Employers are gathering data on your work habits. US labour advocates want to change this

Remote work and other monumental shifts wrought by the pandemic have increased the adoption of tracking and monitoring software and hardware. — Business vector created by jcomp - www.freepik.com

Most people are used to whipping out their smartphones to track their latest online orders with airstrike-like accuracy. But the technology on some delivery vehicles also closely monitors the drivers, tracking everything from whether they are wearing seatbelts, to engine idle time and even whether they are taking too many time-consuming left turns.

That data can be fed into algorithms to determine the safest, most fuel-efficient routes and speediest delivery times. It can also be used to track a particular driver's behaviour and inform performance warnings, said Doug Bloch, the political director of Teamsters Joint Council 7, which represents many UPS drivers with those kinds of onboard systems in California. (A UPS Spokesperson said the company uses technology to track packages and driver behaviour for safety, but not for disciplinary purposes.)