Employers have decided they want to know what is being said on employees’ personal devices, raising major privacy concerns.
Recently, JP Morgan was reported to have sent a staff memo asking them to save all work-related chat from personal devices, warning of consequences for failing to comply. This has caused apprehension and push back from employees who are worried these messages will be used as ammunition for disciplinary action in a similar fashion as recent new stories involving the use of WhatsApp for business.
It is widely known that WhatsApp is an established communication platform for employees in the financial services. Firms who have acknowledged the app as a viable channel for business is a positive step forward for the sector. However, mandating employees retain messages on personal devices could put banks on rocky ground if challenged in the courts.
Personal devices are a compliance risk for firms
The use of personal devices for work, while common place, is not only a security risk but also a legal and compliance nightmare. It puts the onus on the employee to use discretionary measures to stay compliant when the firm itself should be ensuring staff safety and compliance in ways the compliance team can control.
If the driver behind this request is to ensure compliance, then surely issuing a corporate device with the adequate monitoring tools already installed would be a much more appropriate response.
Firms should enable popular channels, not restrict them
Emerging channels such as Telegram and Signal are now being used alongside WhatsApp which highlights the need to enable the usage of popular messaging channels, not restrict them. What’s more, the use of these consumer channels is being driven by clients, not the employees themselves. Firms need to recognise this and help their employees communicate with confidence, not under a cloud of fear for retribution.
With VoxSmart, firms can perform real-time message capture and back-up that mitigates the risk of non-compliance. Our Mobile Capture technology sits quietly in the background on the employees’ corporate mobile handsets so there is no button to click or option to select to “become compliant”, they are communicating compliantly as standard, with no interruption to the daily use of their device.
Communication is evolving constantly, and a ban-by-policy mentality is outdated for modern working. In our opinion, corporate devices are the only viable option for firms to manage, and scale, compliance efforts for remote and in-office employees across the globe.
If you want to know more about how VoxSmart can help you efficiently monitor your voice and eComms data in one unified platform, get in touch with our team today.
If you liked this, then you may be interesting in: