Employee monitoring without spying

Employee Monitoring without Spying

By Maryna Shynkaruk, Analytical Writer, NesterSoft Inc.

June 2015www.worktime.com

http://www.worktime.com/

When the idea of employee monitoring arises, there are

many things to consider. First of all because employee

monitoring is a very sensitive area. And also because the

market offers plenty of monitoring software.

What is on the market?

What is performance monitoring software?

What is spyware?

How to choose proper monitoring software to meet your

business goals and keep within the law at the same

time?

How to monitor just as much as needed?

What do lawyers recommend?

See next slides. 2

Employers and managers often come to the idea of employee computer monitoring. This approach is usually considered as one more way of improving productivity level of the employees. In other words, employers hope that it will solve certain business issues for them and make employees work better. So, the reasons are pretty clear and understandable. Once the decision is made, employers go shopping for the software.

And what does the market offer?

3

Decision to Monitor

There are tons of Monitoring Software on the market. Such software is commonly called Employee Monitoring Software or Computer Monitoring Software. The questions are:

What software is better to use? Which one to choose?

And there are things to consider. It is not that you just pick any and it will suit. Especially if taking into consideration the fact that employee monitoring is a very sensitive area. Here you deal with information related to a person. Whatever a person does during the whole working day is monitored. This is quite a responsibility.

4

What’s on the Market?

As mentioned above, such software on the market is usually called Employee or Computer Monitoring, which seems to suit the need of improving productivity level.

Almost all of the software can be categorized not as Performance or Productivity Monitoring Software, but as Spying Software (more details about this are below).

And the difference is significant. After comparing features of various monitoring software, I actually found out that spyware and productivity monitoring software offer not only a different set of features, but also have different business areas of application. That’s why it is important to understand business reasons and goals when choosing suitable monitoring software. In other words, it is always important to stay business related. 5

Monitoring or Spying?

Here is a quick catch-up on some important lawyers’ terms: Personal Data means any information, which can be

used to identify an individual. Inappropriate or illegal use of such data may lead to breaches of the law.

Sensitive Data - is a type of personal data, which in turn is about an individual’s: health or financial details, biometric information, religious preferences, racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, sexual orientation, philosophical beliefs or criminal history. (According to Data Protection Commissioner, Miriam Wugmeister’s works, Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring, and many others). Incorrect use of sensitive data may cause legal problems as well.

To sum it all up, Spyware or Spying Software is such software, which monitors, collects or processes personal, sensitive data. Such way of monitoring might infringe on personal privacy. 6

What is Spying Software?

Considering the above information, here comes a question: “What is spying software good for?” This type of monitoring software is suitable for investigation purposes or for simply spying on someone. But, before using mentioned above spying functionality, it is always important to understand all the reasons and have legal cause for such monitoring.

Below it is explained in detail, which software functions intercourse with an individual’s privacy and can be considered as spying ones.

7

What is Spying Software Good For?

Again, based on plenty of exploration, here is the definition of Performance or Productivity Monitoring Software:

“It is a monitoring software, which keeps track of information required to estimate performance level.”

Such type of monitoring software does not collect or process any personal or sensitive data that might infringe on individuals’ privacy (details are below in this article).

8

What is Performance or Productivity Monitoring Software?

ComparisonBased on the above information, here is a comparison of these two types of monitoring in practice, in order to find out what kind of features each of monitoring software provides.

Attendance MonitoringLogin/Logout Monitoring

Is it spying feature?

NOThese functions are not spying

ones as no personal or sensitive data is monitored (for more information refer to the

next column of this table

Is it Performance Monitoring?

YESMonitored information is:

employee login name, computer name and time (login in/out

time). Attendance monitoring is a necessary function to monitor

performance, as poor attendance affects performance level

negatively. Employee login name is open information as well as

computer name.

9

User Login Name Monitoring







employee’s system login name (this name is open information,

usually created based on the employee’s last and first names). This is necessary information for

performance monitoring, as employee’s system login name is

required to understand whose performance is monitored.

10

Computer Name Monitoring






YESMonitored information is: computer name, which is

required to understand if a computer is used for business

purposes. This is open information, that usually belongs to the employer.

11

Active Time MonitoringIdle Time Monitoring







employee’s login name, time. This data is required to see

when and for how long employees are being active or

idle during working hours.

12

Website URL Monitoring







employee’s login name, URL / software name and path. It is

required to understand if working time is used for

business purposes.

13

Social Network URL Monitoring









business purposes.

14

Software and Documents Monitoring(Name and Path Only)









business purposes.

15

Keystrokes Logging


YESMonitored data might contain

personal or sensitive information. Any monitoring

function that involves content monitoring might capture

private information.


NOMonitored information is: employee’s login name,

keystrokes pressed, which as a result might provide information about passwords or email / chat /

document / website form content. Monitoring content is

not a necessary function for estimating performance level, there are other ways to do it

(refer above).

16

Content Monitoring: Screen Content, Email Content, Chat Content, Social Media Content,

Website’s Content, Documents & Files Content, Print Content


YESMonitored data might contain

personal or sensitive information. Any monitoring

function that involves content monitoring might capture

private information.


NOMonitored information is:

employee’s login name, screen / email / chat / document /

website form content. Monitoring content is not a

necessary function for estimating performance level, there are other ways to do it

(refer above).

17

18

Which one to Choose?

In order to monitor productivity level, the right direction to go would be a productivity or performance monitoring software, that does not support any spying functions. To have all the data protected and also for quality assurance purposes, some spying functions might be needed. But again, it is important to stay business related. For example, when monitoring chats’ content for quality assurance purposes, it is a good idea not to monitor anything else except this particular chat application.

19

Common Mistake

In order to monitor productivity level, the right direction to go would be a productivity or performance monitoring software, that does not support any spying functions. To have all the data protected and also for quality assurance purposes, some spying functions might be needed. But again, it is important to stay business related. For example, when monitoring chats’ content for quality assurance purposes, it is a good idea not to monitor anything else except this particular chat application.

20

What Professional Lawyers Recommend

There are a lot of recommendations among the lawyers and here are the most important ones:

Stay business related Announce the fact of monitoring to the employees Provide clear monitoring policies Get consent from the employees

21

Quotations by professional lawyers

“Keep the monitoring work-related. If you offer employees a sound and positive business rationale for monitoring, they are more likely to accept it as a legitimate work-related tool rather than an intrusion. Acceptable reasons include monitoring to respond to a complaint regarding policy violations or to improve employee performance, customer relations, and the quality of products and services.” (By Robin Thomas, from Issues to consider when implementing an employee monitoring program).

“An employer may formulate an IT policy for inclusion in its employee manual, specifying that personal online activity not related to work is prohibited during work hours (and/or on company IT equipment). Such a policy should specifically prescribe activities for which use of the company e-mail system is deemed appropriate (if applicable). The employer may require its staff to read the employee manual carefully and acknowledge, in writing, having done so before being formally hired.” (By Ron Cai, Jojo Bai and Kevin Moore in ‘Employee Online Privacy in China’).

“As to the regulations, we suggest the company to clarify that no private matter shall be handled by the employees in working time or no office equipment shall be used for personal matters; furthermore, it’s also suggested to inform the employees that the company will record the employee’s using of the company computer, software or phone call. Surely, the aforesaid regulation shall be contained in the Employee Manual.” (By You Yunting in ‘Infringement on Privacy? Comment on Enterprise’s Monitoring of Employee’s Chat’, ‘Bridge IP Law Commentary’).

“To qualify, consent may be expressed, as in a written agreement, or implied from the circumstances, as when an employee is informed that all calls and e-mail will be monitored for quality assurance or training purposes.” (By Robin Thomas, from Issues to consider when implementing an employee monitoring program).

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/issues-to-consider-when-implementing-an-employee-monitoring-program/

http://www.dwt.com/advisories/Employee_Online_Privacy_in_China_05_06_2009/


22

Conclusion

If the business goals are clearly defined, it really helps with choosing proper monitoring software, with understanding what monitoring functions are necessary to achieve those business goals. Getting familiar with your local legislation is very useful when implementing monitoring in the company. So, having your business goals clearly defined in addition with knowledge of the law helps to choose monitoring without unnecessary spying functionality involved.

23

Useful Lawyers’ Resources

1. Monitoring Employees by FindLaw 2. Issues to consider when implementing an employee monitoring

program by Robin Thomas in TechRepublic3. Data Protection Laws of The World by DLA Piper 4. EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

NETWORKS AND SERVICES) (DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY) REGULATIONS 2003, by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources

5. Protection of workers’ personal data in the European Union by Professor Frank Hendrickx, University of Leuven, University of Tilburg

6. Employee Data Privacy in a Regional Overview by Simpson Grierson7. Data Privacy and Protection in the Workplace by Baker&McKenzie

http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/employment-law-and-human-resources/monitoring-employees.html


https://www.dlapiper.com/en/ukraine/insights/publications/2014/01/data-protection-laws-of-the-world-handbook/

http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/Documents/Document/Document/784

http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=2507&langId=en

http://www.simpsongrierson.com/employment/law-guides/?showall=true

http://www.bakermckenzie.com/files/Publication/b5c887f7-d96e-4bdc-afbf-04b354ce2a87/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/eb81001c-071a-4011-9aa7-08e2d0c14167/bk_employment_globalemployer_sep10.pdf

24

Copyrights

WorkTime - Respectful Employee Performance Monitoring.By Maryna Shynkaruk, Analytical Writer, NesterSoft Inc.June 2015www.worktime.comDisclaimer: This article provides general information only. This information is for general understanding only and not to be used as a legal advice. To receive professional legal advice, please consult your lawyer.



Employee monitoring without spying

Business

Transcript of Employee monitoring without spying