ICO issues guidance on lawful monitoring of workers

Article summary

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published guidance to ensure that organisations are practising lawful monitoring in the workplace. With the rise of remote working, an increasing amount of people find that they are monitored by their employer by tracking calls and messages, taking screenshots and tracking activity, which can undermine their privacy. The guidance which encourage notifying workers of the extent of monitoring and obtaining consent to do so, provide useful insight into how employers can monitor employees fairly and lawfully. They also require employers to carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment for any monitoring that is likely to result in a high risk to the rights of workers and provide clarity on how data protection laws apply to the processing of workers’ personal data.