Monitoring an Employee’s Email

George Orwell aside, you want to monitor an employee’s email since you are the manager/owner of the company domain used for email and the service used for email (and possibly the company device used to email) and suspect an employee(s) should be monitored to protect the company. The Ponemon Institute conducted a survey that reported “60 percent of exiting employees walked out with company information.” That added to the productivity loss caused by unmonitored employees — the average unmonitored employee wastes approximately 30 percent of their workday on non-work-related Web browsing — is costing small businesses more than they realize. [Source] Whatever the reason you have for monitoring an employee’s email there are numerous options to choose from to accomplish this task.

Monitoring Services

Services offering monitoring are easily available such as, Veriato, NetVisor, Staffcop, Workexaminer, Interguard, Activtrak, and the list goes on. You can find reviews for different monitoring services by checking TopTen Reviews or simply Google it. You should be sure the monitoring service you choose also includes mobile devices in addition to the employee’s computers.

Monitoring Gmail

G Suite has several ways to monitor employee email. First and foremost is Google Vault which can set legal holds on such matters. Vault only works with Google Apps for Work (also Education and Government). Google Apps for Work also has a Reports section available to super administrators as well as Security Reports. These reports can give administrators overview of all the activity across a company’s domain. There are other options as well:

There are some admin ways to monitor email, say for objectionable content:
https://support.google.com/a/answer/1346936?hl=en

The Email Audit API:
https://developers.google.com/admin-sdk/email-audit/?csw=1#audience

In the Google Apps Marketplace you may find a third party app that does this:
https://apps.google.com/marketplace/

For example, one app is the Email monitoring for G Suite™:
https://apps.google.com/marketplace/app/ofdiaagaobmlgbogglldindjleebncbh

or Bettercloud for Google Apps

Connectech is a Google Apps Reseller and can assist you with integrating a solution for you.

Monitoring Outlook

There are a number of services that offer monitoring Outlook, such as Silent BCC for Microsoft Outlook 2010 – 2003, eNow Software, SilentMail for Outlook, Outlook Spy Software from SoftActivity, AAMail,

One option is granting delegate access to the boss for the email account you wish to monitor. You can do this either through Outlook or directly on the server by following these directions from Microsoft:

How to Delegate Mailbox Access in Active Directory

If you use Microsoft Exchange here are some tips to follow using these directions. Another post offers this tip.

Legal Issues

You may want to consult your lawyer about the legal consequences of monitoring an employee’s email. Policy Patrol says, “By monitoring emails without warning, employers are arguably infringing on an individual’s privacy and therefore susceptible to workplace privacy lawsuits.” Privacy Rights Clearinghouse states, “While employees may feel that such monitoring is a violation of their privacy rights, it is often allowed under the law.”

Connectech can assist you in the technical advice if you have questions. Contact us if you have concerns.