Problem: Your Mail Has Been Intercepted The XYZ Corporation has decided to open all mail sent to employees who work in the field. A memorandum was sent to the field staff saying, "Sorry, your mail will be either opened or returned to the sender if it is delivered to your workplace. If the sender is from a health care organization, it will be opened to determine if its contents relate to XYZ's business. If the mail is from any other person or place, it will be returned unopened to the sender. This action is necessary from a cost-savings standpoint. XYZ cannot afford to forward the on average 60 pieces of mail that it receives each month addressed to field staff." What happens to opened mail that is not XYZ's business remains a mystery. What is it that drives an organization to make such decisions? Is it fear of competition, paranoia, distrust, or some other hidden issue? The answer remains elusive. Although it is legal for an organization to open all mail before sorting and delivering it, employees should be told that they should have no expectation of privacy and that they should not have anything personal sent to work that they don't want others to see. Managers should not be allowed to open an employee's mail indiscriminately, because the invasion of privacy will undermine employee morale. Policy should prohibit managers from opening employees' personal mail without good reason.
1. Discuss under what circumstances an organization should open an employee's mail.
2. Discuss any legal and ethical concerns (e.g., right to privacy).
3. What should happen to the mail of an employee that is opened and is not intended for the organization? What if that information is confidential in nature and is shared with others?