Key facts
- Toronto-Dominion Bank will use software to monitor the work activities of some employees in its financial crimes and risk management teams.
- The software tracks time spent on browsers, internal chat, and meeting applications.
- TD claims the tool is standard industry practice and aims to improve workflow management and resource allocation.
- Employees expressed concerns regarding privacy, consent, and data usage.
- The bank stated the tool has undergone privacy review and will not listen to conversations but will indicate employee activity.
Toronto-Dominion Bank has informed some employees within its financial crimes and risk management unit that it will deploy software to monitor their work activities. The tool, named WorkiQ and provided by ActiveOps, is designed to track the time employees spend on browsers, internal chat applications, and meetings, with the stated goal of improving insights, managing workflows, and allocating resources more effectively.
This move comes as companies increasingly face employee pushback over workplace monitoring software. TD stated that the deployment is "standard practice across the industry" and that safeguards are in place to protect employee privacy. Deanna Pacitti, TD's associate vice president of high-risk investigations, explained during a team call that the software underwent a privacy review and would not record conversations but would indicate employee activity in meetings and specific applications like Excel. The bank also noted that the tool aims to help managers regain transparency lost in a remote work environment and is working to establish expectations for unaccounted-for time.
Employees on the call raised questions about privacy, consent, data usage, and the potential for the tool to be used for performance management. Some suggested that resources used for monitoring could be better allocated to alleviate manual processes, a sentiment Pacitti acknowledged.
Similar monitoring practices have been reported at other financial institutions. The Financial Times previously reported that JPMorgan began monitoring hours for its junior investment bankers, citing employee well-being as the reason.