Homeworking, Surveillance-by-Software and the Right to Privacy

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How should we conceive of the right to a private life and a home life when work is at home & employers are using monitoring technologies?

One of the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic upon the world of work is likely to be a move away from the traditional workplace. The need to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus through contact in the workplace precipitated a rapid and widespread move to home-working. In an ONS survey in early May, 44% of adults surveyed were working from home. This in turn has contributed to the rise in the use of technologies that provide employers with the capacity to monitor closely their workers.

The sudden proliferation of working from home together with the raft of measures for closer surveillance allows employers to keep a close eye on their employees’ productivity, even though they are working from their own home.

What are the implications for the employee subjected to these measures? How should we conceive of their right to a private life and a home life whilst work is at home and employer monitoring has entered via the back door?

Speaker

Dr Philippa Collins is a lecturer in Law at the University of Exeter. Her current research interests include human rights, dismissal law and the integration of technology within the workplace. She is a member of Exeter’s Human Rights and Democracy Forum, the Centre for Science, Culture and the Law at Exeter and an associate member of the Centre for Law at Work at Bristol.

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