Monitoring Employees Working From Home in the UK

Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK, remote work or home working has become increasingly common. Indeed, some employers may be more open to homeworking, and employees may prefer being remote workers. Where you have employees working from home, you may decide that it is essential to monitor their work. This can allow you to understand their productivity and ensure that they abide by your business policies, such as those concerning IT. However, various acts and regulations cover the laws about monitoring remote employees. As such, it can be confusing for an employer to understand their obligations. This article will explain what you should know about monitoring your employees working from home.

Monitoring Employees Working From Home

There are numerous ways you may decide to monitor your employees from home. For example, through:

• monitoring telephone calls;
• logging their keystrokes;
• monitoring their use of the internet;
• taking screenshots; or
• looking at their emails.

Legal Considerations When Monitoring Staff

You are legally allowed to monitor your staff when working from home. However, there are rules about this which you should note. You should also understand that it could be unfair to dismiss an employee after monitoring them working where they were not aware you were doing so.

There may also be instances where your legal responsibility involves monitoring your employees when working from home. As an employer, a Court can hold you legally responsible for the actions of your staff. Such actions include comments they make leading to instances of defamation or discrimination. This is known as vicarious liability. 

Other Considerations

There are several points to consider when monitoring employees working from home. Some of these are detailed below.

Telling Staff You Are Monitoring Them

Generally, you are legally required to tell your staff if you monitor them while working from home. Keeping this from your staff members could result in employees raising a grievance and potentially put you in breach of your data protection obligations. If the situation escalates, an employee might claim constructive dismissal, which is when they feel forced to leave their role. Also, not telling your staff you are monitoring them whilst working from home could damage trust between you and your employees.

If you do not want to alert your staff that you are monitoring them, you should have a good reason for this decision. For example, you might suspect criminal activity. This also applies when monitoring staff through their telephone calls. When monitoring staff through telephone calls, there are specific circumstances where their consent is not required. 

Additionally, you may not need your employees’ consent to monitor their work from home if you:

• think they are doing something they are not permitted to do;
• are doing so in the interest of national security;
• ensure you meet standards in terms of telecommunications equipment;
• are required to monitor transactions for your business; or
• need to conduct quality control to abide by regulations or business continuity.

Right to Privacy

Your staff has a right to a reasonable degree of privacy when working from home. Importantly, you need to bear this in mind when considering how you monitor their work from home. For example, if your employees feel that your monitoring methods are too invasive, they may have a grievance with you. Equally, they may do so where you cannot give a valid reason for your monitoring activity.

Monitoring Your Staff Equally 

If you monitor your staff working from home, you must also ensure that you do so equally. Therefore, you should not choose to monitor some staff but not others simply because they have a protected characteristic. There are nine characteristics that have legal protection from discrimination, including race, sex, and disability.

Data Protection

Finally, when monitoring your staff working from home, you need to be aware of data protection laws. Indeed, monitoring your staff at home will require you to process their data. Likewise, you can only process data with a specific, explicit and legitimate purpose for doing so. Examples of a legitimate purpose could be to:

• ensure the personal data your employees use is secure;
• enable you to carry out your legal obligations; or
• check your employees are carrying out their obligations stated within their employment contracts.

Key Takeaways

You are legally allowed to monitor your employees working from home. However, you must be aware of the rules and considerations when monitoring your employees working from home. For example, when monitoring their phone calls, you require their consent. An exception is if they meet specific criteria, like if you suspect criminal activity. You should also consider your employees’ right to privacy and data protection laws when processing personal data through your monitoring.

If you need help with understanding monitoring employees working from home, our experienced employment lawyers can assist in our LegalVision membership. You will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

Frequently Asked Questions