The rise in remote working has led to an increase in employee monitoring. With research commissioned by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) revealing that 70% of the public would find it intrusive to be monitored by an employer, it's crucial for organisations to set up any monitoring arrangements carefully, and to ensure that they are fully compliant with data protection law.
The ICO research also found that 19% of people believe that they have been monitored by an employer, and fewer than one in five would feel comfortable taking a new job if they knew that their employer would be monitoring them.
The ICO has published some guidance for employers across both the public and private sectors on monitoring workers lawfully, transparently and fairly. Ways of monitoring can include tracking calls, messages and keystrokes, taking screenshots, webcam footage or audio recordings, or using specialist monitoring software to track activity. The ICO makes it clear that it will take action if it believes that people's privacy is being threatened.
An employer looking to monitor workers should consider taking the following steps:
- Making workers aware of the nature, extent and reasons for monitoring.
- Having a clearly defined purpose and using the least intrusive means to achieve it.
- Having a lawful basis for processing workers' data, for example a legal obligation or obtaining their consent to the processing.
- Telling workers about any monitoring in a way that is easy to understand.
- Only keeping the information which is relevant to its purpose.
- Carrying out a Data Protection Impact Assessment for any monitoring that is likely to result in a high risk to the rights of workers.
- Making the personal information collected through monitoring available to workers if they make a Subject Access Request.
The guidance also provides an overview of how data protection law applies to the processing of personal data for monitoring workers, and considers specific types of monitoring practices, including the use of biometric data to monitor timekeeping and attendance. It also contains useful checklists for employers to refer to when setting up monitoring arrangements, including specific considerations to take into account for different ways or methods of monitoring workers, and ways of using biometric data.
