We have a right to privacy, and a right to a life outside of work. Workplace surveillance is a real threat to the lives of working people – and it goes much further and deeper than just looking at what employees are doing on social media.

Workers are being tracked and timed when they go to the bathroom or take a toilet break. Who they speak to and what they talk about is being monitored. Our fingerprints, eye movements, health history and activities are being tracked and stored with no protections or transparency.

It's an enormous problem. Workers say they feel they can't use workplace rights, or raise safety issues, because everything they do is being monitored. They feel they are constantly under suspicion, and are under constant pressure to perform. Surveillance has severe mental health impacts on workers and, as it turns out, has a negative impact on productivity.

But bad bosses can't help themselves - "productivity paranoia" has set in and they're prepared to monitor every moment of every staff member's day, even if it makes everyone miserable and less productive.  

What’s the solution?

We want to prevent unnecessary surveillance, and we want workers to have the right to know about what surveillance is happening at work, what data is being collected and what the data shows.

We need privacy in working life. So we need Parliament to protect workers and make sure bosses disclose:

• What’s being tracked
• Why is it being tracked – what decisions are being informed?
• How is it being used/stored
  • And we want workers to have a right to see the data collected about them

The employer should have to prove why surveillance is necessary – not just because they feel like it.

But what about social media stalking?

This isn’t about your social media showing you on the beach when you’re taking a sick day – that’s always going to get you in trouble and our proposal for privacy can’t help you there. 

It’s about bosses tracking your social media for completely irrelevant information – who you’re talking to, what sport you play on the weekend, your political opinions, your health, your financial situation, whether you’re pregnant or have a disability.

Until recently your boss' snooping was limited by their time and attention span, but AI has now enabled 24/7, 365 monitoring. Some workplaces are using "sentiment analysis" to try to predict whether you're looking for other jobs, whether you're likely to ask for a raise or for leave, or whether...gulp... you might be talking to a union. 

It's all aimed at a terrifying new level of control and intimidation. And it's time for the Victorian Government to draw a line.