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Credit to Author: Matthew Finnegan| Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2022 04:40:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n An increase in workplace surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to widespread discrimination, work intensification, and unfair treatment of workers unless regulatory safeguards are put in place, according to a prominent UK union group.<\/p>\n The Trade Union Congress (TUC), which represents most unions in the UK, published survey results this week \u00a0highlighting the use of surveillance technologies to monitor workers<\/a> in a variety of job roles.<\/p>\n The survey, which polled 2,209 workers in England and Wales in December 2021, showed that 60% of respondents believe they are subject to workplace monitoring, up from 53% in 2020. Techniques include monitoring emails and files, employee webcams, keystroke logging, phone records, and movement tracking via CCTV.<\/p>\n The research also indicated that worker surveillance is more prevalent in certain job sectors: financial services workers were the most likely to report monitoring (74%), followed by wholesale and retail staff (73%), and utilities workers (73%).<\/p>\n \u201cWorker surveillance tech has taken off during this pandemic \u2013 and now risks spiralling out of control,\u201d\u00a0Frances O\u2019Grady, TUC general secretary,\u00a0said in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reports of intrusive monitoring of remote workers<\/a> aren’t just limited to the UK. A number of companies worldwide embraced the tactic during the pandemic as office workers were forced to work from home, outside of the direct view of managers. Those businesses deployed monitoring tools to track worker activity and ensure productivity levels were unchanged outside of the office, raising concerns about staff well-being.<\/p>\n In\u00a0guidance related to remote work, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned employers of the potential harm to staff from unnecessary monitoring, urging employers to \u201crefrain from excessive monitoring or surveillance of workers, including the inappropriate use of software that monitors computer usage or activates constant online video capabilities. Such measures reduce trust and may increase stress for teleworkers,\u201d according to\u00a0WHO guidance published last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n While some level of monitoring is needed in the employer\/employee relationship, the availability of new technologies and the recent work-from-home boom has sparked debate about what is acceptable<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMany industries are required to carry out a certain level of tracking of employee activity through industry-specific regulations,\u201d said Angela Ashenden, principal analyst at technology analyst firm CCS Insight. Financial services organizations, for example, where need to ensure customer data is protected adequately, she said. \u201cBut employees also have a right to privacy, particularly in their own home, so it’s a question of what data is collected and how it’s stored and used by the employer.”<\/p>\n How employees view remote worker monitoring depends on the rationale a company uses to explain the practice.<\/p>\n CCS Insight research in 2020 indicated that employees are more likely to be comfortable with increased monitoring in certain circumstances. This includes monitoring that improves employees\u2019 technology experience and online security when working from home, for example. But employees are more likely to \u201cpush back strongly where they perceive it to be focused on their productivity or their personal health and wellbeing,\u201d said Ashenden.<\/p>\n \u201cBusinesses that overstep the mark in terms of perceptions of employee privacy risk, at best, damaging employee trust, or at worst litigation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Employee surveillance is a problem across the workforce: the TUC also warned Monday of the negative impacts of algorithmic management and monitoring, which tends to affect those in lower paid \u201cgig economy\u201d jobs, such as ride-hailing platform drivers.<\/p>\n New management and monitoring technologies must be regulated to protect all workers, the TUC said. Rules should include a requirement that employers consult with trade unions before implementing monitoring or algorithmic management systems, the TUC said, as well as human oversight of algorithmic decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cEmployers are delegating serious decisions to algorithms \u2014 such as recruitment, promotions and sometimes even sackings,\u201d said O\u2019Grady.\u00a0<\/p>\n The TUC survey indicated that most workers, 82%, support a legal requirement for employers to consult before introducing monitoring, compared to 75% in 2020.\u00a0A majority, 72%, also agreed that using technology to make decisions about workers could increase unfair treatment without careful regulation; that percentage is up from 61% from two years ago.<\/p>\n There are growing calls to regulate the use of worker monitoring and AI management technologies internationally. The European Commission recently proposed new rules<\/a> that would require companies who employ \u201cgig\u201d workers would have to provide greater transparency about the use of\u00a0algorithmic management<\/a>\u00a0and monitoring.<\/p>\n In the US, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has called for an AI Bill of Rights<\/a> to regulate the use of technology in workplace and society more broadly.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Credit to Author: Matthew Finnegan| Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2022 04:40:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n An increase in workplace surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to widespread discrimination, work intensification, and unfair treatment of workers unless regulatory safeguards are put in place, according to a prominent UK union group.<\/p>\n The Trade Union Congress (TUC), which represents most unions in the UK, published survey results this week \u00a0highlighting the use of surveillance technologies to monitor workers<\/a> in a variety of job roles.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n