UK employers are keeping a close eye on e-mails in an effort to trap those using sexist or racist . Automatic equipment is being used to seek out potentially offensive words that set off an internal alarm, and are then alerted.

Philip Ryan, from IT company Peapod, says in reality the he develops are more about protecting companies than on employees. ‘Our are very . They don’t want to be for things written in . People do not to end up in court and lose .’ Mr Ryan points to the of Norwich Union, an insurance company, which had to out
£450,000 after its employees sent out e-mails insulting a market rival.

Professor Helen Petric UK employers may be overreacting to the e-mail . She recently
a survey of e-mail content on behalf of MSN. There was a bit of and some fairly
jokes. The University of Hertfordshire academic employers’ time might be put to better uses than trying to their workers’ personal e-mails. Most are between 50 and 100 . It doesn’t very long to read or type them, especially compared to the time a person could spend
on the . Ms Petric says has proved an invaluable to workers. It should be regarded as a small of the job, one people should not get too under the collar about.