Is 'workplace analysis' an excuse to spy on staff?

Snooping on staff at work is a hotly-debated issue for employers; monitoring staff input and output is necessary for businesses to excel, but to what extent can employers ‘monitor’ staff without breaching privacy?

Colin Stuart, Managing Director of Workplace Consultancy Baker Stuart, discusses the use of workplace analysis in enabling businesses to “develop and improve a working environment.”

He says, through using utilisation studies and occupation audits, businesses can “access accurate data regarding the true usage of offices, and the frequency of occupancy. We are now able to monitor and record staff behaviour, to recognise what an office needs to be.”

The use of sensors allows employers to “measure movement, offering an accurate insight into unused space, team working, meeting room use, fixed desk utilisation etc.” From this information, offices can be adapted around employee needs, “thus improving morale, wellbeing, productivity and office efficiency.”