Digital Surveillance in the Workplace: A Study of Monitoring Practices Across Organizations in Punjab

Attendance management methods that use QR codes and face recognition technology to identify and verify an individual’s features are widely used in many aspects of people’s lives nowadays, notably in pandemic situations where contact-less systems are used. In this paper, the development of enhanced attendance monitoring system using was introduced. The Isabela State University Angadanan Campus has implemented a biometric attendance monitoring system. However, it is limited to the number of employees’ registrations, leave management and generation of Daily Time Record. The biometric system can only store 60 employees in every device, leave application and credits cannot be catered by the system and the Daily Time Record is not auto-generated and auto-formatted. For this reason, an enhanced attendance monitoring system was developed. The system uses a camera and QR Code reader to take attendance electronically, and the attendance records be saved in a database. It can store multiple number of employees, process leave application, manage remaining leave credits, and provide auto-generated Daily Time Record. This method, on the other hand, reduces the requirement for fixed materials and employees to retain records. From the developed system and the gathered data, it has addressed the problem of the conventional way of checking employee’s attendance. The general mean of 4.72 shows that the software quality of the system based on ISO 25010 is found to be functional that the users have strongly agreed on the different characteristics of the system as it addresses the issues in the current attendance monitoring system of ISU.

Stress-inducing or performance-enhancing? Safety measure or cause of mistrust? The paradox of digital surveillance in the workplace

Location technologies allow employers to monitor the location of employees. The technologies range from global positioning systems able to determine outdoor locations worldwide to sensor networks able to determine locations within buildings. Few international laws and no American laws directly address location monitoring. International privacy laws, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the USA Patriot Act and other laws involving Internet and e-mail monitoring might provide the pattern for future location monitoring legislation. Ethical considerations such as privacy, accuracy, inconsistency, security, and reputation also may affect future legislation. In writing corporate policies governing location monitoring, the employer's business interests may outweigh an employee's privacy interest. However, privacy invasion may be considered when the employer's monitoring has been physically invasive and has no legitimate business purpose. Future research should investigate management and employee attitudes toward location monitoring and the pattern of location monitoring policies.

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the problem of unlawful video surveillance in the workplace as a form of violation of employees’ labor rights and the role of criminal law protection in counteracting such violations. In the context of rapid digitalization of society and the implementation of modern information and communication technologies, the practice of installing video surveillance in workplaces has significantly expanded. Employers justify these measures by the need to ensure employee safety, protect property, monitor the performance of work duties, and increase productivity. At the same time, the use of video surveillance creates serious risks of violating the constitutional right to privacy, the secrecy of personal life, and the processing of personal data. The article analyzes the current legislation of Ukraine, international standards, as well as judicial practice at the national and European levels. Gaps in the legal regulation of video surveillance installation have been identified, particularly with regard to the voluntary consent of employees, the principle of proportionality of interference, and ensuring a proper balance between the interests of the employer and the rights of employees. It is demonstrated that the unlawful use of technical monitoring means may contain elements of criminally punishable acts provided for by the Criminal Code of Ukraine (in particular, Articles 172, 173, 182, 163, 359), and poses a high level of social danger as it infringes upon constitutional human rights. The author concludes that the criminal law protection of labor rights serves not only as a means of punishment for violations but also as an effective preventive mechanism that encourages employers to comply with legal norms, shapes legal culture, and ensures social security. The article substantiates the necessity of improving legislation on workplace video surveillance regulation, enhancing transparency of procedures, and introducing clear criteria for proportionality of interference in employees’ private life. In addition, emphasis is placed on the importance of education and raising employees’ legal awareness regarding their rights in the field of digital monitoring. The implementation of such measures will contribute to the creation of a more balanced and lawful working environment that meets modern standards of personal data protection.

Orientation: The study is located in an organisation responsible for the administration of the Zimbabwean border posts. The nature of its business calls for the use of surveillance to curb criminal activities. Research Purpose: The study examines how workplace surveillance affects employees based on their demographic differences. Motivation of the Study: Smuggling is rife at Zimbabwe border posts depriving the state of revenue while exposing the civil society to smuggled goods. The use of workplace surveillance is critical in managing such illegal activities but the employer needs not infringe employee rights to privacy. Research Design, Approach and Method: The research follows a survey research design, and a quantitative research approach using a positivism research philosophy. Data collection amongst a sample of 364 respondents was possible through Survey Monkey. Data analysis comprised of descriptive and inferential statistics. In particular, the study utilised Shapiro-Wilk and Kruskal Wallis tests. Main Findings: The study found that demographic variables that have an impact on workplace surveillance are employee age, education and computer use experience while gender, work experience, work role, and time spent on the internet do not. Practical/Managerial Implications: The employer needs to understand that employees appreciate the business importance of workplace surveillance and there is a need to involve them in such decisions. Management also needs to ensure that such surveillance does not thwart employee privacy rights. Contribution or value-add: The study contributes to the body of knowledge by noting that employee age, education and computer use experience demographic variables have an impact on workplace surveillance while gender, work experience, work role, and time spent on the internet do not.

Workplace surveillance has drawn the attention of many organizations during the past decades. Previous research investigated the impact of workplace surveillance on different constructs such as job satisfaction, employee loyalty, trust in management, employee creativity and employee privacy. However, there was a dearth of research on the impact of workplace surveillance on employee – employer bond as it has not been tested previously in any organizational context. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of workplace surveillance on employee – employer bond and to identify the role of trust in the impact of workplace surveillance on employee – employer bond. Further, this study used social bond theory which has not been used before to investigate the impact of workplace surveillance on employee – employer bond. The model was empirically tested by collecting data from two hundred and eight operational level employees working in commercial banks in Sri Lanka. In selecting the sample, convenience sampling was used due to time constraints. The survey questionnaire method was used to collect data. The study focused on three constructs, namely, workplace surveillance, trust, and employee – employer bond. This study used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data. Before the statistical analysis, data was screened for its appropriateness for use in the main analysis. According to the findings of the study, workplace surveillance had a weak positive impact on employee – employer bond and a moderate, positive impact on trust. Trust, on the other hand, had a strong positive impact on employee – employer bond. Further, trust had an indirect effect on the relationship between workplace surveillance and employee – employer bond. Hence, managers should identify strategies to enhance their employees’ trust levels as they directly enhance employee – employer bond and increase organizational performance.
 Keywords: Employee – Employer Bond, Trust, Workplace Surveillance

Employee monitoring is becoming more and more important in today’s world of digital innovation because of the broad adoption of technologies that both boost productivity and threaten employee privacy. Better legal frameworks are needed for practices like tracking GPS, analysing email conversations, and monitoring computer activity. This is required for achieving a fair balance between employee privacy rights and data protection. Nowadays, there are nearly limitless opportunities for monitoring thanks to the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. This advancement in employee monitoring, while offering significant benefits for resource management and security, also raises new challenges in terms of privacy and ethics. The purpose of this article is to explore and identify a balanced approach to employee monitoring in the modern world, where digital technologies are becoming increasingly important in the workplace. By examining the effects of commonly used technologies that, while increasing productivity, may also pose a risk to employee privacy, the authors attempt to strike a healthy balance between data protection and privacy rights.

This chapter addresses the issue of electronic workplace monitoring and its implications for employees’ privacy. Organisations increasingly use a variety of electronic surveillance methods to mitigate threats to their information systems. Monitoring technology spans different aspects of organisational life, including communications, desktop and physical monitoring, collecting employees’ personal data, and locating employees through active badges. The application of these technologies raises privacy protection concerns. Throughout this chapter, we describe different approaches to privacy protection followed by different jurisdictions. We also highlight privacy issues with regard to new trends and practices, such as teleworking and use of RFID technology for identifying the location of employees. Emphasis is also placed on the reorganisation of work facilitated by information technology, since frontiers between the private and the public sphere are becoming blurred. The aim of this chapter is twofold: we discuss privacy concerns and the implications of implementing employee surveillance technologies and we suggest a framework of fair practices which can be used for bridging the gap between the need to provide adequate protection for information systems, while preserving employees’ rights to privacy.

This chapter addresses the issue of electronic workplace monitoring and its implications for employees’ privacy. Organizations increasingly use a variety of electronic surveillance methods to mitigate threats to their information systems. Monitoring technology spans different aspects of organizational life, including communications, desktop and physical monitoring, collecting employees’ personal data, and locating employees through active badges. The application of these technologies raises privacy protection concerns. Throughout this chapter, we describe different approaches to privacy protection followed by different jurisdictions. We also highlight privacy issues with regard to new trends and practices, such as teleworking and use of RFID technology for identifying the location of employees. Emphasis is also placed on the reorganization of work facilitated by information technology, since frontiers between the private and the public sphere are becoming blurred. The aim of this chapter is twofold: we discuss privacy concerns and the implications of implementing employee surveillance technologies and we suggest a framework of fair practices which can be used for bridging the gap between the need to provide adequate protection for information systems, while preserving employees’ rights to privacy.

This study looks at the employment issues of AIDS, employer rights, employee privacy rights and how those views relate to management's opinions on the discharge of and refusal to hire AIDS victims. The results indicate a strong understanding, on the part of one hospitality management group, of the legal constraints affecting their employment rights in the areas of collective bargaining, sex, race and religious discrimination, as well as a strong and positive correlation between such legal constraints and acknowledgement of an employee right to privacy in all areas with the exception of AIDS disclosure. The results suggest a continued misunderstanding of the disease and the inclination to view the AIDS victim as a threat to co-workers and the food operation itself.

This article explores the implementation of a digital verification system known as Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) across homecare services for older and disabled adults within the US Medicaid program. EVV systems are used to conduct daily check-ins through GPS tracking and biometric identity verification. While touted as a means to identify and deter “fraud, waste, and abuse,” the digital monitoring also generates detailed data trails on the lives and habits of service recipients, as well as constraining their daily movements. Drawing on qualitative interviews with workers and clients, I argue that this case study calls attention to how harms from digitalization of social welfare provision emerge from workplace surveillance and labor management, and how EVV becomes a tool for more finely tuning classifications of different types of paid and unpaid care. The burdensome digital compliance hurdles reinforced older employment tensions between the state, care workers, and public benefits recipients.

This article attempts to review the proliferation of research findings about surveillance in the workplace and the issues surrounding it. It establishes a number of points of departure when considering the issue of workplace surveillance, before reviewing some of the more critical issues. First, it establishes that organizations and surveillance go hand in hand; and that workplace surveillance can take social and technological forms. Personal data gathering, Internet and email monitoring, location tracking, biometrics and covert surveillance are all areas of development. There is also evidence that groups of employees are appropriating information and communication technologies to stare back at their employers, exposing unsavoury practices and organizing collectively, prompting new thinking about resistance. Organizations watch employees primarily to protect their assets, although the nature and intensity of surveillance says much about how a company views its employees. Workplace surveillance has consequences for employees, affecting employee well-being, work culture, productivity, creativity and motivation. If no alternative can be found, managerial attention to task design, supervisory processes, employees’ expectations about monitoring, and an appraisal of the company's operating environment can mediate its downsides. It is argued that in many ways the normality of workplace surveillance, and the prevalence of arguments about how to ‘do it better’, make it difficult to radicalize. As part of what is seen as ‘good’ management practice, it can confer benefits on the employee if conducted in a humane, balanced way, and is considered on a case-by-case–organization-by-organization–basis. However, the introduction of broader debates around information use, rights, power and social structure highlights how surveillance in the workplace may serve to perpetuate existing inequalities and create new ones.

In the United States, organizations can be held legally liable when their employees create conditions for a hostile work environment by operating telecommunication systems for personal use in the workplace. Conventionally, many organizations implement acceptable telecommunication usage policies and electronic surveillance to prevent harassing situations from occurring and to protect themselves against costly liability lawsuits. However, these authoritarian methods have been criticized because of the apparent trade-offs they cause among employee privacy rights, productivity, and the need to safeguard the firm from harassment lawsuits. As an alternative approach, our analysis shows that the development of a High-Performance Work System (HPWS) will lower employees’ propensity to misuse telecommunication systems in the workplace, resulting in the reduction of employee rights lawsuits for the firm. Our analysis indicates that a HPWS creates a work environment that ensures telecommunication systems will be properly used and employees will not have to relinquish their expectation of privacy. We argue that organizations that manage their telecommunication systems by HPWS practices rather than bureaucratically controlling them will be in a better position to overcome the legal inadequacies of authoritarian methods.

The digital age has brought unprecedented advancements to workplace environments, enhancing efficiency, collaboration, and connectivity. However, these technological transformations have introduced significant concerns regarding employee privacy. The widespread adoption of advanced monitoring tools, data analytics, and remote work technologies has raised questions about the balance between employers' operational needs and employees' rights to privacy. This study explores the complexities surrounding employee privacy rights in the digital era, addressing legal, ethical, and practical dimensions. It examines global legal frameworks governing workplace privacy, ethical dilemmas posed by surveillance technologies, and the role of emerging trends such as artificial intelligence and wearable technologies in employee monitoring.Through an extensive review of existing literature and analysis of real-world case studies, the research identifies critical gaps in current privacy policies and practices. Findings reveal that while monitoring technologies can enhance productivity and security, their misuse often leads to ethical challenges and a loss of trust among employees. The study underscores the importance of transparency and consent in implementing monitoring practices and highlights the lagging pace of legal regulations in addressing rapid technological advancements.To foster a balanced workplace, this study emphasizes the need for organizations to adopt ethical monitoring practices, prioritize employee awareness, and align their policies with updated legal and societal expectations. By proposing strategies that balance organizational objectives with the preservation of individual rights, this research contributes to the ongoing discourse on workplace privacy. The findings aim to guide policymakers and organizations in designing frameworks that ensure technological innovation does not compromise the fundamental rights of employees, ultimately advocating for a workplace culture built on trust, fairness, and respect.

Businesses related to various niches and industries use employee monitoring to protect themselves from potential risks of data leakage and other external threats. Employee monitoring is a new strategy in today's business that is central to improving productivity and operational efficiency. The application of scientific methods of monitoring and analyzing the activities of employees in real time allows organizations to achieve a high level of accountability, optimal allocation of resources and making informed management decisions. Such a monitoring system contributes to the rise and development of the enterprise, creating a more productive and motivated work environment. The article examines the peculiarities of the implementation of employee monitoring as an important tool for ensuring the efficient operation of the enterprise, maintaining labor discipline and rational use of resources. Separate forms of monitoring that are used in practice are considered. Attention is focused on the legal aspects of the monitoring process, compliance with the needs of both employers and employees, in particular, taking into account the rights and privacy of the latter. In the modern conditions of business operation and development, employers have an interest in the most efficient use of their staff's working time. Time control is one way to achieve this. Controlling working hours can be efficient and beneficial for a company, but it can also raise certain ethical and legal issues. It is important that this control is carried out in compliance with all relevant legal requirements and taking into account the rights and interests of employees. Therefore, the employer must develop and implement internal regulatory documents that regulate monitoring procedures, as well as ensure that employees are informed about their rights and obligations in this process. This will avoid conflicts and ensure the legal purity of monitoring, maintaining a balance between the needs of the enterprise and the rights of employees. The choice of personnel monitoring and tracking tools is not limited to technical aspects, but includes the creation of a culture of trust and openness in the relationship between the employer and employees.