Wal-Mart (WMT) fired an employee recently for intercepting a reporter’s phone calls. As it turns out, the practice may only be the tip of the iceberg. According to The Wall Street Journal, the employee in question was "part of a larger, sophisticated surveillance operation that included snooping not only on employees, but also on critics, stockholders and the consulting firm McKinsey & Co."
Hiring consultants and spying on them would seem to be counter-productive.
What has come to light is that the company has a Threat Research and Analysis Group that tracks employee communications and other activities.
While it is understandable that a company might want to protect itself against devious employees and outside groups that may want to harm the company’s image, nothing would seem to do more damage to that image than the revelation that it has a network of spies on the payroll.
Wal-Mart seems particularly adroit at drawing bad publicity. It recently fired on of its chief marketing employees for taking gifts and having an alleged sexual relationship with another employee.
Working at a company where one of the more high-profile activities is an internal monitoring system to keep employees in line may make it a big tougher to get new recruits.
The posting on Craig’s List might read: "Wanted, Employees with appropriate skills who don’t mind being watched all day by goons from the corporate office."
Douglas A. McIntyre
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