Can you monitor employee office attendance?

Hybrid working has been adopted by many companies as a way of providing employees with greater flexibility, whilst also ensuring they still come into the office a few days a week. It undoubtedly has many benefits for employees and is valued especially with the new generation of personnel in the workplace.

Over the past year, an increasing number of employers want staff in the office (even if not on a full-time basis) to help with personal development, coaching, improve team working and collaboration. Some employers are taking a more formalised approach to achieve this, for example, by monitoring the office attendance of employees.

Considerations for employers monitoring attendance

Although monitoring is generally permitted, it must not be intrusive, should be for a legitimate aim(s), and must comply with data protection laws and principles. Most employers address these issues in their contractual terms, privacy notices and data protection policies.

In addition to the legal requirements that must ensure compliance (data and privacy), HR should encourage transparency, so that individuals are aware of the monitoring and with whom the information on each individual is shared. Keeping the tracking and information confidential and secure, with limited circulation (on a need-to-know basis for each employee) is important.

Employers will have existing agreed exemptions with their staff – for example, those with contractually agreed homeworking arrangements or adjustments because of long-term or temporary health issues. Employees who don’t have these exemptions may seek to make formal requests for flexible working: by law, employees have a right to request (but not to be granted) flexible working which includes changing the place of work (from the office to home). The right to request is different from the right to be granted homeworking and employers may refuse for good business reasons.

One of the aims of monitoring office attendance may be to ensure employees are treated equitably. Employers need to be careful not to discriminate, typically by allowing greater flexibility for female staff than male, based on stereotyping and assuming woman rather than men have greater need and childcare responsibilities. Special care also needs to be taken where staff have issues complying due to health issues or any disabilities. The EHRC has published new guidance on supporting disabled workers with hybrid working, which is a useful reminder to employers that although homeworking/hybrid working can support disabled staff, hybrid and remote working arrangements can bring challenges; the new guidance encourages employers to explore this with individuals and think about, for example, the design of systems and meetings and specifically remote meetings in the workplace.

With the suggestion that the new government supports a four-day week involving compressed hours (longer working days rather than reduced hours), there may be a perfect storm brewing with employees to reduce the number of days they have to attend the office by seeking compressed hours. How employers balance these arrangements and their desire for more face time, collaboration, and office attendance, will be a real challenge going forward if new rights to request a four-day week proceed.

If you have questions about monitoring the office attendance of employees, please contact Audrey Williams.