Leader: Toilet time is personal - don't isolate your staff

Workers' union GMB has declared open war by threatening strike action unless supermarkets and factories stop using tracking technology on their employees.

The union accuses some companies of making staff feel dehumanised by loading them with portable computers that measure the time they take to perform tasks, such as stock taking and even going to the toilet.

The union has implied that staff are missing out on interacting with real live people (and probably a bit of fun), which is making them feel "like slaves" at the mercy of computers.

Unsurprisingly supermarket Tesco, which uses the portable computers GMB is trying to curb, denies tracking its staff and insists mobile computing makes job easier and people happier in their working lives.

That may be the case but while industry and unions look set for another round of face-offs over technology progressing, this really comes down to a basic management issue: keeping staff morale high.

It's obvious that any company with profit as their number-one goal will look for ways of saving money and time. Technology is often the answer but employers are the ones with the power - and as Spiderman learned, with great power comes great responsibility.

Employees have to be treated with respect and trust or the relationship with management breaks down and, as in this case, the unions start to whine about mistreatment.

After all what would you think of a corner shop manager who stands outside the loo with a starting gun, a stopwatch and a camera?

Such behaviour, digital or not, leads to mistrust which in turn leads to high staff turnover - which in the end costs a company more in retraining new workers than is saved by scrutinising the seconds spent on the china throne.

There are certainly gains to collecting data on how workers perform but the consequence of being too enthusiastic with this can indeed remove the human element from job.

Warehouse and depots workers have a tough job. So though the call to modernise supply chains beckons, strike a balance. Make staff feel at least as valued as the technology, not victimised by it, and they'll stick around for longer and be more productive while they're there.