[UK] Risk of employee surveillance tech “spiralling out of control”

The TUC has warned that intrusive worker surveillance tech risks spiralling out of control without stronger regulation to protect workers, IT Pro reports.

The union body said these technologies could lead to widespread discrimination, work intensification and unfair treatment if left unchecked.

According to a new survey published by the TUC, 60 per cent of workers believe they have been subject to some form of surveillance and monitoring at their current or most recent job. It said that the use of workplace surveillance tech took off during the pandemic as employers transferred to remote forms of working.

Surveillance includes the monitoring of emails and files, webcams on work computers, tracking of when and how much a worker is typing, calls made and movements made by the worker which is monitored through CCTV and trackable devices.

28 per cent of survey respondents reportedly agree that monitoring and surveillance at work have increased since the pandemic and there has also been a notable increase in workers reporting surveillance over the past year alone; 60 per cent in 2021, compared to 53 per cent in 2020.

“Workers and unions must be properly consulted on the use of AI, and be protected from its punitive ways of working,” Frances O’Grady - TUC general secretary - said. “And it's time for ministers to bring forward the long-awaited employment bill to give workers a right to disconnect and properly switch off outside of working hours.” 

The TUC referenced the Post Office scandal as part of its call for stronger regulation, highlighting the fact that hundreds of people were wrongly prosecuted for theft and false accounting after a software error. The union body said that it must become a turning point on uncritical use of worker monitoring tech and AI.

It said that the creeping role of AI and tech-driven workplace surveillance is spreading beyond the gig economy into the rest of the labour market. The sectors with the greatest proportion of workers reporting surveillance are financial services with 74 per cent, wholesale and retail with 73 per cent and utilities with 73 per cent.

The TUC cautioned that there is a huge lack of transparency over the use of AI at work, with many employees unsure of how surveillance tech is being used to inform decisions directly affecting them.

Automated decision making via AI includes selecting candidates for interviews, day-to-day line management, performance ratings, shift allocations and determining who is disciplined or made redundant.

The TUC added that AI tech is also being used to analyse facial expressions, tone of voice and accents to assess candidates’ suitability for roles.

To combat the rise of this technology, the union body is reportedly calling for a statutory duty to consult trade unions before an employer introduces the use of AI and automated decision-making systems. It also demanded an employment bill that includes the right to disconnect, along with digital rights to improve transparency around the use of surveillance tech. In addition, it asked for a universal right to human review high-risk decisions made by technology.

The TUC pointed out the UK government recently consulted on diluting GDPR as part of its post-Brexit divergence agenda, despite it providing some key protections for workers against surveillance tech.

It added that the EU is currently putting in place laws dealing specifically with the use of AI yet the UK doesn’t have any such protections. The TUC said this is yet another example of the UK falling behind its EU counterparts on workers’ rights.

The TUC found notable and growing levels of support among workers for the stronger regulation of workplace surveillance tech. 82 per cent support a legal requirement to consult before introducing monitoring, compared to 75 per cent in 2020. 77 per cent support no monitoring outside working hours, while 72 per cent said that using tech to make decisions about workers without careful regulation could increase unfair treatment.

Source: IT Pro

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

The TUC has warned that intrusive worker surveillance tech risks spiralling out of control without stronger regulation to protect workers, IT Pro reports.

The union body said these technologies could lead to widespread discrimination, work intensification and unfair treatment if left unchecked.

According to a new survey published by the TUC, 60 per cent of workers believe they have been subject to some form of surveillance and monitoring at their current or most recent job. It said that the use of workplace surveillance tech took off during the pandemic as employers transferred to remote forms of working.

Surveillance includes the monitoring of emails and files, webcams on work computers, tracking of when and how much a worker is typing, calls made and movements made by the worker which is monitored through CCTV and trackable devices.

28 per cent of survey respondents reportedly agree that monitoring and surveillance at work have increased since the pandemic and there has also been a notable increase in workers reporting surveillance over the past year alone; 60 per cent in 2021, compared to 53 per cent in 2020.

“Workers and unions must be properly consulted on the use of AI, and be protected from its punitive ways of working,” Frances O’Grady - TUC general secretary - said. “And it's time for ministers to bring forward the long-awaited employment bill to give workers a right to disconnect and properly switch off outside of working hours.” 

The TUC referenced the Post Office scandal as part of its call for stronger regulation, highlighting the fact that hundreds of people were wrongly prosecuted for theft and false accounting after a software error. The union body said that it must become a turning point on uncritical use of worker monitoring tech and AI.

It said that the creeping role of AI and tech-driven workplace surveillance is spreading beyond the gig economy into the rest of the labour market. The sectors with the greatest proportion of workers reporting surveillance are financial services with 74 per cent, wholesale and retail with 73 per cent and utilities with 73 per cent.

The TUC cautioned that there is a huge lack of transparency over the use of AI at work, with many employees unsure of how surveillance tech is being used to inform decisions directly affecting them.

Automated decision making via AI includes selecting candidates for interviews, day-to-day line management, performance ratings, shift allocations and determining who is disciplined or made redundant.

The TUC added that AI tech is also being used to analyse facial expressions, tone of voice and accents to assess candidates’ suitability for roles.

To combat the rise of this technology, the union body is reportedly calling for a statutory duty to consult trade unions before an employer introduces the use of AI and automated decision-making systems. It also demanded an employment bill that includes the right to disconnect, along with digital rights to improve transparency around the use of surveillance tech. In addition, it asked for a universal right to human review high-risk decisions made by technology.

The TUC pointed out the UK government recently consulted on diluting GDPR as part of its post-Brexit divergence agenda, despite it providing some key protections for workers against surveillance tech.

It added that the EU is currently putting in place laws dealing specifically with the use of AI yet the UK doesn’t have any such protections. The TUC said this is yet another example of the UK falling behind its EU counterparts on workers’ rights.

The TUC found notable and growing levels of support among workers for the stronger regulation of workplace surveillance tech. 82 per cent support a legal requirement to consult before introducing monitoring, compared to 75 per cent in 2020. 77 per cent support no monitoring outside working hours, while 72 per cent said that using tech to make decisions about workers without careful regulation could increase unfair treatment.

Source: IT Pro

(Links and quotes via original reporting)