Workplace or remote work monitoring

cuddles o craic

I've had a bit of a dispute with a now previous employer about the use of workplace monitoring. I'm just trying to get an idea of how widely used it is in Ireland. I imagine some companies might be especially tempted to use these systems given the rise in working from home.

I've seen some references in other threads but has anybody here had experience with this?

In my case my previous employer introduced software without my knowledge which tracked everything I did on my work computer. Now it wasn't reading personal emails but it would record how long I spend looking at any website etc or if it deemed i was away from my computer. I had a big problem in that I regularly use the internet as part of work but this system was marking work usage as private which was a big concern for me.


I've heard of all sorts of systems, from those that turn on your webcam, take random screenshots etc. Has anybody experienced these?

Now I understand some of these might be legitimate I'm just wondering what the experience here is?

cuddles o craic

cuddles o craic wrote: »

I've had a bit of a dispute with a now previous employer about the use of workplace monitoring. I'm just trying to get an idea of how widely used it is in Ireland. I imagine some companies might be especially tempted to use these systems given the rise in working from home.

I've seen some references in other threads but has anybody here had experience with this?

In my case my previous employer introduced software without my knowledge which tracked everything I did on my work computer. Now it wasn't reading personal emails but it would record how long I spend looking at any website etc or if it deemed i was away from my computer. I had a big problem in that I regularly use the internet as part of work but this system was marking work usage as private which was a big concern for me.


I've heard of all sorts of systems, from those that turn on your webcam, take random screenshots etc. Has anybody experienced these?

Now I understand some of these might be legitimate I'm just wondering what the experience here is?

That sounds nuts, put a post-it note over the webcam to cover it when you are not on a team meeting if it really worries you, but on the other hand you are coming across a little paranoid.

Calahonda52

mariaalice wrote: »

That sounds nuts, put a post-it note over the webcam to cover it when you are not on a team meeting if it really worries you, but on the other hand you are coming across a little paranoid.

Did you actually read the post?

OP
the issue revolves about the question of disclosure: ie if they are using CCTV they have to tell you, this software is often used under the cover of monitoring system performance and hence does not require disclosure.

It is widely used these days but not every company discloses it.

I don't think there has been a test case yet of someone being sacked on foot of this software.

Divisadero

mariaalice wrote: »

That sounds nuts, put a post-it note over the webcam to cover it when you are not on a team meeting if it really worries you, but on the other hand you are coming across a little paranoid.

I'm afraid it is very much a thing. Google has plenty of articles on it and also details of monitoring companies offering their services:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/explainers-51571684

I couldn’t imagine working in a place that monitored like this, absolute madness.

cuddles o craic

Audrey Powerful Mason wrote: »

I couldn’t imagine working in a place that monitored like this, absolute madness.

Pretty nasty alright. Seems very worrying that other companies might be doing this without disclosing anything.

krissovo

cuddles o craic wrote: »

I've had a bit of a dispute with a now previous employer about the use of workplace monitoring. I'm just trying to get an idea of how widely used it is in Ireland. I imagine some companies might be especially tempted to use these systems given the rise in working from home.

I've seen some references in other threads but has anybody here had experience with this?

I am finding from my customers if you are working for a company that typically uses some form of micromanagement to get things done then I could almost guarantee there is an element monitoring outside of normal methods, certainly not to the extremes that I reading on here. If you are treated like an adult by management then the likelihood is you are not. However most employers have the ability to monitor and consent by the user to that use is usually given as part of their T&C's or IT usage agreement.

Early in the pandemic I had a conversation with an Irish insurance company of how they could run a certain aggressive monitoring software on our product that captures everything on the users device including webcam & microphone. When they realised the effort of managing the data they came to the conclusion its a waste of time and standard productivity measures are far more productive.

Other examples are Banks whose employees handle customer accounts certainly have a high level of monitoring which is largely driven by regulation. Some even are capturing key strokes and running algorithms to searching for screen grabs or downloads.

cuddles o craic

krissovo wrote: »

However most employers have the ability to monitor and consent by the user to that use is usually given as part of their T&C's or IT usage agreement.

I've done a fair bit of reading up on this and from what I can see consent like this doesn't hold water. When it comes to personal data consent must be freely given. When an employer asks, because of the nature of the relationship, it generally isn't considered freely given.

I don't claim to be a legal expert by any means but I have seen that advice offered by law firms when they give advice on gdpr for employers.

One of the problems I see with all this is that there seems to be a lack of protection and a lot of grey areas. Some general monitoring is allowed eg timekeeping. Where that crosses over to personal data is hard to tell. I suppose though if an employer is claiming consent then they recognise it's personal.

krissovo

cuddles o craic wrote: »

I've done a fair bit of reading up on this and from what I can see consent like this doesn't hold water. When it comes to personal data consent must be freely given. When an employer asks, because of the nature of the relationship, it generally isn't considered freely given.

Normally there is a clause in the agreements that states something along the lines of that the device or platform is the property of the company and anything accessed is liable for company auditing or intellectual property. I am not a legal expert so I do not know the legality for implicitly agreeing to this but the companies I work with have no issues with pulling the data.

cuddles o craic

krissovo wrote: »

Normally there is a clause in the agreements that states something along the lines of that the device or platform is the property of the company and anything accessed is liable for company auditing or intellectual property. I am not a legal expert so I do not know the legality for implicitly agreeing to this but the companies I work with have no issues with pulling the data.

Well they could be facing quite hefty fines if anyone ever reported them. From the article earlier it looks like Barclays are going to be hit with something substantial in the uk. I think it goes up to 4% of turnover depending on the severity of what they were doing.