UC Irvine

Whenever employers hire someone they put themselves at risk. They depend on employees to act in ways that help rather than hinder the organization and to refrain from using the information they gain to harm their employers. This is because employees are hired to act for their employers, making decisions and carrying out responsibilities on their behalf. Although all employers have ways to monitor their employees, such monitoring is expensive and narrow in scope except in the simplest and most physical of jobs. In addition, as the number of employees grows, employers must trust some employees to monitor the actions of others, which leads to the question of who watches the watchers. In other words, every employee makes an employer vulnerable.