In an advancing technological society, it has become increasingly apparent that employers are choosing to more closely monitor their employees’ activities whilst at work, sometimes choosing to extend this even outside of the workplace.
The fact that strict employee monitoring is viewed by some as immoral does not mean that it is unlawful to do so. Whilst it would clearly be unreasonable to expect an employee to give up all of his or her expectation of privacy when crossing the threshold of the workplace, it is widely accepted that certain elements of employees’ work and movements are now likely to be tracked by their employer.
Consider the vast amount of information you hold about your employees and day to day monitoring which is undertaken (even inadvertently), and you may be surprised as to just how significant monitoring has now become. You are likely to already know your employees’ addresses, personal phone numbers, bank details, passport number and even which car they drive. Businesses now regularly use GPS trackers on company vehicles, fobs to allow entry to the workplace, monitoring of emails, recording of phone calls, CCTV surveillance, random locker searches, drugs and alcohol testing, and sometimes even hiring private detectives to trace an employee’s true whereabouts if their actions have caused suspicion (did you ever wonder if those employees who phoned in sick last week when the iPhone 6 was released were really ill)? We have even seen extreme cases of employers trawling through their employees’ eBay accounts for any suspicious activity which indicates they may be selling stolen company property!
Of course, unreasonable or unnecessary attempts to monitor your employees’ every move is likely to give rise to industrial relations issues, and at worst, constructive dismissal claims brought by employees citing a breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence. The Data Protection Act 1998 and associated legislation and guidance imposes strict obligations on employers to ensure that their employees’ personal data is securely and reasonably held and lawfully processed, and therefore any information collated as a result of monitoring must be carefully handled. Further, the law is likely to take a dim view of employers who unjustifiably use targeted monitoring against one individual, as opposed to systematic monitoring of all employees.
Naturally, despite the potential pitfalls, there are a number of benefits to monitoring employees; for example, reviewing an employee’s internet use may assist you in detecting malingering, misuse of company email or in identifying bullying, harassment, or other inappropriate behaviour. It may also put you on notice that your employees have been sending confidential company information to their personal email accounts with a view to setting up in competition with you. In extreme cases, CCTV monitoring may help you to either prevent or detect thefts from the business (which can be as serious as removing cash from the till, to more trivial incidents such as pocketing company stationary). According to a CIPD survey undertaken last year, 50% of employees would steal from work if they believed they would not get caught, and even more worryingly, 12% of employees surveyed stated that they had stolen goods from their employer with a total value in excess of £1,000!
To minimise the risk of difficulties in the future, make sure you have clearly documented and communicated policies informing staff how they are to be monitored whilst in the workplace. We would also suggest conducting an impact assessment to enable you to achieve the desired balance between allowing your employees privacy in the workplace and protecting the interests of your business.
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