Along with the rise of technology, the GPS tracking device makes an appearance as well. Thus, employers have access to their employees.
However, the question is: Is monitoring employees right, and more importantly, legal?
As an illustration, it may sound a little strange but you will learn that it is for the well-being of the employers and success of businesses.
For several years, since the appearance of the GPS devices, the employers are able to track their employees in vehicles.
Due to technology advancement, GPS has gained a complete overturn, and it is connecting smartphones and business vehicle tracking.
Using GPS fleet tracking features is the smartest thing a company can do. The reason for this is that it creates progress in the productivity of employees, management of the fleet as well as profit increase.
However, in certain cases, employees have dilemmas about the GPS tracking device installation and tracking of their movements.
In order to keep their privacy, they might oppose to the possible benefits which outweigh the risks in transportation.
Understand State Law and Privacy Statutes in the Workplace
Although vehicle tracking rollout is considered an efficient tool, a surveillance, for instance, may evoke concerns among the employees and their privacy.
Even when tracking the vehicle’s location only, there are employees who are rather skeptical on this matter.
Most of the courts addressed with this matter stated that employers can use GPS tracker for business but only if the employee does not expect privacy in use.
Having said this, there are states which highly prohibit mobile tracking without the person’s consent.
In order to prevent the violation of a law, it is highly important to ensure employees to know the expectations for privacy in the office.
Furthermore, the employees need to understand that their privacy at home is far different than the privacy they get at work.
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Distribute the GPS Tracking Device Policy in Your Business
If you want to implement vehicle GPS tracker in your business, you need to carefully explain the purpose.
Moreover, write the circumstances as well as the reason for legitimate business management and fleet tracking software.
Continually, your staff needs to know about your right to monitor their locations while using business-owned property.
Further, as a company owner, you need to explain that while using the property of the company your staff should not expect privacy.
These kinds of policies should also notify employees about their capability of business GPS.
Additionally, each employee needs to know the following information about the GPS tracking device:
- How the GPS tracking device will be used
- Under what circumstances
- In or outside the business hours
- The purpose of monitoring
- The extent to which information
After the policy is written with applicable laws by an attorney, the next step is to obtain authorization in a written form by your staff that they understand it.
What Employees Need to Know When Being Tracked
If you consider implementing GPS tracking device in your business, you need to listen to the employees’ concerns, if they have any.
This is important because, as mentioned above, not every employee is comfortable being tracked and understand the expectations of the employer.
When it comes to choosing the way you will monitor your employees, there are several basic factors that you need to consider, and they are the following:
- What do your employees consider a privacy in the workplace?
- Who is the owner of the vehicle that you want to track?
- Is the equipment authorized and whether the employee is allowed for personal use?
- What information will you provide your employees with?
In particular, telling your employees the way they are going to be monitored is necessary.
Further, they are probably not expecting invasive monitoring types during or after hours.
In some cases, staff consider a violation its right to privacy and therefore, they often seek legal action to GPS tracking device.
The implementation of GPS vehicle tracker is a legal issue and it is important that confident business owners and fleet managers approach the matter ethically.
Having a Written Policy
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) when monitoring your employees with GPS tracking device, it is obligatory for you to provide notice to your staff.
Before you write the policy, you need to consider the characteristics that make a good-written policy and they are the following:
- Write the policy in plain language
- Cover types of monitoring (regular monitoring, the info collected etc.)
- Require employees to acknowledge whether they have read the policy
- Include legal provisions
In addition to this, you could show the employees what they need to do in case of policy violation or improvement.
Use of GPS Tracking Device in Business
Technology is redefining its use in so many ways, and it has gone to a way where employees are monitored.
Nowadays, employers are able to monitor their staff and they can do it in so many ways.
Starting from emails, their internet searches, log time, conversation length, employee’s location, and the list goes on.
In this way, by checking on big data analytics, employers can collect information in a much easier and an effective way.
Consequently, this follows the question: “When to draw the line”?
If nowadays, monitoring employees becomes inevitable, then the best and less conflicting way is probably with GPS tracking device.
According to the law, there are legal precedents that state employers can track their staff and mostly, it is beneficial, for efficiency and safety in the workplace.
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Is it Legal to Track Your Employees?
When it comes to tracking employees, the laws are sometimes gloomy. As mentioned above, there is no state privacy law keeping businesses to monitor employees with GPS tracking systems.
In addition to this, there are states which forbid this, however, they are only a few states in the United States that put restrictions on this.
