What info do employers get when you're working from home?
Discussion
Just curious about what info employers all allowed to collect? Presumably they don't get every keystroke, but can see time spent on outlook, intranet, internet ites visited etc.. On my mates company supplied lappy the screen goes off every 4 minutes no matter what is in power options.
jimmydash said:
Just curious about what info employers all allowed to collect? Presumably they don't get every keystroke, but can see time spent on outlook, intranet, internet ites visited etc.. On my mates company supplied lappy the screen goes off every 4 minutes no matter what is in power options.
The short answer is it depends.In most sensible workplaces some data will be logged (emails, browsing history, stuff like that) and things like power settings can all be configured as defaults and/or enforced.
The more relevant question may be what info are they looking at and in most companies the answer will be none of that unless they've a specific reason to do so.
You hear the odd story about some "battery farm" type employers using software to detect keystrokes and check/enforce presenteeism so there's an element of what sort of employer he works for.
The company I work for bans certain sites and monitors keywords for others. Teams shows you as idle if you don't touch anything for 5 minutes, which is easy to do as I use another laptop on a different system as well. Email usage is vaguely monitored, but only for keywords and profanities 
Basically, if you're on top of your workload a fair amount of leeway is given.
Basically, if you're on top of your workload a fair amount of leeway is given.
Depending on how interested/ up on info sec they are they will monitor or record most things.
As a bare minimum email will be "recorded"
Very likely all browsing is recorded / filtered
All line of business systems will record X user did Y interaction
Teams / O365 interactions - dependant on licensing / desire to log things
Device - likely all software running / installed and its interactions with the network at your home. Again depends on how good their tool kit is
If concerned never use any work kit for anything you won't be happy to be held accountable for.
As a bare minimum email will be "recorded"
Very likely all browsing is recorded / filtered
All line of business systems will record X user did Y interaction
Teams / O365 interactions - dependant on licensing / desire to log things
Device - likely all software running / installed and its interactions with the network at your home. Again depends on how good their tool kit is
If concerned never use any work kit for anything you won't be happy to be held accountable for.
jimmydash said:
Just curious about what info employers all allowed to collect? Presumably they don't get every keystroke, but can see time spent on outlook, intranet, internet ites visited etc.. On my mates company supplied lappy the screen goes off every 4 minutes no matter what is in power options.
Open Word*. Stick a heavy weight on the space bar. Toddle off and do whatever needs doing.Chimune said:
Allowed by whom ?
And what does the screen going off story have to do with anything?
Did you log into pronhub during work hours or something?
Quite likely marks you as away in Teams*And what does the screen going off story have to do with anything?
Did you log into pronhub during work hours or something?
* or whatever they're using.
Fore Left said:
jimmydash said:
Just curious about what info employers all allowed to collect? Presumably they don't get every keystroke, but can see time spent on outlook, intranet, internet ites visited etc.. On my mates company supplied lappy the screen goes off every 4 minutes no matter what is in power options.
Open Word*. Stick a heavy weight on the space bar. Toddle off and do whatever needs doing.If you have an email client on your mobile (personal mobile) can they monitor how you are using your phone also? whats app use? Websites you visit too?
If you can access the list of installed programs on your laptop you can google the software names and it will show what everything does.
My work tracks everything, including every single keystroke.
I don’t think they have time to check though, unless there is a serious security breach etc.
Having such heavyweight spyware seriously slows down the machines and makes them unpleasant to work on. Fans turn on constantly, the CPU’s never idle.
My work tracks everything, including every single keystroke.
I don’t think they have time to check though, unless there is a serious security breach etc.
Having such heavyweight spyware seriously slows down the machines and makes them unpleasant to work on. Fans turn on constantly, the CPU’s never idle.
jimmydash said:
Just curious about what info employers all allowed to collect? Presumably they don't get every keystroke, but can see time spent on outlook, intranet, internet ites visited etc.. On my mates company supplied lappy the screen goes off every 4 minutes no matter what is in power options.
Dont get me started on screen timeouts.2 seperate large companies it t
ts decided they were going to put the security guards cctv monitoring pcs that I supplied and I maintain on to their domain with their rules.Pcs meant to be on 24/7 to keep an eye on cameras and be able to glance at what is going on at short notice now go to sleep after 5 minutes of no mouse movement and need logged back in every single time.
One company taken 2 months to switch it back on 24/7, the other needed a top director at a 1000+ employee company to tear them a new hole before they backed down.
I hope it’s just curiosity as it shouldn’t be an issue… afterall you are not doing anything you wouldn’t do at the office, I assume?
Don’t see anything wrong with monitoring employee activity when working from home or office on company equipment.
Do a honest days work and there’s nothing to worry about.., imo.
Don’t see anything wrong with monitoring employee activity when working from home or office on company equipment.
Do a honest days work and there’s nothing to worry about.., imo.
dontfollowme said:
Is turning webcam on remotely something an IT dept would do?
It's possible with certain software but it's very unlikely and whilst I'm no lawyer I'd be fairly confident no law abiding company would do so without telling you they're doing it as there will be compliance requirements around privacy and safeguarding etc. Again it's what's technically possible v what most decent sensible employers will do.
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff