How to: Handle Employee Surveillance at Work
Published on: 18/10/2021
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Dr. Gerry McMahon MD, Productive Personnel Ltd
Dr. Gerry McMahon MD, Productive Personnel Ltd
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Gerry McMahon is an acknowledged national expert in People Management.  He has over 35 years’ experience - as a workplace investigator (on bullying/harassment/ disciplinary/dismissal/grievance issues), trainer, negotiator, facilitator, mediator, arbitrator and team builder - across a wide range of employment sectors. He is the M.D. of the H.R. training and advisory company Productive Personnel Ltd. 

Gerry has also had an extensive range of books and articles published and been a columnist with the Industrial Relations News, Irish Times, Sunday Business Post, and Irish Independent and expert commentator on H.R./Employee Relations for R.T.E. and TV3/Virgin. He has also served on numerous Legal Island and C.I.P.D. judging panels and is a Council member of the Irish Association for Industrial Relations.

Contact: Tel. 087-2471415; E-Mail: ppl1gerry@gmail.com

Trade unions recently raised concerns about workplace surveillance at Amazon warehouses, following the company’s announcement that they plan to open their first centre in Ireland next year, creating 500 jobs at the Baldonnell Business Park in Dublin. The union’s concerns were fuelled by a recent U.S. Federal Board recommendation about the use of surveillance cameras by the company near a union recognition polling booth at their Alabama warehouse. This follows a 2020 Reuters’ report on research findings that the company relies on ‘extensive’ surveillance to track employees and their output, via ‘navigation software, item scanners, wristbands, thermal cameras, security cameras and recorded footage’.

Of course, Amazon’s use of surveillance techniques is far from unique. For example, the EU’s agency EUROFOUND

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 18/10/2021
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