Study: Your employer is probably snooping on you

You might want to think twice before sending that snarky Slack message or firing off that cheeky email.

Research conducted by GetApp has tracked a startling uptick in employers’ monitoring of employee conversations—as well as a stark change in perceptions about “workplace privacy.” In 2015, GetApp found, “Forty-three percent of respondents said they do not monitor employee conversations on internal chat tools, believing it to be an invasion of privacy.”

Recent feedback gathered from “173 respondents in management positions or above” found that just 10% now consider monitoring employee conversations an invasion of privacy.

What’s happening, exactly? For one, laws surrounding employee privacy, conduct and free speech are vague, at best. Few states offer specific protections, so employers know it’s “safe” to snoop.