AI’ve seen the future, and it’s bright!

Happy Monday! I’m feeling very tired today and I don’t know whether it’s because of a lingering cold, or because on Saturday we finally got round to having our Precept Christmas get together (February was the earliest we could do!), and at the start of the day we went to Challenge Point. None of us (even Rob!) actually remember the gameshow, but give us a shout if you do!? For those who don’t know it, think of a cross between the Crystal Maze, Supermarket Sweep and Total Wipeout.? There were 7 rooms and in each room was a mini game that you have to work as a team to complete.? From quizzes to nerf guns, lasers to Charades, there was something for everyone!? I thought that my favourite was going to be the mini supermarket sweep, but I actually think the lasers were my favourite!

We split into 2 teams and so the competitive spirit was high, especially because Rob and Emma were on separate teams.? Sadly our team didn’t win, and even more sadly Emma’s dream team of Philip, Robyn and Mark did win (yes, you guessed it, Emma made me put this section into my blog!!!!!)

Anyway, Challenge Point had been recommended to me by a friend and so I did slightly feel the pressure if it ended up being rubbish, but it was actually really, really good, we had such a laugh, and although it was stressful at times, I would highly recommend! I am thinking about going back with Wayne and the kids BUT we are all very competitive, and I would worry it would all end in tears (just like it does when we all play Mario Kart!)

Now because I’d dragged the Derby/ Nottingham lot “my way”, which although I live in Stoke, we often go to Manchester as it is so quick to get to on the train, I also recommended where we went for food, and thankfully that also went down very well, the food was good and there was a great atmosphere in there, despite it being slightly chilly!? Good food, good drink, good company and good times!? We always have such a fab time when we are all together, makes me feel lucky for working at a place where everyone is genuinely awesome!

So yesterday I had a very chilled day, there was no kids football for me to sort (hooray), so I made the most of it and I had chance to recover from challenge point, or maybe the prosecco??!!

And now it’s back to the grindstone and mountains of washing (where does it all come from!?), and as I say, I’m suffering slightly from a cold, so go easy with me this week!

This week I thought I would discuss a topic that I am finding interesting, and that’s AI in the workplace, and specifically AI monitoring tools such as productivity trackers, email analysis, facial recognition and predictive performance analytics. These are all tools that traditional management methods would struggle to match, and yet if they are implemented wrongly, then they could cause trust issues, or you could land yourself in hot water with the ICO if you are found to have breached any rules around the data being used.

AI motoring such as those listed above often involve processing large amounts of data which can be personal and sensitive which would trigger needing to be compliant with the GDPR.

Last year, Amazon were fined €32m for “excessive” employee monitoring by the French data protection authority, CNIL.

To ensure you stay complaint with GDPR you need to ensure that you have:

·???????? A lawful basis for processing, and whilst employers often rely on “legitimate interests”, this isn’t a free pass and business needs need to balanced against employee privacy;

·???????? Informed employees about what data is being collected and why;

·???????? Only collected the data that is necessary, blanket surveillance is unlikely to be lawful; and

·???????? Used the least intrusive option.

You also need to ensure that you are compliant under the Human Rights Act 1998, where employees have a right to privacy at work. Even within employer owned systems, there will be an expectation that employees can have their own space, and this is especially the case with intrusive forms of monitoring such as with webcams. It is very unlikely that monitoring webcams all of the time (or at all!) would be lawful as this is a highly intrusive and invasive form of monitoring.

As well as this, there are some employment law considerations such as it being important to ensure that employees do not feel as though they have been monitored so heavily or intrusively, that they then have a claim for constructive unfair dismissal. Also some algorithms have already been under the spotlight for unintentionally disadvantaging protected groups.? If this happened you could risk indirect discrimination claims being brought against you under the Equality Act 2010.

If you are thinking about using AI monitoring, I would recommend the following steps:

1.????? Conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment;

2.????? Be transparent: update your privacy notices and policies, and clearly explain to employees what is being monitored, how, and why;

3.????? Use the least intrusive method, so consider other methods too;

4.????? Regularly review what is being monitored, how and why ; and

5.????? Consult with your employees to try and keep the trust, and reduce and legal risks.

AI tools can boost productivity but can create an issue where employees feel they are not trusted, or overly managed. At all times, you should ask yourself: is this monitoring fair, necessary and proportionate?

Getting this right isn’t just about compliance with the law though, it’s also about ensuring that you don’t then have a culture of mistrust or over-management where that then hampers productivity or trust of your employees. I think that the world of AI is going to start becoming more and more relevant and so it’s important that you get ahead of the game in knowing and understanding the legal implications of it’s use, even if you decide not to use it.

If you have any specific questions on this, or using AI monitoring in your workplace, please do not hesitate to get in touch with myself or one of the fabulous Precept Team.