The increased use of cyber technology in companies has created many opportunities for workplace deviance, and it has also made it easier for employees to do. Workplace deviance has become a more pressing issue as workplaces have digitalized information and use more cyber technology. Although no company would like to think that their employees would use workplace deviance, it happens all of the time. Some examples of workplace deviance cause little harm to a company, but others can have big impacts. Because of that, employees mostly have instant access to a plethora of company information, and that can lead to some issues. When the employees have access to a lot of sensitive information, there is a chance that they could purposefully or intentionally misuse or share private information with outsiders.

One big example of workplace deviance that we have seen more recently because of the pandemic is when people work remotely. When employees work remotely, they are not under constant supervision, and when that happens, some employees will take advantage of that and do less work/be less productive, or waste the company’s time by doing other things while on the clock, such as scrolling on social media. This can also tie into another example of workplace deviance where employees spend hours during work scrolling through social media or other non-work related activities. Many employees do this and get away with it, especially if they sit behind a computer all day where those things are easily accessible. An example of workplace deviance that is usually unintentional is scams and phishing emails. In today’s age, scammers have the ability to create scams that look believable to employees at companies so that sometimes leads to scammers gaining access to sensitive information within the company.

As workplace deviance becomes more of an issue with the increased use of cyber technology use in companies, it is important to have training and strict policies and limitations to what information employees have access to. Training can be very beneficial in teaching employees the risk and prevention of a cyber attack through scams and phishing emails. It is important for employees to know what to look for and what to do if an incident were to occur. Having limitations and policies in place can prevent employees from sharing or giving out private information. It is also important to outline what behaviors are acceptable or unacceptable in the policies. There are even some tools that companies can use to monitor productivity and activity by employees, which can help prevent the use of time on social media or other non-work related activities.