Study exposes effects of workplace surveillance

Electronic surveillance used in the public sector varies from workplace to workplace, but the range includes CCTV surveillance, monitoring of e-mails and telephone calls, biometric-based time attendance systems through a palm reader, and monitoring and restriction of internet browsing.

This emerges from a study conducted in 2013 by Christine Garzia as part of her MSc in Occupational Psychology with Birkbeck University in London. The study was based on 12 interviews with seven female and five male graduate professional workers employed as project administrators with the Maltese public service.

While workers tend to see ‘EM’ (electronic monitoring) systems as an effective way to expose dishonest workers, participants in the study also felt that they were being treated like children instead of responsible adults.

The aim of study was to look at the impact of technological surveillance systems and to assess their impact on professional workers. A summary of it has been published in the European Working Conditions Organisation’s (EWCO) website.

The majority of the interviewed workers were critical of the use of such technology, which was described by some as ‘unjust and rigid’.

Some expressed this in terms of a ‘sense of discomfort’, while others spoke about their ‘frustration’, and how surveillance exposed their ‘vulnerability’.

Some of the workers implied that monitoring systems disregarded good behaviour and picked up only bad behaviour.

This left workers feeling that they were being treated like children instead of responsible adults. For some workers, this resulted in a loss of dignity and a lack of empowerment, while others expressed frustration at their management’s lack of flexibility.

The greatest concern was on how the organisation managed the monitoring system.

But most respondents also saw benefits in EM systems as a way to curb abusive work practices by other employees.

According to Anna Borg from the Centre of Labour Studies of the University Malta, these findings suggest that such EM systems could have a negative impact on the relationship between management and the workers, especially if such measures were perceived to be excessive.

“The research suggests that before any monitoring system is introduced, the management should be ‘clear and honest’ with the workers about it if they want to avoid denting the trust of their employees.”

Employers should also be clear about the aims and scope of such surveillance systems to avoid a detrimental effect on workers and the employee-management relationship.