A report in the TUC-backed Hazards magazine in March included several examples of firms using surveillance systems and trampling on their employees' rights to privacy. Surveillance ranged from CCTV and the monitoring of internet use to the slightly paranoid measuring of toilet breaks and the installing of cameras in female changing rooms.

According to the report, "New technologies and the lack of privacy rights at work mean managers can monitor employees constantly and secretly, which is bad for their productivity and health." It argued that if staff are afraid that their every movement is tracked there will be an increase in cases of ill health, sick leave and accidents.

But while some firms take an over-exuberant approach to monitoring, others are at the opposite extreme. According to a recent study from filtering specialist SurfControl, almost half of UK organisations have no policy to deal with peer-to-peer file sharing in the workplace; and 23 percent of HR teams were unable to say whether their staff handbook covered this activity. This means that for most firms, screening such activity would put them in breach of data protection law - which states that firms can only monitor if employees are fully aware that such checks are taking place.

Organisations should establish clear policies so they can monitor file-swapping activity, to prevent problems such as viruses spreading via peer-to-peer networks or copyright breaches being committed through illegal music downloads.

Although I don't relish the idea of my employer tracking my movements in and out of the building or eavesdropping on my phone calls, I must say I sway towards the mentality of "If you're doing nothing wrong, why should you care?" But that attitude only works if organisations take a rather more enlightened approach to monitoring than some of those cited in the TUC report.

It's all very well for firms to install their monitoring technology with the intention of using it for valid business reasons - to stop workers forwarding offensive emails, for example. But if it's to try to catch out people if they take five minutes extra for lunch every now and again, I agree with the TUC's concerns that they will create a stressful, unwelcoming work environment. Companies need to strike a sensible balance that will allow necessary and useful monitoring while avoiding Big Brother tactics. To do this, representatives from senior management, the IT team, the HR department and general staff should sit down together to determine the best way to proceed, or review existing arrangements.

Careful selection of people to run the monitoring equipment is also important. Just because monitoring involves internet and email systems and filtering software, does not mean IT staff will be comfortable with a policing role.

On the other hand, passing responsibility to an ex-sergeant major type, who might be more than happy to take on snooping activities, could prove unnecessarily alarming for employees.

Someone with the right level of understanding of why monitoring is important, along with a willingness to stick to the corporate policy, would be advisable - whether that person is a member of the IT department, or drafted in to work closely with the team is up to the individual organisation.