LRD guides and handbook March 2020

Monitoring and surveillance at work - a practical guide for trade union reps

Chapter 6

Telephone usage

[ch 6: page 47]

Workplace computer and electronic communications policies sometimes also incorporate policies on telephone usage. Again, personal use is normally permitted, but some employers also warn that such calls might be monitored.


For example, at the major transport company discussed above, the “acceptable use” policy states that employees “are permitted to make a reasonable number and duration of personal calls” where this does not affect productivity or result in excessive call charges. But it also warns that where they are using company phones, either for business or personal purposes, employees have “no right to privacy” and by using company phones they are consenting to monitoring of such calls.


For the legal position, see Chapter 9.