When one of his employees phoned in sick last year, Scott McDonald, CEO of Monument Security in Sacramento, California., decided to investigate. He had already informed his staff of 400 security guards and patrol drivers that he was installing Xora, a software program that tracks workers" whereabouts through GPS technology on their company cell phones.A Web-based "geo-fence" aroundwork territories would alert the boss if workers strayed or even drove too fast. It also enabled him to route workers more efficiently. So when McDonald logged on, the program told him exactly where his worker was—and it wasn"t in bed with the sniffles. "How come you"re eastbound on 80 heading to Reno right now if you"re sick?" asked the boss. There was a long silence—the sound of a job ending—followed by, "You got me." Learn that truth, and learn it well: what you do at work is the boss"s business. Xora is just one of the new technologies from a host of companies that have sprung up in the past two years peddling products and service—software, GPS, video and phone surveillance, even investigators—that let managers get to know you really well. "Virtually nothing you do at work on a computer can"t be monitored," says Jeremy Gruber, legal director of the National Workrights Institute, which advocates workplace privacy. Nine out of 10 employers observe your electronic behavior, according to the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College.A study by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute found 76% of employers watch you surf the Web and 36% track content, keystrokes and time spent at the keyboard. You can"t really blame companies for watching our Web habits, since 45% of us admit that surfing is our favorite time waster, according to a joint survey by Salary.com and AOL.A Northeast technology company found that several employees who frequently complained of overwork spent all day on MyS-pace.com. Businesses argue that their snooping is justified. Not only are they trying to guard trade secrets and intellectual property, but they also must ensure that workers comply with government regulations, such as keeping medical records and credit-card numbers private. And companies are liable for allowing a hostile work environment—say, one filled with porn-filled computer screens—that may lead to lawsuits. "People write very loosely with their e-mails, but they can unintentionally reach thousands, like posters throughout a work site," says Charles Spearman of diversity-management consultants Tucker Spearman & Associates. "In an investigation, that e-mail can be one of the most persuasive pieces of evidence."
单选题
Scott McDonald fired one of his employees because the employee _____.