Scottish call centre employees concerned as webcams sent to check up on workers at home

Call centre staff across Scotland say they're upset and worried about webcams being used to check up on them while working from home.

Bosses at Teleperformance say they'll be set up to help tackle loneliness and improve collaboration.

But employees believe it's a way of spying on them, and could be used to abuse staff.

In letters sent to staff seen by Clyde 1, the letters state the use of webcams is mandatory.

One employee Clyde 1 spoke to said: "I’m very disappointed. It feels like them showing how little trust they have in their staff. It feels intrusive – it’s not in the spirit of how hard we’ve worked in the last year.

"They’re claiming it’s to prevent loneliness and apparently it’s something we’d asked for – no one I know has asked for this. No one was consulted. We were just told, this is happening.

"It can be used so easily for harassment if a team leader doesn’t like you – you’re gonna end up with them checking the cameras a lot. I just think there’s a big potential there to harass staff.

"This is one of the few cases where people have been quite clear they don’t want this. People with kids, people who are sharing their homes with family, people who are sat in their bedroom – are all quite freaked out by it.

"There’s also just this element of who’s checking up on the people watching us? I know a lot of women are uncomfortable with it, which I think is understandable."

Despite Teleperformance saying this is an 'opt-in' service, Craig Anderson from the Call Centre Collective group, which represents workers, believes it's a permanent and mandatory move.

He said: "The company has stated that the webcams will only be used with the employee's permission and is voluntary - but there's nothing voluntary I believe in the recognised call centre industry.

"The Call Centre Collective believes this is an invasion of privacy and possibly even a breach of the human rights act.

"The employees are obviously upset, they're worried and they're concerned about what the webcams will be used for."

Teleperformance has been contacted for comment.

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