RSS: The New Target of Employee Monitoring

For years, many companies have had formal monitoring systems and policies for timecards, computer games, telephone use, e-mail correspondence and web surfing, and other activities. More recently, a software engineer, flight attendant and journalist have been fired for blogging.

Even with established policies and conduct codes, it’s a delicate balance for most organizations. When does a productivity-enhancing business tool become a productivity-draining diversion? How far is too far, particularly with new social media tools?

In one of the more baffling developments, some employers have started blocking RSS feeds. In a recent post, Shel Holtz blogged about a reader of his monthly e-mail newsletter who cannot switch to the RSS version because of network restrictions. He cited an article that highlighted soaring company spending on monitoring tools from companies like Websense.

While it isn’t surprising that companies are blocking RSS (given the tendency to restrict other tech tools), it’s disappointing and short-sighted. As Shel, Regina Miller and the Strategic HR Lawyer point out, the knowledge-building benefits of RSS far outweigh the potential risks to company productivity.

The old “we have limited bandwidth” explanation falls short with RSS. It can be justifiable to limit employee downloads of software, streaming audio and video, and other applications. (In some locations – especially rural areas where broadband options are limited – bandwidth remains a legitimate concern.) But this reasoning doesn’t apply to RSS, since it aggregates content and eliminates the need for hours of web surfing that bog down network performance.

Maybe companies have simply blocked RSS without fully understanding it. Maybe it’s easier to block it entirely than sort through which feeds aren’t acceptable. In any case, let’s hope this doesn’t become a broader trend – and that organizations accept RSS as an everyday business tool.