A British expat has revealed he was almost fired after his boss read messages from a coworker about another colleague on the company’s communication platform.
Owen Willis, who is from the UK and spent time living in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, explained that he was 17 at the time and didn’t understand “corporate rules”.
“This is your reminder that messages sent on corporate platforms can and will be read by your employer,” the marketing expert said in a video posted on social media.
He explained that a colleague he was always “laughing and joking with” used the company’s Skype Business account to send messages.
“We would talk about everything there, about work and about things that had nothing to do with work,” Willis said.
‘We talked about everyone. If someone was bothering me, I’d say, “guess what this person did,” and put it on my Skype for Business.’
However, Willis said she had no idea the chat history could be read by HR, her manager and her team leader.
“Obviously we swore a lot in the messages, so I guess that kind of stuck,” Willis said.
“Or maybe we said something inappropriate that, I don’t know, was reported.”
His friend from work was always sending him messages about some colleague and the way she dressed.
The company Willis worked for was located in a corporate building and its employees were expected to dress “smartly” and appropriately for the office space.
Willis explained that the colleague often wore a T-shirt and “Thai elephant pants” and got away with it, something her work friend was not happy about.
“I never said anything bad about her, but my colleague, who I texted all the time, used to talk about it every day,” Willis said.
“My colleague who I was texting with was caught, fired and never worked again.”
Owen Willis explained how he was almost fired from his first job after his boss read messages between him and a coworker.
While Willis did not send any messages about his colleague, he still had to go through a disciplinary meeting as he participated by reading the messages and responding to them with a smiley face emoji.
‘Just because I was involved in it and read the messages and probably responded with smiley faces, I still had to go through discipline at work.
‘There was no disciplinary action on my part, because they took into account the fact that I was 17 and a trainee at the time, which I am very grateful for.’
He advised workers to use WhatsApp or iMessage if they wanted to criticize a coworker, rather than using any work-related communication platform.
Australians shared stories similar to Willis’s, with many saying they had been caught using their company’s communication channel to discuss their coworkers.
“Our entire admin team (including me) was fired for having group chats on Skype for Business,” one person said.
“Someone in my sister’s office was fired after checking her work email and discovering she was having an affair with another woman in the office,” a second person added.
A third joked: “If my employer reads my Microsoft Teams messages, I’ll actually get fired.”
A fourth person added: “I love working in tech, this was one of the assignments I was most looking forward to as we got to find out all the juicy drama about our customers.”
Others advised workers who wanted to vent about office life or their colleagues to save it “for the bar,” in person or over the phone, so there would be no written record of the conversation.
Willis explained that he and his colleague sent messages using the company’s Skype Business account (file image). Legally, employers are allowed to access private work messages
In Australia, the Workplace Surveillance Act (2005) stipulates that employers are legally permitted to read an employee’s private work messages.
The law requires the employer to give at least 14 days’ notice before surveillance begins.
The notice should detail the type of monitoring – whether CCTV or work messages – how it will be carried out, the start date and whether it will be for a period of time or ongoing.
Ultimately, employers are legally allowed to monitor an employee’s private work messages.
A company’s IT policy should provide more information on how an employee’s communications are monitored.