Nearly 50% of employers use recordings when they fire someone

• 78% of employers say they already monitor what their employees do from home.
• Surveillance has increased in the past six months
• 46% of employers have used stored recordings to fire someone — and it can be used in performance reviews.

With companies extending remote-work policies and adopting hybrid work plans, workers should expect their bosses to be keeping a close eye on them while they work.

Seventy-eight percent of bosses said they are already watching their employees from home, according to a recent study by ExpressVPN. The rise in the surveillance of employees can likely be attributed to long-term work-from-home policies being implemented (57% said they’ve started using employee monitoring software in the past six months). This means workers should be on their toes at all times.

Everything you do is being monitored

Did you send a risky Slack message to a teammate complaining about your boss? Was Zoom still recording when you starting ranting about your co-worker?

While it’s easy to assume that any mistake you make while using company-related devices and programs can be forgotten, workers should know that everything is being recorded — and it can be used against you.

Forty-six percent of employers said they have used stored recordings to fire someone, according to the survey. In addition, nearly 75% of employers said they store just about everything — like emails, calls, messages, or videos — which can be used to make decisions during performance reviews.

Here’s a glimpse of how communication is being recorded and stored on a regular basis:

• 94% of employers said they save email.
• 87% of employers said they save calls.
• 87% of employers said they save video.
• 85% of employer said they save messages.

How your company is secretly watching you at home

There’s a list of software that companies have used, both in the past and during the pandemic, to keep tabs on employees from afar. Since many are using company equipment (Laptops, phones, et al), employees should be mindful that there’s likely hidden software installed enabling companies to spy on what workers are really doing.

That means be careful what you stream or shop for if you don’t have another laptop for your personal needs.

“With more people working remotely at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the boundary between business and personal activities has blurred because people are spending considerable time on company equipment and business video calls, including in the evenings and on weekends,” The Brookings Institution warned.

These were some of the ways the companies have monitored employees during the pandemic:

Keylogger software – Software that tracks activities on a keyboard. Sometimes can be used as “screen recorders”, which will capture your screen at any moment. (Examples: Spirit Free Keylogger; Eramind)

Video surveillance – Think of a security camera in the office. It’s not just there to be a safeguard, but it can also be used to “monitor movements, and track worker performance.” (Examples: Hubstaff; Ecamsecure)

Attention tracking – Webcams that track body movement, or measure attentiveness. (Examples: GazeRecorder; xLabs)

Web browsing monitoring – Software that tracks where you are going and whether you’re staying on course during work, not trying to get the next big sale. (Examples: ActivTrak; CurrentWare)

Here’s what employers are looking at, via the ExpressVPN study:

• Websites visited / time spent on various websites: 66%
• Apps used / time spent on apps: 53%
• Real-time screen monitoring: 53%
• Periodic screen capture: 33%
• Active work hours / log times: 46%
• Productive vs. unproductive hours logged: 31%
• Chats / messaging logs: 30%
• Monitoring / access to computer files: 27%
• Inbound and outbound emails: 23%
• Transcribed calls: 22%

Maybe it’s time to put down your side hustle and save it for after work hours.