Workplace Surveillance in Canada: A survey on the adoption and use of employee monitoring applications

Abstract

Employee monitoring apps (i.e., 'bossware') have become increasingly affordable and accessible on the open market. Apps such as Interguard and Teramind provide companies with a powerful degree of surveillance about workers, including keystroke logging, location and browser monitoring, and even webcam usage. However, as homes have become offices, and laptops and smartphones are used for business, school, and entertainment, the increasing surveillance of ‘remote work’ blurs the boundaries between work and personal spaces. Drawing from an interdisciplinary study on the proliferation of employee monitoring applications (EMAs) in a nascent era of ‘remote work’, this paper presents findings from a survey examining Canadian companies’ adoption of EMAs. The findings identify the most prevalent economic sectors that 'bossware' is currently being used within, the rationalities that underpin the ongoing use of EMAs in Canada (such as COVID-19, ‘productivity/efficiency’, ‘cybersecurity’, and ‘health/wellness’), and the features of the most sought after 'bossware' apps for Canadian companies (such as time tracking, website tracking, and keystroke logging). We conclude with an analysis of how dominant surveillance discourses drive the adoption of monitoring practices, including how they inform the anticipated benefits of surveillance for the management of remote work and digital labour.