Brits who continue to work from home are set to get greater protections to prevent employers from snooping on them, with the launch of a new consultation designed to boost employee privacy, while building trust and enabling companies to optimise their operations.
The Information Commissioner’s Office pledged to update the Employment Practices Code back in January, following calls by the Labour Party and trade union bosses for stronger regulation of the technology.
The intervention came amid claims that firms were using coronavirus as a cover to snoop on workers and unfairly punish those deemed to be slacking.
Now the ICO wants to learn more about the tools and services employers use when monitoring their employees in the WFH environment.
In a blogpost, ICO acting director of regulatory assurance Anulka Clarke said: “Artificial intelligence and machine learning are impacting the ways decisions are made about workers; monitoring technologies are more varied and widespread in use; and the Covid-19 pandemic has suddenly accelerated the trend for remote working and for obtaining health data.
“When used in the workplace, these developments and other similar issues can impact on people’s privacy. It’s vital that employers understand how they can operate in the changing environment and build trust with their workers when it comes to protecting their information rights.”
Adding that data protection is not a barrier to the use of new technologies to improve and develop employment practices, Clarke said the consultation is aimed at helping the regulator to create practical employment guidance where personal data is used, that supports both employers and staff.
She continued: “For our guidance to be pragmatic, it needs to address key issues, concerns and problems so the final guidance we produce is as practically applicable to real life situations as possible. We can only achieve this if we represent your views and opinions so please send them to us.
“We’re looking for responses from large and small businesses, workers, trades unions, professional and trade bodies. You might be in your first job or about to retire. If you have a view, we want to hear it.”
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