Employer breached my privacy

hopperdennis

I've been working at home for almost the past year in a Covid related role. I've recently learned that my direct manager has been watching myself and my colleague's, without us knowing. We have some kind of agent track software on our laptops and my not so professional or savvy manager let it recently slip that they could see us into out homes for a period when tracking our productivity, and that this is now not the case. I like to think of myself as easy going however this feels like a total violation. There was no forewarning that this was happening, only a few comments after it had happened in the context that it should not have been happening in the first place, and is now not happening going forward. I don't believe this has been recorded, however the fact they were able to switch on our webcam with this tracking software and watch us without my knowing really has me feeling so uneasy about work amongst other emptions. I am not sure how to handle this because the role is temporary and as the situation with Covid improves in the UK, there is a constant reduction in work force and I feel raising any concern will earmark me. I have a feeling some of my colleges are feeling and thinking just the same. What would you do in this siutation?

Marcon

hopperdennis said:

I've been working at home for almost the past year in a Covid related role. I've recently learned that my direct manager has been watching myself and my colleague's, without us knowing. We have some kind of agent track software on our laptops and my not so professional or savvy manager let it recently slip that they could see us into out homes for a period when tracking our productivity, and that this is now not the case. I like to think of myself as easy going however this feels like a total violation. There was no forewarning that this was happening, only a few comments after it had happened in the context that it should not have been happening in the first place, and is now not happening going forward. I don't believe this has been recorded, however the fact they were able to switch on our webcam with this tracking software and watch us without my knowing really has me feeling so uneasy about work amongst other emptions. I am not sure how to handle this because the role is temporary and as the situation with Covid improves in the UK, there is a constant reduction in work force and I feel raising any concern will earmark me. I have a feeling some of my colleges are feeling and thinking just the same. What would you do in this siutation?

What outcome do you want to achieve?

hopperdennis

I'm not sure to be honest! As a minimum I want to let them know it is wrong, which it is, and I suspect they know that already, however they won't have really heard much from the small remaining work force in terms of their concern and distress. I am guessing it's not a case for a tribunal whereby they compensate for distress? Unsure as to the legalities of what they have done.

JamoLew

If its this then its all legal and above board

ActivTrak is a cloud-based monitoring tool that lets you track which applications your employees are using and which websites they are visiting. You'll need to download and install an ActivTrak tracking agent – which is the monitoring software – on the computer you intend to monitor.

You are using their hardware in their time - they are allowed to monitor what you are doing on their hardware in their time

Are you 100% certain they have been activating the webcam or have you misunderstood what they have been doing/monitoring ?

Even then - it may well be totally legal

What distress have you suffered from doing your job - or do you have something to feel "guilty" about

hopperdennis

Nope, no misunderstanding! Their agent track software, also installed without our knowing, could access the webcam and allow those at the other end to view us, and they did. I just feel we should have known about this. I am in the privacy of my own home and the role doesn't require the use of webcam, this is the only thing it's been used for.

74jax

I totally get where you are coming from.
My work laptop had tracking on so they knew what we were accessing, what was open what we clicked etc. That was fine. 
Had I known they could have switched on to watch me in my own home I'd have been very uneasy.
Simple things like a 'roll out of bed look', yesterday's sweatshirt, family photos in the background.... 
In all my Teams meetings I never used my background, I always used the inbuilt background options.
They clearly know it was wrong, its been addressed. I'd just ask for confirmation nothing was recorded and pop a post it over your webcam when not in use. 

JCS1

Is there anything in the companies IT policy about this?

Marcon

74jax said:

Had I known they could have switched on to watch me in my own home I'd have been very uneasy.

Agree. Don't webcams light up when the camera function is in use? Mine certainly does.

Gavin83

I’ve been known to work while wearing very little (from home!) so I’d definitely consider this a violation! If I had a webcam that didn’t have a shutter on it I’d make sure to cover it up though, especially if it was never used.

A_Lert

If there is any chance they could have made an indecent image then I'd consider reporting it to the police, even if you're not certain such an image was made. Ie, any time when an undressed adult or child could have been in the webcam's field of view.

Grumpy_chap

A small piece of sticky post-it note is the simplest and best form of managing a webcam.