Call centre workers in Norway are protesting against a hi-tech surveillance system that triggers an alarm if they spend more than eight minutes per day in the lavatory.
Managers are alerted by flashing lights if an employee is away from their desk for a loo break beyond the allotted time.
But unions and workplace inspectors have branded the practice as “highly intrusive” and a potential breach of their human rights.
A spokesman said: “Surveying staff to limit lavatory visits, cigarette breaks, personal phone calls and other personal needs to a total of eight minutes per day is highly restrictive and intrusive and must be stopped.”
Last year one firm was reported for making women workers wear a red bracelet when they were having their period to justify more frequent trips to the loo.
Another company made staff sign a lavatory “visitors book” while a third issued employees with an electronic key card to gain access to the lavatories so they could monitor breaks.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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