Donate
Back to articles
News

UK: Monitoring and surveillance at work - a practical guide for trade union reps

The use of algorithms to assess workers’ output has led to cases of them being reprimanded for not keeping to strict schedules without any human interaction taking place. Recently Barclays bank found itself in a media storm after it used a software pilot that tracked when employees were away from their desk, how much time they spent on various tasks and that even sent warning messages if they were deemed not to be working hard enough.
Date
6 April 2020
Topics
Snooping and surveillance
Region
United Kingdom (UK)
The use of algorithms to assess workers’ output has led to cases of them being reprimanded for not keeping to strict schedules without any human interaction taking place. Recently Barclays bank found itself in a media storm after it used a software pilot that tracked when employees were away from their desk, how much time they spent on various tasks and that even sent warning messages if they were deemed not to be working hard enough.

From the introduction: “There have never been so many different ways for management to watch over and monitor the workforce. Moving on from the days of bag checks and timesheets, monitoring is now far more likely to involve looking at internet usage, logging phone calls and taking CCTV footage. New technologies have created even more opportunities with surveillance software making it possible to assess performance on the production line, manage workers remotely, track deliveries, time toilet breaks and even determine if someone is in the right frame of mind for work…

The need for robust safeguards to protect workers from intrusive monitoring has never been more urgent.”

Monitoring and surveillance at work – a practical guide for trade union reps (Labour Research Department, link)