The works council and staff tracking systems

What is a staff tracking system?

A staff tracking system is a system for monitoring the attendance, behaviour or performance of employees.

If an employer does not use a system to monitor employees but it is possible, this system is also a staff tracking system.

Staff tracking systems are therefore quite common in organisations.

Examples of staff tracking systems

Examples of staff tracking systems are:

• a system that registers attendance, time and access;
• a track & trace system in cars and trucks, such as a GPS tracker, black box or on-board computer;
• software that records keystrokes, email traffic and/or Internet use of employees, for example;
• camera surveillance in the workplace;
• wearables, such as a smartwatch;
• a system that keeps track of contact with customers;
• a system that supports the handling of work (workflow or case system);
• a facility within a system that registers access to (sensitive) files by employees (logging);
• a system that uses a pass or badge to register the attendance and/or location of an employee within a building.

Consent for staff tracking system

The works council has the right to consent to a proposed scheme for a staff tracking system. This is stated in Article 27, paragraph 1, under l. of the Works Councils Act (WOR).

If the works council does not agree, the employer may in principle not use the staff tracking system. If the employer still wants to use it, the employer can ask the sub-district court judge for permission (Article 27, paragraph 4, WOR).

Note: The works council also has the right to consent to a system that the employer does not (yet) use to track employees, but with which this could be done. In that case, the works council can make agreements about how the system will be used, by agreeing to the use of the system under certain conditions.

Testing the staff tracking system

It is important that you, as a works council, critically assess a proposed regulation for a staff tracking system. Does your organisation have a Data Protection Officer (DPO)? They can advise you.

You can test the proposed regulation on the following points:

• Does it concern a staff tracking system?
• Is it necessary to use a staff tracking system?
• Are employees informed of the observation in advance?
• Is the personnel assessment based solely on the data collected with staff tracking systems?

For an explanation of these questions, see the Works council privacy booklet.

The section Monitoring employees also provides information on what employers can and cannot do when it comes to monitoring employees. This can help you ask the employer critical questions.