Monitoring and security of staff

Introduction

Monitoring staff involves observing them and collecting information about them. It may be carried out directly, perhaps by examining their work output, or indirectly, eg by electronic means. However, monitoring is an intrusion on people's privacy and should only be used where justified and only to the extent necessary.

Many businesses choose to monitor staff in order to verify the quality and quantity of work, look after their own customer interests, protect the personal information of staff, ensure compliance with work rules and standards and comply with legal requirements.

As an employer you have responsibilities for staff security. You must also ensure that the collection of personal information about individual staff members complies with the law , eg the Data Protection Act 1998. The Information Commissioner has responsibility for promoting compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and best practice in handling personal information.

This guide describes the correct method of staff monitoring and explains how to handle security issues.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Why you might monitor your staff and what monitoring includes
• When an employer is allowed to monitor staff
• Set up monitoring policies
• The right ways to monitor your staff
• The laws and penalties for improper monitoring
• Checklist of monitoring issues
• Staff security - your responsibilities as an employer