Is your boss tracking you while you work? Some Canadians are about to find out

If you're spending more time on YouTube than Excel during your workday, there's software that may be flagging you as "unproductive" and sending that activity to your boss. That's the new reality as remote work is on the rise, causing more employers to monitor employees to see if they're slacking off.

Near downtown Toronto's Union Station, a major commuting hub, workers like Fariha Chowdhury say they would like to know if their actions are being monitored.

"It's technically like being spied on. So it's within your rights to know if it's happening," Chowdhury said.

Mustafa Kobari says companies that turn to these software solutions can be heading down a slippery slope: "Where does it stop? It's a little bit worrying."

Some Canadian workers will now learn whether they're being tracked. Starting on Tuesday, Ontario employers with 25 or more employees will be required to have an electronic monitoring policy, and they have 30 days to disclose the information to staff.

It's part of the Working for Workers Act, and it makes the province the only one in Canada with legislation on employee monitoring. Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia require employers to disclose data collection under privacy laws.

As the COVID-19 pandemic led to lockdowns and forced employees to work from home in droves, many employers implemented electronic monitoring systems without alerting their staff, said Mackenzie Irwin, an employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP in Toronto.

The Ontario legislation applies to all employees using company-issued devices — whether the employer is tracking the GPS of a delivery truck driver or the emails of an office worker.

Irwin said the new rules are a good first step toward transparency. "Once we know what they are actually doing, then we'll have a better sense of whether those monitoring systems are breaching any other legislation."

But she said there is more work to be done because the legislation doesn't actually give employees any new rights to privacy or do much to discourage employers from overly intrusive monitoring. Still, Irwin said she expects employees to take a stand if they feel uncomfortable once they find out how much they are being monitored.

"They're going to be pushing back on that," she said.

While it's difficult to nail down just how many companies are using employee tracking software, workplace surveillance "accelerated and expanded" in Canada during the pandemic, according to a report from the Cybersecure Policy Exchange at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Tech firms Time Doctor, Hubstaff and Teramind are just a few that are seeing a growing demand for their monitoring software — which records keystrokes, listens back to phone calls and even takes screenshots every 10 minutes.

Eli Sutton, vice-president of global operations at U.S.-based Teramind, said his customers range from law firms and telecom companies to government and the health-care sector. In Canada, the company currently has about 300 active customers, and another 150 have signed up for a trial.