Monitoring and security of staff

Why you might monitor your staff and what monitoring includes

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 recognises several reasons for the monitoring of staff, and sets out principles for carrying out monitoring - see the page in this guide on the laws and penalties for improper monitoring .

Why monitor staff?

There are business and people-safety reasons for staff monitoring - eg, to:

• check the quality of customer service
• find out if staff require training by observing their performance
• review staff skills and competencies used in their job
• ensure staff are safe
• observe the application of health and safety rules
• ensure compliance with the law or company policy, eg on Internet usage
• discover any fraudulent, criminal or otherwise illegal or undesirable conduct by your staff

What monitoring includes

Monitoring can include:

• recording staff activities by CCTV cameras
• keeping recordings of telephone calls, eg in a call centre
• opening staff emails or listening to voicemails
• checking logs of telephone numbers called
• examining logs of websites visited
• searching staff, their personal space and work areas
• installing tracking equipment in vehicles
• making and storing copies of documents that include personal information

If monitoring of employees is to be carried out then such monitoring must be done in a way that is consistent with the Data Protection Act 1998. You must make them aware of the nature, extent and reason for any monitoring unless (exceptionally) covert monitoring is justified.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 individuals have a right of access to a copy of any personal information about them. This is known as the right of subject access. Be aware that employees have the right of access to any personal information about them collected through monitoring and that the monitoring systems are capable of meeting this need and other data protection requirements.

The Information Commissioner has produced a Code of Practice that deals with monitoring in the workplace. There is a simplified version of this for small businesses. Download a quick guide to the Employment Practices Code from the Information Commissioner website (PDF) .

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