I start by welcoming the Secretary of State to his post. We have some of the highest standards of workers’ rights in the
world, and I strongly welcome his assurances that those will not be lowered. However, the pandemic has exposed unsettling practices, including some employers using digital surveillance software to track their employees’ homeworking. The most high-profile software used for that purpose was Microsoft’s productivity score, which allowed employers to track users’ activity. While that has since been adjusted to hide individual data, it is clear that other pieces of software could easily fill the gap.
I know from personal experience how distressing this sort of probing from employers can be, albeit in a more analogue fashion. At one stage in my career as a successful sales manager, after my commission was cut, I entered a period where my sales performance slipped. That prompted my employer to take monitoring to a concerning level. A tracker was placed in my car. I constantly received phone calls demanding updates. I received regular, aggressive emails, and I was summoned to meetings. The entire episode was unpleasant and intrusive. It felt like an invasion of my privacy, and as though I was being deliberately bullied out of the company.
To my employer’s surprise, however—and, I imagine, to the surprise of some hon. Members—I was a member of the trade union Prospect. Thanks to its help and attendance at meetings, we arrived at a resolution. By that point, the relationship with my employer had become untenable, and I moved to a direct competitor, Teal HealthCare, part of the Senator Group.
Teal was a dutiful employer, which allowed me the freedom to excel at my job again. It paid me until I was elected. I refer Members to my entry in the register of interests. It was incredibly supportive when I became an MP, and I thank Teal and the Senator Group for their backing, and Prospect for helping me through a difficult period. Ironically, after moving to Teal, I helped to win the biggest contract awarded in the sector, in direct competition with the employer that drove me out—he who laughs last.
The important point, however, as digital monitoring begins to appear more attractive to employers, in particular if some seek to adopt remote working patterns after the pandemic, is that that approach can backfire. Used properly, performance monitoring is a vital tool for managers to encourage progression and to resolve workplace issues to the benefit of the firm and of the employee. However, clearly there is a distinction between monitoring performance on the one hand and monitoring activity on the other. I hope that employers reflect on that.
Finally, I strongly recommend that anyone in a professional environment—