And studies show that workplace surveillance is a growing trend. That's up from 27 percent in 1999. A stunning 54 percent monitor workers' Internet connections, the first time the AMA has asked that question. But as workplace surveillance becomes ubiquitous, experts say, it may prove to be more trouble than it's worth. But the door swings both ways.
Workplace surveillance can have other downsides.
Carl Botan, a professor of communication at Purdue University and a member of Purdue's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security, is studying whether employees who know they are being monitored are unhappier and less productive.