More and more employers have used the dramatic increase in remote work during the pandemic to justify increased electronic monitoring and surveillance of their employees.

According to unpublished research from Gartner reported by HR Brew, 60% of companies surveyed with at least 1,000 workers used these electronic tools to keep tabs on workers, compared to the 30% that implemented surveillance during pre-pandemic times.

Employers have turned to firms such as Teramind, ActivTrak, Hubstaff and Workpuls, which offer variations on a number of technologies that basically log worker keystrokes and capture random screenshots throughout the workday.

Employees, often unhappy with being tracked, are even more disturbed by the added layer of AI analysis these software programs utilize, meaning in effect they’re being judged by an algorithm.

This trend is expected to continue to grow, according to HR Brew, as remote work becomes more entrenched. Many workers, who aren’t always aware of the extent to which their company utilizes such tools, are unhappy with the potential for personal data to be captured.