“Who's Reading My E‐Mail?”: A Study of Professionals' E‐Mail Usage and Privacy Perceptions in the Workplace

E‐mail privacy in the workplace has emerged as one of the most complex ethical and legal issues confronting corporate communication in the electronic age. This chapter discusses the array of legal and ethical concerns of e‐mail privacy in the workplace. Building on the existing body of knowledge on the topic, the results of a research study are presented in the chapter. The study explores the similarities and differences in e‐mail usage and privacy perceptions among management level and administrative level employees. The study, which polled 337 working professionals, confirmed the popular belief that companies are not effectively communicating their e‐mail monitoring policies to their employees. The chapter also provides recommendations to corporate communicators on how best to forge an e‐mail communications policy that can reduce the risk of disputes, incidents, and lawsuits regarding e‐mail privacy issues.