I. Monitoring of company-owned systems
1. Employee personal use of company-provided communications systems is subject to monitoring at all times. Employees will have no expectation of privacy when using company-owned systems. The following paragraphs offer additional guidance, freedoms of use, and restrictions.

a. Computers. The primary use of company-owned computers is to accomplish company-related business. All information sent from, received to, or stored on company computers is subject to monitoring at all times.
1. Blocked websites. There are many websites that will be blocked without exception. These sites include pornographic, gambling, auction, social media, shopping, and hate-related sites, as well as sites that anonymize the true site being accessed, also known as “in-private browsing.”
2. Personal use. The company understands there will be times when an employee must accomplish personally-related matters. This is allowed to the extent that the matter must be handled immediately. Personal matters that involve coordination for a future event are not considered urgent when those matters can logically be handled in an employees’ private time.
b. Laptops and other mobile devices. Company-issued laptops and other mobile devices are provided for employees who are authorized to telework from home or while on company-related business trips. All information sent from, received to, or stored on company laptops and other mobile devices is subject to monitoring at all times.
1. Blocked websites. The restrictions of paragraph 1.a.1. also apply to company-issued laptops and other mobile devices.
2. Personal use. Access to auction, social media, and shopping websites will be allowed on these systems after normal working hours. Normal working hours are defined as Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST. Private phone calls that do not result in additional costs to the company are also allowed after normal working hours.
c. Telephones. The primary use of company-owned telephones is to accomplish company-related business. All use of company-owned telephones may be recorded at any time. The freedoms and restrictions of paragraph 1.a.2. also apply to company-owned telephones.

2. Enforcement. Employees must sign this document before issuance of a username and password or use of any company-owned system. By signing this document, you explicitly agree to its terms and conditions. Violating the terms and conditions of this document can result in the loss of, or restrictions of, use of company-owned systems. Violation can also result in monetary penalties, termination, or prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

Effects of policy upon organization
Without a written policy such as the one above, a major effect is that a company can potentially be held liable for the actions of an employee. This includes “…transmitting offensive e-mail and voice mail messages or circulating obscene materials downloaded from the Internet” (XXXX, 2008). A minor effect of having this policy is that employees will leave their workspaces to conduct private business on their own mobile devices which is a loss of productivity.

Positive or negative consequences of policy regarding the organization
The policy is positive for the company in that liability of violations is usually entirely passed to the violating employee. Even if an employee discovers a way to view child pornography on a company computer, if a company exercises due diligence in trying to block these types of sites and takes quick action against the employee, the company will usually be relieved legal liability (XXXX, 2013). A minor consequence of the policy is that in a large company, mid-level managers could take advantage of the vagueness of the policy in order to build evidence to terminate a mediocre employee.

Organizational/personal belief conflicts
The restriction of social media websites will probably cause the most contention. It is in the best interests to the company to block these sites because they are known to contain malware and often will have sexually explicit photographs on them. However, the new generation of employees use these sites the same as e-mail and communicate using social media before they use email. The new generation will most likely spend time on their mobile phones in order to use these sites (Reynolds, 2012, p. XXX), which of course takes away from company time.

Ethical conduct and commitment required by organization
The company displays ethical conduct simply by having this policy. However, commitment can only be shown when the company actually employs the tenants of the “Enforcement” paragraph. If employees violate the policy but suffer no consequences, then other employees will also violate the policy. The company must be fair with the policy by enforcing it equally to all employees, including executive management.

Consequences of non-compliance with policy
The company must be willing to apply the ramifications of violating the policy as identified in the “Enforcement” paragraph (XXXX, 2011). If an employee is surfing the Internet for an excessive period of time, then a portion of that time should be subtracted from their paycheck. Also, if accessing a known nefarious website causes a malware infection to the company network, then the employee should be fined a reasonable amount of the cleanup costs. A company network will never be secure if employees are not held accountable. If there were no fines for speeding, streets would be chaotic and unsafe. Similarly, if people have money withheld from their paychecks because of policy violations, the company network will be more secure.

REFERENCES

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Refernce 2
Reynolds, G. W. (2012). Ethics in Information Technology. Boston: Course Technology.
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