Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 May 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Employee Experiences of Technological Surveillance in the Financial Services Sector: Discussion

Photo of Louise O'ReillyLouise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Without regulation, it is possible that some employers could be storing data without necessarily understanding how they should be doing so. Everything Dr. O'Sullivan said points to the need for us to regulate this area fairly heavily. I have one final question as my time is tight. I come from the perspective that workers are adults. We all know that if people want to earn their wages, they have to do the work. Most people come to work to do their work, either willingly or disgruntled because they are not multimillionaires or whatever, but they have to work. They have to get up, go to work and do their work. Most people understand that, but the current level and the depth of surveillance is driving that "always on" culture. That is my opinion, and I would welcome Dr. O'Sullivan's views on this. We need to legislate for the right to disconnect. What is now happening is that people are being driven by the apps, by surveillance and by monitoring. Clearly, employers believe they can get more productivity out of their workers. I do not know if it is proven that the more monitoring you do the more productive your workers are. I doubt if that is the case, but I am willing to be corrected if it is. There are many reasons why employers are monitoring.