Keyboard Under A Microscope: Surveillance Of Employees Has Become A New Norm.
Employers turn home offices into control zones, and employees are ready to pay for their privacy.
More than 85% of British employers use monitoring technologies to track the productivity of their remote employees. According to the survey, most companies monitor personnel activity, which causes concern among workers and human rights activists.
The most common method is the control of active working hours (54%). Approximately 36% of companies analyze service emails, and 28% check employees' chats. More than a third of employers are tracked by visits and used applications. A quarter of the respondents admitted that they could see the screens of employees in real time, and 15% fix each key press.
About 20% of employers monitor the location of employees, which jeopardizes the freedom of digital nomads. This confirms the tendency to strengthen digital observation, especially when you consider that in 2023 a similar survey showed a 78% level of corporate monitoring.
Despite the lack of a clear legislative regulation of such practices, companies must comply with the norms of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Law on Protection of Data 2018. However, monitoring is considered permissible if it is transparent, proportional and justified from a business point of view. The British data protection department (ICO) previously issued recommendations according to which employees should be notified of observation methods, but these rules do not have legal force.
Approximately 47% of workers said that the awareness of observation causes them stress and anxiety. At the same time, 51% of respondents are ready to quit, learning about surveillance, and 17% would even agree to reduce salaries by a quarter to avoid corporate monitoring. For the average British, this would mean a loss of more than £ 9000 (about $ 11160) per year.
Among the main claims of employees are the lack of trust from the authorities, the need to work longer and less rest. In 14%, constant observation causes a sense of depersonalty. Nevertheless, 70% of employers are sure that monitoring, on the contrary, strengthens confidence and increases productivity.
Control is not limited only to software. The Cracked Labs study shows that employers are increasingly using infrastructure data, such as the movement of employees on the office, attendance analysis and behavioral monitoring. For example, technologies of “smart spaces” can lead to the creation of detailed profiles of employees.
The authors of the study warn that such an approach undermines personal autonomy and trust within organizations. Once introduced for safety or efficiency, such technologies can develop into large -scale corporate tracking systems. Against the backdrop of the growing discontent of workers and criticism from human rights activists, it becomes obvious that companies have to find a balance between the efficiency and rights of employees before corporate offices will finally turn into total control zones.