐signs‐your‐boss‐is‐spying‐on‐

you.html/?a=viewall

Before reading ‐ discuss:

How does your employer make sure you work well? Do you think he or she is spying on you?

Reading comprehension:
I. Read the text below and complete the gaps with the correct heading:
a) Your boss knows what you did this weekend before you tell him
b) You’re secretly planning to quit – and your boss already knows
c) There’s some suspicious software on your devices
d) You’re called out for a conversation that you thought was private

Chances are, your boss is keeping an eye on you. Forty‐three percent of companies actively monitor
employee emails, according to the American Management Association (AMA), and roughly the same
number track the time you spend on the phone and who you call (16% go so far as to record those
calls). Nearly half of companies say they use video to reduce theft and workplace sabotage.
Workplace monitoring is nothing new, of course. Bosses have probably been spying on employees for
as long as they’ve been hiring people to work for them. But new technologies have made it easier for
companies to track their employees’ every move while at the same time making it harder for workers
to tell if they’re being watched.
From GPS tracking to snooping on your social media profiles, it’s not hard for a company to keep tabs
on you, and unless your boss tells you he’s spying, you may never know. (To be fair, many companies
do inform employees that they may be subject to monitoring, the AMA says.) This surveillance is
perfectly legal in most cases, which may come as a surprise to many people.

Not sure if your boss is using sneaky* techniques to keep tabs on you? Here are four signs that you’re
being watched at work.

1. You’re secretly planning to quit – and your boss already knows

More companies, including Credit Suisse and AOL, are mining big data to make predictions about
which employees are likely to leave their job in the near future. VoloMetrix, Inc., an analytics firm,
1
 examined employee emails and calendar data and discovered that it could predict up to a year in
advance who would be putting in their notice, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company says
the data it gathers for its clients is anonymized, but it’s not hard to imagine a boss getting a report
that there’s a flight risk in a certain team and quickly picking out the squeaky wheel.
And then there’s social media. If you’re connected to your boss on LinkedIn or have a public profile,
he may get suspicious if your network suddenly starts to grow or you link up with recruiters or
industry competitors. If your company is tracking the website you visit or logging keystrokes, you
may also alert your boss to your on‐the‐clock job search.

2. You’re called out for a conversation that you thought was private
If your boss reprimands you for a less‐than‐professional conversation or email exchange that you
thought was private, there’s a chance you have a tattletale co‐worker *. Or your supervisor may be
spying on you, perhaps by scanning your email, monitoring your phone conversations, or even
looking at the text messages you send on your work‐issued device. If they’re using a key‐logging
program or other monitoring software, they may even know what you’re saying in your personal
emails.
Don’t make the mistake that your boss doesn’t care about your idle workplace gossip,
either. Thoughtless emails can come back to haunt you, as a newspaper reporter in England
discovered after he was reprimanded and eventually fired for sending an email to a colleague about
two other coworkers who were having an affair.
“Employers own the content on their own internal email systems and have the right to monitor what
you write and to whom,” Jennifer Lee Magas, an employment law attorney and vice president of
Magas Media Consultants, LLC, told MainStreet.com.

3. Your boss knows what you did this weekend before you tell him
Does your boss seem to know an awful lot about your personal life? He or she could be checking out
your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social media profiles, even if you haven’t added him to
your network or given him your password (something that some employers really do ask for, though
laws about that are changing). Stalking * your public profiles is a bit creepy, but it’s not all that
unusual. Many people have been disciplined or fired after their employers stumbled upon
inappropriate posts, photos, and comments online.

4. There’s some suspicious software on your devices

If your company’s IT department is monitoring your computer use, it’s not always going to be
immediately obvious. However, you can poke around on your desktop to see if there are any telltale
signs of monitoring software (Online Tech Tips has some advice on how to do that, if you’re so
inclined). The same goes for unusual apps installed on smartphones. But don’t be too quick to
uninstall something that looks suspicious or your boss may fight back.
Myrna Arias, who worked for a California money transfer firm, was told by her boss to install a
tracking app on her phone. The app allowed the company, Intermex, to track the movements of its
workers so closely that her boss allegedly told her that “he knew how fast she was driving.” Not only
that, but the company wanted her to keep her phone on all the time. Arias objected to the 24‐7
monitoring and uninstalled the app; she was later fired and is now suing her former employer.
e) Make sure you understand all the words in bold in the text. These are high frequency words
that are worth remembering. Use them to complete these sentences:

1. I couldn’t get into the store on Saturday. There were such an..................................of people
with the start of the sales.
2. It’s............................it’s going to rain. The sky is grey and some wind is coming.
3. My company doesn’t have many.......................................We are about the only company on
the market.
4. …………………………. deal with ………………………….. new staff, but also get people ……………….
5. It’s not......................................to rain. The sky is blue and the sun is shining.
6. The goal of our meeting is to.......................................your opinions and experiences. Let’s
have a brainstorming session!
7.300 people attended the conference.
8.300 people attended the conference.
9. Word and Excel are two famous pieces of …………………………………
10. It is clear that the private sector suffers considerable losses from the.......................of goods
in transport. The police is actively trying to do something about it.
11. Selection of candidates should be...............................and transparent.
12. The agreement shall remain in effect, ……………….. terminated by 90 days' written …………………
by either party, or replaced by another agreement.