Privacy in the work place

Savvy_Sue

We have CCTV in some areas inside the building, I must check where we have signs ... because if they were needed, we'd have them. 

But while no-one watches it to catch people out, we may 'notice' what's going on. If a manager realised that a volunteer was doing something inappropriate, or not doing something the way we've asked them to do it, they would probably approach the staff member in that area and ask them what was going on. That way they are not undermining the authority of the staff who are running the session - they may be aware of what the volunteer was doing, or they may not, either way it's for them to resolve it, but for us as an organisation to agree what volunteers should do and how they should do it. 

If we become aware of unusual noise coming from the session we start monitoring it PDQ!

Savvy_Sue

Croeso69 said:

I suppose if you are not happy, you could just walk as it isnt a paying job. Thats what I would do if I felt that way. I guess there is no shortage of places looking for volunteers?

It's a mixed situation for volunteers atm. As with employees, there's a limit to how many you can have in one place at one time. Some services which would normally use a lot of volunteers have had to close (charity shops, anyone?), others are running in a very different way. Starting new volunteers isn't always straightforward either: we can't run our usual induction process which involves shadowing. 

On the other hand, there are some new volunteering opportunities opening up! 

But yes, if a volunteer isn't happy, we're always far happier if they talk to us, so that we can see if it can be resolved, or if we can explain why we require them to do things 'our way'. We don't want unhappy volunteers, but equally we know why we're doing what we're doing the way we do it, and if you don't want to do it that way you'll have to go and do your thing somewhere else. 

74jax

GT60 said:

When they phone up a staff member and ask petty questions about why a vol isn't doing something etc.
Can't really go into detail but trust me it is spying on staff for no good reason except  control.

I volunteer. Staff are there to tell me what to do etc. I'm not sure why it's petty to ask a staff member why I'm not doing something, if that were the case? 

GT60

The cctv is being used to catch the staff out at this moment in time and this is the feeling with the staff.
There was an incident the other day and the ceo phoned up the centre and was more concerned over someone not wearing a mask ( they were eating at the time) than the serious incident that had just taken place and defused all of which was also seen on cctv and was not mentioned.
This is not a one off either and staff moral is quiet low because there is no trust anymore and this is a very specialised job role.
I fully understand all your points and thank you for them.

TELLIT01

The way the CEO is using it, and the legality of it being in place, at two different things.  Many places of employment have CCTV so having it is not illegal. CCTV is also effective at protecting employees against unfounded allegations as it is at catching those who are doing things they shouldn't be doing.  I don't know what signage is required.

elsien

Have any of you spoken to the management/CEO about the concerns.
Because if all you’re doing is complaining to each other at every opportunity, morale is going to continue to nosedive. 

GT60

elsien said:

Have any of you spoken to the management/CEO about the concerns.
Because if all you’re doing is complaining to each other at every opportunity, morale is going to continue to nosedive. 

I believe it is going to be brought up in the next staff meeting.

Undervalued

Whilst I appreciate there are certain legal safeguards with CCTV, remember the CEO could quite lawfully stand in the room beside the camera and see what it see first hand! There is nothing you could do about that!

Reading between the lines here, is the CCTV actually the real problem? Clearly there is a breakdown of trust both ways and if that was resolved the CCTV aspect would become a lot less important?

wilfred30

GT60 said:

The cctv is being used to catch the staff out at this moment in time and this is the feeling with the staff.
There was an incident the other day and the ceo phoned up the centre and was more concerned over someone not wearing a mask ( they were eating at the time) than the serious incident that had just taken place and defused all of which was also seen on cctv and was not mentioned.
This is not a one off either and staff moral is quiet low because there is no trust anymore and this is a very specialised job role.
I fully understand all your points and thank you for them.

What has that got to do with privacy?  When staff are in the dining room, they're in a public space so the question of privacy doesn't come into it.  It would be totally different if the CCTV cameras were in the toilets!

Xbigman

Camera's are not the issue. It is the recordings the camera's are making that have legal requirements and restrictions. Where the recordings are stored and who has access to them comes under data protection laws and there should be a specific written policy for this. The same applies if the company wants to use the recordings for anything. There should be a specific written policy and signs up alerting everyone to the camera and that its recording them. My own place of employment has camera's and they can be used for issues of health and safety and theft. They can't be used for  e.g. timing staff breaks. So if a manager see's that you had too long for a break on the CCTV system they can speak to you about it but they can't produce the recordings as evidence. 
In the case of someone not wearing a mask it is quite legal for the CEO to phone up and talk about it. If they want to take it farther then proper policies and procedures need to be in place. 

If staff are unhappy then ask for a copy of the companies data policy covering this and ask for the policy on camera/recording use. Then get your union involved. 
Darren