I wasn't sure whether to post this question under the technology forum or the HR forum but since I am a HR manager, I am posting it here.

I was wondering what options are out there to monitor e-mail activity. My IT person has a spam/junk mail system in place but I am more concerned about personal e-mails and inappropriate e-mails.

I don't want to seem like "Big Brother" but I also want to keep employees working.

I saw your post and wanted to share. I use Spector 360 and it will record exactly all email activity.

Here is a link: http://www.spector360.com/overview/record.htm#Email

I believe it can also be used to monitor website traffic. Hope this helps.

There is also a document management program called alchemy. It automatically converts ALL email (if you use MS exchange) to compressed pdf files and archives them. I think you need the enterprise version though. Well worth it for financial and legal institutions who have to save everything.

This is an interesting topic. I'm an independent contractor and I work hard but I sometimes do send/receive personal e-mails.

I think people need time to unwind at work and it is ok to send/receive personal e-mails. Maybe you should schedule a daily e-break instead of a a coffee break so that your employes can get their personal email or browse the net for a short time. If you schedule it, employees may not abuse it.

This is just a suggestion but nobody wants big-brother watching all the time.