How monitoring the workforce can protect both the employer's property and the employee's livelihood.
In 2001, there were tens of thousands of layoffs in the tech industry, with companies like Marconi shedding 10,000 employees since January. When thousands of employees are laid off, the economics of the industry means it happens fast, with few people thinking what might be lost in the process.
However, there is a growing prospect of disgruntled employees deliberately stealing intellectual property (IP), damaging their former employers' reputations or, in extreme cases, attacking their previous employer's products.
For example, on 9 September, HP alleged that a departing employee sabotaged performance tests of HP's Superdome Unix server, crippling sales.
Such incidents aren't isolated, and Elizabeth Oberle-Robertson, counsel with law firm Jones Day, says firms need to take steps to protect themselves from staff they have laid off.
"You need to take time to manage your IP as with these layoffs," she says. "On a long-range basis you can make sure you have the right policies and practices in place on your ongoing employees. So when an employee joins the company you make sure the confidentiality agreement is signed. Make sure the employees are constantly monitored in terms of use of email. So as not to fall foul of privacy and Human Rights Act protections, also make sure that employees are constantly apprised of the importance of IP."
