The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a consultation on the use of personal data by employers, including in workplace monitoring technologies, which will be used to update its existing Employment Practices guidance.
On 12 August 2021, the ICO’s acting director of regulatory assurance, Anulka Clarke, published a blog about data protection and employment practices, in which she introduced the regulators call for views.
“In recent times, working life has changed for millions of us in a way few could have predicted,” she said.
“Every industry sector and its workers have been impacted. Both in the public and private sector, and businesses large and small.
“Artificial intelligence [AI] and machine learning are impacting the ways decisions are made about workers; monitoring technologies are more varied and widespread in use; and the pandemic has suddenly accelerated the trend for remote working and for obtaining health data.”
Because of the impact these developments and others can have on people’s privacy, she added that it was vital that employers understand how they can operate in a changing business environment and build trust with workers over their information rights.
The digital monitoring tools available today allow enterprises to see a range of information about their employees’ activities, from recording their keystrokes and mouse clicks to tracking their physical location and use of applications or websites.
Predictive and behavioural analytics
Using these and a variety of other metrics, such software is used by enterprises to conduct predictive and behavioural analytics, ostensibly enabling managers to understand and track how productive employees are over time.
“Data protection is not a barrier to the use of new technologies to improve and develop employment practices. Data protection enables innovation to happen responsibly, it builds trust between employers and workers. Innovation itself enables economic growth which is vital as we look towards a post pandemic future,” said Clarke.
“We’ve launched a call for views today to help us to create practical employment guidance where personal data is used, that supports both employers and staff. It is crucial we reflect as many responses as we can from as many sectors as possible.”
Clarke addressed the ICO’s call to everyone with an interest in UK employment practices, including businesses of every size, workers, trade unions, and professional or trade bodies, who can share their views by answering a survey.
“In replacing the [Employment] code, we plan to produce easily accessible online resources, that reflect the way work has changed and are relevant. The employment practices and data protection guidance will cover topics including recruitment and selection, employment records, monitoring of workers, and information about workers’ health. We intend to add to this evolving resource over time,” she said.
A dramatic increase in workplace surveillance
While the use of employee monitoring tools was already ramping up before Covid-19 – a 2019 Accenture survey of C-suite executives found that 62% of their enterprises were “using new technologies to collect data on their people and their work to gain more actionable insights” – the move to remote working has facilitated a dramatic increase in their use.
According to David Emm, principal security researcher at Kaspersky, heightened workplace surveillance is a trend that is occurring across all sectors of the economy.
“Our research found that 44% of the UK’s pandemic-forced home working contingent have had monitoring software installed on company-provided devices. This is naturally having a massive effect on wellbeing, with 46% of UK employees working overtime as a direct result of workplace surveillance, and a further 25% admitting they work ‘harder’ for fear of being perceived as lazy,” he said.
“Aside from the obvious risks of burnout and resentment, this sharp increase in surveillance also leads to an increased risk of shadow IT and associated threats, as some staff use personal devices, that are ‘off the radar’ for work. While remote working does bring significant benefits to workers, there is also a dark side when it’s not managed holistically. There is a serious need for employers to examine their ‘surveillance’ practices to understand the true impact on productivity and worker satisfaction.”
A separate survey from Skillcast from November 2020 also found that one in five employers were already using, or otherwise planning to introduce, employee monitoring software for those working remotely from home.
In the same month, a report from the UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that one in seven workers had experienced increased monitoring at work since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Unions respond
In response to the consultation announcement, Andrew Pakes, research director at specialist professional science and research union Prospect, told Computer Weekly that technologies enabling the mass collection of employee data have the capacity to fundamentally change the work relationship, with potentially serious consequences for workers rights.
“The growth in remote working and power of digital technology has transformed how we work over the last 18 months but it has also come with a the worrying rise in intrusive management by surveillance. There are increasing concerns that our data is being used to micro-manage, monitor and control workers, often without any transparency over how decisions are made,” he said.
“This consultation needs to be the first step in ensuring workers’ data rights on surveillance are clear, spelt out to workers and recognises the power digital technology has over how we are managed and work.
“We need new guidance that confirms to employers that workers and unions have rights to be consulted about how monitoring software is introduced and used by employers.”
He added that work already underway to ensure workers voices were well-represented in the consultation.