On 3 October 2023, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) finalized its Employment practices and data protection − Monitoring workers guidance (“Guidance”) to account for new types of work, including work from home, and the use of more sophisticated technologies for monitoring. In November 2022, we published a detailed blog post on the ICO’s public consultation.
The finalized Guidance is aimed at employers. It does not prevent employers from engaging in monitoring; rather, it sets out how they can do so in compliance with data protection law. The Guidance defines “monitoring workers” as “any form of monitoring of people who carry out work on [an employer’s] behalf” and can include “monitoring workers on particular work premises or elsewhere” both during and outside working hours. The Guidance is clear that it applies to homeworking. It also applies to a range of monitoring technologies and purposes, including (but not limited to) technologies for monitoring timekeeping or access control; keystroke monitoring to track, capture and log keyboard activity; and productivity tools which log how workers spend their time.
Continue Reading UK Information Commissioner’s Office Releases New Guidance for Monitoring at Work