Can employers keep an eye on remote employees? Is it legal? These are questions that every employee deserves an answer for, especially when many companies are slowly getting used work from the home norm.
To answer in a nutshell, yes it is legally ok for employers to implement surveillance strategies for their remote-working employees. But there’s a catch to this power: It has to be done right.
There are many reasons why a company would want to keep track of their employees' work activities:
With the rising trend of implementing employee surveillance, the lawmakers of every country have perked up to the situation and set stringent legal rules in using the surveillance software. In India, the Information Technology Act 2000, allows employee monitoring as long as there is a reasonable and legitimate business intent. The law clearly states that the monitoring should not intrude on the worker’s privacy and personal space.
Also Read : The rising trend of employee monitoring
Here are some other important aspects of legally implementing the monitoring software in India:
Employee monitoring is a trend that comes with advantages and disadvantages. It is best to understand what they are before implementing the process.
The pros
The cons
Offering unbiased protection to all employees
No worker should feel oppressed or targetted by surveillance. Disproportionate surveillance of a diverse group or marginalized group of employees could invite legal and reputational problems, aside from irreversibly damaging the ethical code. Employee surveillance should be implemented in a manner that is fair for everyone on the employee ladder.
Decreasing monitoring whenever possible.
Monitoring should be a controlled process from the word “Go”. Employers need not keep their workforce on a leash all the time. They should identify when and where to pull back their monitoring efforts and grant their workforce the freedom to do their work as long as things are going well.
With more organizations in India relying on remote employee monitoring software, HRAPP offers a solution that is designed to be user-friendly and employee-friendly. Want to know how to legally implement our software in your system? Talk to our technical team for more guidance.