Case Study:
Is Corporate Monitoring of Employee Behavior Outside of Work Going Too Far?
Attempting to cut health care costs and increase productivity, companies are increasingly trying to get employees to lose weight, stop smoking, and exercise. For example, Incentive Logic Inc. in Arizona "keeps track of points employees earn for everything from walking to passing health screenings and it lets employees redeem their points for iPods, plasma TVs or other items they want from its 3 million item catalog." Further, some companies claim that health care costs are higher for smokers and overweight employees than they are for nonsmokers and non over weight people. "In response to these higher costs, more employers are instituting bans on hiring smokers, even if they only smoke during off-duty hours, and/or are charging more for health insurance to smokers, overweight workers, and other categories of employees." Right now, organizations are targeting and monitoring smokers and overweight employees, but other groups might be next. "Other groups that may be subject to such 'lifestyle' regulations include people with hypertension or high serum cholesterol levels, social drinkers, and sports enthusiasts." What types of employee behavior outside of work should organizations monitor and reward/ punish? Solving the Dilemma
Q1. Organizations should stay out of our personal lives. If we want to overeat or smoke, that is our choice. Organizations should not be allowed to monitor weight and smoking behavior.
Q2. Organizations should monitor employees' weight and smoking behavior and reward/punish accordingly. After all, overweight people and smokers cost employers more in terms of health insurance and it's only fair that people pay for these increased costs in one way or another.
Q3. I'm okay with rewarding/punishing people who are overweight and smoke, but that is it. Organizations have no business tracking how much I drink and what type of sports or social activities I enjoy. If I want to go skydiving, it's my business, not the company's.
Q4. Invent other options.
Your answer must be typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font (size 12), one-inch margins on all sides, APA format and also include references.