Employee monitoring software is till a taboo theme in most countries. Some swear by it and some hate it and say it only gathers personal information about employees and breaks all the security laws. What’s important to say is that there isn’t the right answer. Different countries have different rules and regulations so the law may be different from one place to another.
For example, in Nigeria, there pretty much aren’t any boundaries when it comes to monitoring employees. Law lets employers do anything they want, usually without employees’ consent. But, in Canada, the law is very strict. Employers can monitor their employees, but under strict guidelines and always with their consent.
As you can see, the law differs from country to country. But, is employee control software legal in the UK? Let’s find out.
What Do You Need to Know About
Law of the UK falls under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),a regulation that exists in the whole European Union.
The 2017 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in Barbulescu v Romania has placed the spotlight once more on the extent to which employers are permitted to monitor their employees’ communications and activities. It was a classic case of employee monitoring. Basically, the employee sued a national company which used a PC snooping software in order to gather data about their employees. The court ruled to Barbulescu’s side and that’s why this was a big deal in every single country within the EU.
So, what can and can’t employers do regarding employee monitoring in the UK? GDPR is very strict. It introduced a few general principles of data protection and imposed new definitions of consent. The cornerstone principles include ‘data protection by ‘design’ and ‘data protection by default’. This means that every entity handling data must have appropriate and well-documented processes for data control and protection, as well as designated persons for controlling them (data controllers).
When it comes to usage of software to monitor computer activity in the UK, if you follow some simple steps, the chances are you won’t have any issues whatsoever:
- Inform employees about monitoring practices in the workplace — how and why they’ll be monitored. Have a clear, written monitoring policy in place.
- Make sure the employees know the legal basis for the processing of their personal data.
- Allow the individuals concerned access to monitoring records.
- Respect the privacy of personal communications and only require access when you have a good reason for it — e.g. suspicion of criminal activity, breach of confidentiality, or leak of company secrets.
- Limit monitoring to the necessary minimum warranted by your business needs or ‘legitimate interest.’
If you follow all these rules you can rest assured that you won’t have any issues regarding monitoring your employees with employee control software.
Conclusion
All in all, if you want to use the best software for employee monitoring you really should seek proper legal advice. But, if the implementation is done correctly and if you’re following the law, you won’t have any regulatory problems.