How the APS is navigating the rise in WFH surveillance
Some of the biggest government agencies have rejected a new tracking feature that automatically updates a worker's location when they leave the office, with an expert warning a rise in tools being used to monitor employee productivity.
Services Australia, the ATO, the NDIA, the Department of Defence, and the Department of Social Services confirmed they will not enable automatic location tracking on Microsoft Teams.
The software giant is expected to roll out a new feature next month that updates a worker's location when connected to their workplace's WiFi to reflect the building they're working in, but only if an admin enables it and obtains an employee's consent.
Microsoft signed a five-year deal with the federal government in February, making the company's desktop, cloud and AI products the standard for most public service agencies.
The company argues the automatic location feature is not a tracking tool and can provide executives with critical information about their teams.
Remote work has skyrocketed in the public sectorwith 80 per cent of public servants using some form of flexible working arrangement last year, up from 71 per cent in 2020.
The number of public servants working from home has doubled since before the pandemic. Picture by Keegan Carroll.
Bosses are legally keeping an eye on their remote employees in many ways, including keystroke tracking, screen capturing, monitoring email accounts, and data collection when working from home.
Senior policy specialist at the UTS Human Technology Institute Sarah Sacher said there has been an "explosion" in the uptake of worker surveillance tools after Covid-19.
She said employers needed stronger guidelines around workplace surveillance, pointing to "out-of-date" and "confused" state and federal laws that do not account for newer technologies such as artificial intelligence.
"There's a lack of transparency around these tools in general. When workers are consenting, it's generally not spelled out to them what they are consenting to," she said.
"Because technology is moving so fast, there are ways you can be monitored in ways you didn't think were possible."
Decisions about whether to use specific Microsoft products "sit with individual agencies, based on their operational needs and procurement processes", an Australian Public Service Commission spokesperson said.
"APS agencies have consultation frameworks in their enterprise agreements to support engagement with staff and unions. Individual consultation processes are a matter for each agency," they said.
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More than 2000 Services Australia staff working in the ACT have some form of a working-from-home agreement, according to figures provided during Senate estimates.
A Services Australia spokesperson said its policy on the surveillance of remote workers is set through "existing workplace policies, which focus on performance, safety, security and wellbeing, and apply regardless of where work is performed."
"Staff can manually update their displayed work location in Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook or manually add a weekly schedule of location and hours for their convenience," they said.
About 40 per cent of Defence employees told the latest public service census they worked away from the office "some of the time" as part of a regular arrangement.
A department spokesperson said Defence "continuously monitors the cyber worthiness of networks as part of its daily functions", in response to questions about its current policies on staff surveillance.
Victoria and NSW recently introduced legislation to establish controls around how workers are monitored online to protect against excessive surveillance or allocation of work as a result of AI.
Ahead of enterprise bargaining set to begin later in 2026, the federal public sector union has called for stronger protections against intrusive employermonitoring.
CPSU deputy secretary Rebecca Fawcett said the union held a "very firm" position that AI should not be used in surveillance or monitoring of the workforce, either remotely or in the office.
"It is important that there are strong protections in place in the APS, locked into enterprise agreements, that prevent the use of AI in this way now and into the future," she said.
Do you know more? Eleanor.campbell@thecanberratimes.com.au
