It added: “ Save for in extreme circumstances, organisations should make staff aware that the type of monitoring that is taking place, including where and in what circumstances, there may be potential for any covert monitoring.
“This is because staff are entitled to know what information is being collected about them and how it could impact on them. Or example, if trackers are placed on work vehicles, staff need to know that the trackers are in place and what is being measured (e.g. routes, hours of use) and why.”
No fine was handed out to the firm, but bosses were given a formal warning and issued several steps for improvement.
Bizarrely, this isn’t the first time news has emerged of a boss taking extreme measures to find out what an employee is up to.
In September, news emerged that an overly-suspicious boss was arrested after planting a tracker on the car of an employee as part of a long-running row over sick leave.
Shedding light on the situation, which occurred in Spain, media outlet Antena 3 reported that a man was arrested after the worker, who was off sick with anxiety at the time, found the GPS device hidden on the underside of his vehicle while he was cleaning it.
A Spanish court is now in the process of considering evidence and will now decide whether to proceed with criminal charges.
In April, a company hired a private eye to tail a worker who was enjoying several alcoholic drinks a day while on the job.
The man, an electrician working for a company in Spain, was followed on several occasions by the detective, and was spotted buying and drinking alcohol multiple times a day. On one occasion he was even seen walking into a bar before 9am.
But a court has now ruled that the firm was wrong to dismiss the man because it couldn’t be proven that his drinking impaired his job performance. The court even said the soaring summer temperatures could also have been a valid reason for him to cool off with a refreshing beer (or several) during the work day.
Bosses must now give him his job back or pay him more than €47,000 (£42k) in compensation.
Subscribe now to myGrapevine+ and get access to exclusive new content, and the full content archive.
This is the last preview available to you for 30 days.
To access more news, features, columns and opinions every day, create a free myGrapevine account.