(Un)fortunately, I was also in the list and he being a hostelite, was in touch with a lot of friends in all the departments. I being a day-scholar, have seen most of them in hostels (when we bunk classes) but never interacted with them.
There were a lot of responses and one day there was a reply from Anuj. I wondered as to which department this guy belonged to. After opening the mail, from his signature, I came to know that he was a Project Manager in my friend's company. (Please click the above image and read the email. For privacy concerns, I have obscured a major portion.)
From his email, I came to know that my friend had resigned a few months back and all the emails to his ID were routed to this Project Manager. Though the manager had requested us to remove the Email ID from the Emailing List, I was worried as to how many official/personal emails would have Anuj read.
If a person had resigned, the mails addressed to him would bounce back saying: The recipient's e-mail address was not found in the recipient's e-mail system. But, this was a very strange experience and this practice of automatically forwarding the emails to the managers is unethical and an intrusion to one's privacy. It's better to disclose such policies well in advance to the employees.
From this incident it’s clear that if you resign, do inform your friends about the job change and ask them to update their Address book. Also, don’t give your office email ID to the banks and other official purposes.
Although your concern may seem valid at first, from a LEGAL perspective, this does not hold true. Whenever, whatever you use inside the company premises (including non-tangibles and movables like mobile phones) are LEGALLY (in the eyes of the court) the rights of the company and the CEO may be sued (yes and the COMPANY may close down). In US and other Western countries, certain rules like Insider trading, anti-competition practices, patent disputes are resolved using internal employees e-mail trail by the respective Gov agencies (although these concepts exist in India, its all on paper). So your corporate e-mail is solely to be used for corporate purposes. This legality is validated with the T&C that you signed while joining. Every org worth its name has this entry. Oh yes, and they have every legal right to track you not just on the e-mail but your surfing habits, patterns, etc. You can't invoke PRIVACY laws here.
ReplyDeleteThus, your e-mail id should not be shared with friends or anybody else in the first place. Have your own personal id and have it for life.
@Jimmy Ray: Well said and your comment makes a lot of sense. Now, I realise not to misuse a company's property. Thanks! for your wonderful feedback.
ReplyDelete