Trade Union Calls for Rules Around Homeworker Monitoring to Be Strengthened
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a huge shift in the way many employees now work, with a significant proportion of the workforce now working from home some or all of the time.
But a topic that is garnering increasing attention is how employers monitor staff who are working remotely, and in particular how monitoring is carried out and communicated.
New Guidance
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has recently consulted on new data protection and employee practices guidance, which will include guidance on how employers use technology for these purposes. In addition, new polling suggests 32% of employees working from home are being monitored by their employers, rising to 48% of employees aged between 18 and 34 being monitored. The poll also showed that monitoring of homeworkers by camera has increased from 5% to 13% since April 2021.
The trade union Prospect has now called for strengthened regulations setting out what employers are permitted to do in order to monitor staff who are working remotely. In addition, Prospect has also called for the use of monitoring through webcam to be made illegal save for during calls and meetings.
Best Practice
Conversations around the supervision and monitoring of remote working should form part of conversations employers may be having on hybrid working. Any monitoring practices should be reflected in policies such as homeworking policies. Employers should also be mindful that the ICO will be publishing guidance on this, which may require processes to be tightened or amended depending on the circumstances.