[ by Larry Goldfarb ]

The recent resignation of David Petraeus [NYT, 11/13/12], based on intercepted and scrutinized private e-mails, has shined a spotlight on the absence of privacy in today’s society.  Employers feel workers should work more hours and seem to delight in tracking personal e-mails and admonishing staff for conducting personal business at work.  For his part, the worker has lost a semblance of dignity and his actions and indiscretions are as much out of frustration as they are about trying to game the system or win more client business.  No industry seems to blur the boundary between public and private than financial services.  The employee experience: all e-mail is captured, employers are compelled to search employee back ground on a regular basis and even social media is tracked and analyzed.

It seems to me that this level of scrutiny goes way beyond what is needed and what is proper.  When people feel like there are being unduly watched, they either become meek or they challenge authority.  Colleges feel that the best way to stem cheating is to create an honor code and then empower students and teachers to pay attention to how business is being conducted.  Why not create the same paradigm among financial firms?  Allow e-mails to be collected but not to be looked out unless there is some form of legal or regulatory issue.  Put each worker on notice as to the policies of the firm and allow for self-policing.  The compliance specialists could consult or advise but the responsibility would be in the departments.  This would allow the firm to potentially reduce the amount of technology and effort they spend on compliance and in the end, I believe, the adherence would be better and the worker would be more productive.  In the current environment where workers feel beholden to employers and employers feel a sense of empowerment that they have the worker over a barrel, enjoyment of work and ultimately worker productivity suffer.  If respect, decency and obligation went hand and hand, I believe everybody would win.