Workplace surveillance: Why working women? Why now?
Workplace surveillance in various forms has always been a component of modern workplace dynamics.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a proliferation of surveillance and monitoring practices in an attempt by employers to monitor and manage unprecedented numbers of remotely working employees.
Now in the post-Covid era, new surveillance technologies powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly common in workplaces in Australia and around the world.
With widespread monitoring and surveillance here to stay, WWQ is raising awareness of the risks that excessive surveillance and monitoring poses to workers, in particular to working women.
WWQ, in collaboration with Wotton Kearney, have produced a report focusing on WWQ’s casework experience and the unique issues that women face in relation to workplace surveillance.
The report makes a number of recommendations to minimise the issues that arise from AI-powered workplace surveillance.
These include machine bias, function creep, right to privacy and employee rights, and seeks to actively engage in the development and implementation of protections from excessive workplace surveillance.
You can find the full report here: Working under the Lens: Protecting Workers’ Rights with AI Powered Workplace Surveillance on the Rise
Our Recommendations
Recommendation 1
WWQ recommends the introduction of a national uniform legislation enacted in all states and territories which regulates workplace surveillance and contains effective protections for workers against excessive or disproportionate surveillance and privacy breaches.
Recommendation 2
WWQ recommends the implementation of a new consent-based framework for the collection of sensitive information in the course of employment, that ensures workers have the right to opt out of certain uses or disclosures of information irrelevant to their work, without repercussions.
Recommendation 3
WWQ supports the introduction of comprehensive, AI-specific legislation to overlay Australia’s existing technology neutral laws which regulates the development and use of AI applications and prohibits AI applications which create an unacceptable risk.
Recommendation 4
WWQ encourages workers to, where possible, engage with their union representatives for assistance in negotiating effective contractual protections against harmful AI applications and excessive workplace surveillance into employment agreements.
Recommendation 5
WWQ recommends that in enacting a national uniform legislation for workplace surveillance, the Parliaments of the states and territories have regard to and adopt the Recommendations in the Final Report of the Committee of the Parliament of Victoria’s Legislative Assembly Economy and Infrastructure as they relate to a new workplace surveillance legislation.
Recommendation 6
WWQ supports the removal of the employee records exemption in the Privacy Act.
Recommendation 7
Workplaces and policy makers should continue to develop a stronger culture of human rights, which are even more critical in the context of rapid technological change.
Recommendation 8
WWQ supports the recommendation that the Australian Government should establish an ‘AI Commissioner’ to provide independent expert advice to government and regulators, and to provide guidance on law and ethics for industry, civil society, and academia.
Recommendation 9
WWQ supports the Australian Unions in seeking a new set of mandatory enforceable agreements that would compel employers to consult with their staff before new AI technologies can be introduced into workplaces.
Resources
Our Employee Factsheet provides a summarised format of our Report to assist you in understanding how workplace surveillance may affect you provides prompts that will assist you in making enquiries of your workplace’s surveillance methods.
Find the Employee Factsheet here: Employee Factsheet
Our Employer Factsheet seeks to inform employers about the risks associated with AI powered surveillance technologies and recommends that human oversight and strict policies and procedures be implemented where these technologies are in place. This will help prevent the risk of adverse action being taken against employees where it is not warranted.
Find the Employer Factsheet here: Employer Factsheet
BRQ and WWQ made a submission to the 2024 Inquiry into the Digital Transformation of Workplaces.
Eloise Dalton of WWQ and Emma Campbell of Wotton Kearney authored an article on AI powered workplace surveillance and its tendency to discriminate in Centrum: the journal of PSMG, Spring 2025.