Remote monitoring of employees

If you wish to monitor employees who are not in the workplace, such as those who work from home or who are on the road using a company car, you must always comply with the general conditions for monitoring employees. In addition, there are some specific points of attention that concern weighing your interests against the privacy interests of your employees. Methods to monitor employees remotely can be very drastic for them.

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General conditions for monitoring employees

When monitoring your employees remotely, you must comply with the general conditions for monitoring employees. These always apply if you want to monitor your staff, regardless of what exactly it is about. In addition, there are a number of specific points of attention for monitoring employees working from home and employees who drive a company car.

Monitoring employees working from home

A lot of methods for monitoring remote workers have a major impact on their privacy. For example, special software that records what they do on their computer (such as logging in and out, keystrokes, use of email and the Internet). Or software that can be used to take screenshots or photos of their home office, via the webcam.

You must, therefore, carefully consider whether it is necessary to use such methods. Often, you can also monitor your employees in another, less drastic way. For example, by making agreements about what they have to do on a day and how they can account for it.

You must also be able to substantiate why your interests outweigh the rights and interests of your employees. With very intrusive methods to monitor employees, their privacy interests usually weigh more heavily.

Note: If your employees work from home, the same monitoring rules apply as if they were at work. You are therefore not allowed to suddenly monitor your employees more intensively because they work remotely.

Monitoring employees with a GPS tracker

If you want to install GPS trackers in your company cars, or another track & trace system, such as an on-board computer or black box, the most important condition under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is that you have a legitimate interest in this. And that installing GPS trackers in company cars is necessary.

A legitimate interest could, for example, be that you want to be able to find out which car is closest to a customer, so you can send that car to the customer.

This legitimate interest must outweigh the rights and interests of your employees, such as their right to privacy. You must make this assessment and be able to substantiate why your interests are more important.

Note: Do your employees also drive a company car privately? When you monitor them in their own time, their privacy interests usually carry more weight. At many companies, employees can switch off the GPS tracker, black box or on-board computer when driving the company car in their own time.