I am a receptionist at the company I work at. I had no idea that our incoming calls were being recorded by our companies owner and being screened until I went into his office and heard myself on a call being played on a recording... I was shocked!! I had no idea that they were doing that. It made me uncomfortable.. I asked the manager why I was being recorded, and they said it's to see where our leads are coming from so we know if the money we spend on advertising is paying off... Well, I keep track of that! We have spread sheets we've been keeping for years that shows where our leads are coming from. There's no reason to record the conversation... I'm not the only one who answers the phone at work and others have voiced to me how they don't like it too, but i'm the main person who answers the phone and I feel like it's sort of an invasion of my privacy.. especially since they listen to the recording with the door wide open and all the office workers walking around coming and going in the room can hear. I know some places you call have a disclamer that this call may be monitored, but we don't have that on our phone and like I said, until I walked into the room and heard myself on a recording, I had no idea. Is this legal?? The customers have no idea they are being recorded.. I have nothing to hide...I just don't like it! What would you do?? I'm so uncomfortable at work now when the phone rings that i'm afraid whatever I say or how I say it will be wrong and that they take notes on it...... :oops:

I don't know if it's legal or not -- but I'm with you, I wouldn't like it. My career involved working on phones -- first as a receptionist then in last years as management. Not even the government I worked for did that! First, call the attorney general's office and ask if it's legal. They can give you free information. If they won't, call the local police department. I actually think they can record -- they just can't use a recording against you in the court of law in some states. It seems to me your "boss" has too much time on their hands to not only have YOU documenting that information, but also recording it...and possibly recording it again. You might bring that up in an office meeting -- and let them know it's made you self-concious and nervous. If the rest of the staff support you in the complaint you may get them to stop.

Good luck!

In California, it is a misdemeanor to record a person without their knowledge and consent.

That is too freaky for me. Does he record your personal calls too? I always liked to keep in touch with my kids when I was at work and told my boss so,just in case he wanted to say something about 'too many personal calls'. They were told not to call unless it was an emergency. Think I'd check that out and I don't blame you for being nervous.

supposidly it's only calls that come thrugh from the phonenumber from an ad we have in a magazine that get recorded so personal calls shouldn't be recorded..... I'm debating on voicing my opinion on this to my boss......

at the very least, tell your family and friends not to call you on the company phone, only your cell phone.

if you learn that it's against the law where you are, what do you plan to do about it? how much do you want/need to keep your job?

In some states both parties have to be aware that the call is being recorded and in others only one party must be aware of being recorded.. I've worked phone jobs where we were recorded and listened in on.. and there is also supposed to be a periodic beep on the line that is an indicator that the call is being recorded.
I'd look in to it.

I would not like that at all either...but I am not sure in today's job market that I would stir the pot on this issue. I guess like BW said, is it worth possibbly losing your job over?
In our state it would be against the law to fire someone over an employer breaking the law and being turned in...but they can let you go for no stated reason...fighting them can be a nightmare to be reinstated, and then you would wonder how you would be treated or feel upon returning...
Not a good position to be in for sure.... :evil:

I probably wouldn't like it, but I would probably just keep my mouth shut. This enconomy is not the time to be out of a job. If you really can't stand it, look for another job quietly.

Technically its not invasion of privacy because it is their phones in their business. Myself coming from upper corporate management I am used to the phones being monitored and my life at work being under the microscope so it is no big deal to me.

But I think they need to give the employees a heads up and let them know that the calls are monitored. And they need to have the disclaimer to let the customer know that the call might be monitored.

Do I think they are breaking the law? It is up to the statutes that your state has set up for this certain issue.

Billy