More bosses are using software to monitor remote workers. Not everyone is happy about it
Summary
While businesses may have legitimate reasons for wanting to introduce activity-tracking software, particularly in those industries that handle high-value data on a day-to-day basis, some have raised concerns over what the slow creep of this technology into the remote-working environment means for employee privacy, particularly as the boundaries that separate work and private life become even more blurred. "I think there are huge questions around how technology is changing our relationship to work and with employers, but also the speed at which its being introduced," says Andrew Pakes, direction of communications and research at professional trade union Prospect. Sarah Pearce, privacy and cybersecurity partner at global law firm Paul Hastings, says this is where things can get murky for remote monitoring tools, particularly those that collect anything that could be deemed as sensitive or personal data under GDPR. It stands to reason, then, that more organizations will be looking for tools that can make this sustainable in the long-term, by leveraging the kind of insights that can be enabled by analytics and reporting capabilities – particularly if it offers to fix problems that the rushed approach to remote working has created. Kiri Addison, head of data science for threat intelligence and overwatch at Mimecast, suggests that more invasive forms of remote monitoring and surveillance software risks eroding trust between employer and employee.