Tracking employee time and data protection laws

Employee time tracking methods are used by managers and business owners for a few reasons.

• To track and manage absence and lateness

• To mitigate time theft in the workplace

• To record employee working hours

• To ensure compliance with Working Time Regulations

However, while undertaking time tracking and monitoring, have you ensured that what you are doing is legal?

In this guide we cover any implications the law may have on employee time tracking and monitoring methods. All of which in some way, shape or form, allow you to track, monitor and generate records and reports of employee working hours and clocking in times.

At BrightHR we offer a modern solution with our clocking in app, fondly known as Blip! This modern solution allows you to track employee clock in and out times from anywhere at any time. Giving your employees the freedom and flexibility to clock in using a mobile device.

Methods of time tracking

There are several ways you can track the working hours of your employees. From physical clock in and out cards, to digital clocking in systems, including handy apps for your remote workers.

Is monitoring your employees legal?

Employee time tracking is a form of employee monitoring, which crosses over with methods such as surveillance and recording. It’s important to understand your legal responsibilities before implementing any type of employee monitoring in your workplace.

Employee time tracking and monitoring is legal in the UK, when done correctly. Common practices of employee tracking can be seen across hundreds of sectors.

For example, haulage companies are legally required to track the working hours of their long-distance drivers to ensure safety and compliance when a vehicle is covered by certain EU rules.

However, to ensure that your business is monitoring your staff legitimately, you should consider the following:

• The reasons for monitoring your employees

  • Do you have a legitimate reason for monitoring?

  • Are all employees being monitored in the same way?

  • When, where and how are employees being monitored?

• Informing your employees about their monitoring, for example, writing a company policy

• Compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018

Storing employee data

While there’s not necessarily a specific law regarding ‘watching’ or ‘tracking’ your employees, there are data protection laws in place that you certainly must abide by.

By tracking any sort of employee movement or time, you will be logging data about individuals. Which must be stored and used correctly. The Data Protection Act 2018 requires employers to monitor employees in a way that is lawful. fair, transparent and relevant to the needs of the business.

Any personal data that is collected via monitoring or tracking of your employees needs to be accurate and kept up to date. More information on how you can store employee data can be found in our handy guide.

When employee monitoring and tracking goes beyond what is reasonable, such as surveillance in private areas, this can quickly become unlawful and a breach of the Data Protection Act.

How to avoid excessive monitoring

The Information Commissioner’s Office, in 2023, provided some guidance on monitoring in the workplace to ensure employers’ practices are lawful. Their key points are focused on their own research into workplace monitoring. In which they discovered that around 70% of the UK population would feel it intrusive to be monitored by their employer.

With this type of response, it’s incredibly important to approach tracking and monitoring of employee time and behaviour with caution. Key takeaways from the ICO’s guidance include:

• Any monitoring must be fully compliant with data protection laws

• Employers must make workers aware of the nature, extent and reasons for monitoring.

• Ensure a defined purpose is established

• Use the least intrusive means possible

• Process employee tracking data lawfully

• Make policies on tracking and monitoring easy for staff to understand

• Only store information recorded that is relevant to the business

When storing data regarding your employee’s time or work, you must make this personal information accessible to them upon request.

Keeping your employees informed

Any type of monitoring or tracking you choose to implement in your workplace must be carefully documented within policies and employment handbooks or contracts. For guidance on how to write a workplace policy, refer to the advice of an HR and employment law expert.

If your employees object to methods of time tracking, our article on how to handle this offers simple tips to ensure transparent and ethical practices.

Need to write a policy quickly, but don’t know where to start? BrightBase, BrightHR’s document library, has expertly written policy templates for you to use and follow as a guide. Offering a simple solution for writing HR policies with ease.

Stay compliant and opt to track employee time with a modern solution

With BrightHR not only do you get access to a simple, modern solution for time tracking, thanks to Blip, our HR advice team will also provide you the support you need to ensure your practices are In line with current legislation.

Concerned about staying on the right side of the law? Not to worry, our team of experts are on hand to provide 24/7 expert advice. Plus, all our digital tools and features are designed with safety and security in mind. So, you can rest easy knowing personal employee data is safe when using our award-winning HR software.

Book a free demo today to discover our clocking in app and so much more.