Monitoring tools common in a range of workplaces, including factories, office jobs, delivery work and in retail – often without employees being informed
Employers are increasingly using technology, from CCTV to keystroke monitoring, to track workers’ moves and it is being accelerated by the use of AI, the Human Technology Institute has warned.
Examples provided to Guardian Australia by the institute include a fast-food restaurant using surveillance cameras to stop workers using their phones, and AI tracking leading to a cashier warned over making a mistake once every 533 scans.
In a report released on Tuesday, the University of Technology Sydney institute said workplace monitoring tools were increasingly common in a range of workplaces, including in factories, office jobs, delivery work and in retail – often without employees being aware of the monitoring.
Tools include CCTV, monitoring card swipes, keystroke monitoring and tracking workplace instant messaging.
The report highlighted Microsoft Teams as a common platform for workplace surveillance. The company earlier this year rolled out a tool that updates a worker’s location automatically to reflect they are in the office when they connect to workplace wifi.
Researchers at the institute were told during consultations that at one unnamed large fast-food chain, young employees were concerned their employer had put cameras in the change rooms to ensure staff were not on their phones at work. The researchers reported young people did not use the change rooms as a result.
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association wrote in its submission to the joint parliamentary inquiry on artificial intelligence that a cashier at one big supermarket received a final written warning because the AI monitoring system had flagged her making too many errors.
The error rate was reported to be 0.18%, or roughly one error per 533 items scanned.
The Human Technology Institute has called on the federal government to build privacy protections into workplace laws, given exemptions in the Privacy Act related to employee records, as well as small business exemptions, have allowed workplace surveillance to grow.
A March 2026 Minderoo-commissioned poll found 43% of Australians were aware some employers use technology including AI to monitor workers, but only 9% were aware monitoring was used in their own workplace.
Human Technology Institute co-director Prof Edward Santow said transparency over workplace surveillance was “necessary but far from sufficient”, and said the Fair Work Act should be overhauled to include a test for whether the introduction of workplace monitoring was appropriate.
“Make really clear that if you are going to be … monitoring [workers], it has to be fair and reasonable,” he said.
The minister should also be given powers to proscribe certain surveillance products that pose an “unacceptable risk” to workers’ rights, the report stated, pointing to recent federal government concern about the rise in the use of smartglasses.
“Such concern is likely to be particularly strong in a workplace context, as smart glasses could be used to covertly surveil workers,” the report stated.
It would require employers to engage with their employees on the workplace surveillance they intend to use and improve the quality of the consent obtained from employees, the report stated.
The proposed change to the law would allow employees to make privacy-related complaints to the Fair Work Commission
The Human Technology Institute will present its findings to the joint standing committee on artificial intelligence on Tuesday, as the third week of hearings begins.
The committee will focus on AI in the workplace, with several unions to appear this week. The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, will also appear before the committee this week, as well as representatives from the CSIRO, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Medical Association, and tech company Atlassian.
Committee member Labor senator Tony Sheldon said in a statement that workplace surveillance was becoming increasingly common and was a serious concern for employees.
“This report raises critical concerns about the impact of workplace surveillance on the privacy, health and dignity of working Australians, particularly when many employees don’t even know they’re being monitored.”
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Source: www.theguardian.com
