A woman at a technology firm in Guangzhou Province noticed a camera installed above her desk after she declined to go on a business trip due to illness, local outlet Workers’ Daily reported.

When she checked the camera’s storage card, she found it had captured all activity on her phone and computer, including text messages and images.

A person on their phone at work. Photo by Unsplash

Another case reported by the Southern Metropolis Daily involved an employee at a technology company in Hangzhou Province, where she is required to use smart seats that record data such as heart rate, breathing and sitting posture.

She said a manager once questioned her absence from her desk between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. each morning and warned she could face a pay cut.

The company later denied using the seat cushions to monitor employees, saying they were only being tested, according to the Global Times.

"We aim to collect more trial data, not to monitor employees. All the collected data will be confidential and used for product development... it isn't linked to employees' attendance, performance evaluation or bonus distribution."

Some companies have even used browsing data as grounds for dismissal.

Wu, an employee at a start-up company, was fired last September for allegedly challenging her boss and slacking off.

In court, her company presented office surveillance footage and browsing records from Wu’s work computer as evidence. They showed Wu complaining about her boss to colleagues on social media, browsing shopping sites and reading online novels during work hours.

Wu said she was shocked by the extent of the monitoring. "Once data is collected, it can be analyzed and interpreted. Where exactly is the line between personal privacy and corporate management?" she told Vista magazine.

Some are countering workplace surveillance by spending 19.9 yuan (US$3) on chat privacy software or 50 yuan on privacy screen protectors for their phones and office computers.

On Chinese social media, posts sharing tips on how to block browser activity monitoring have gone viral, with related topics drawing over 50 million views.

Jia Baojun, a lawyer at Beijing Jingdu Law Firm, said employers can violate workers’ privacy if they fail to inform staff in advance, or if monitoring is used to collect personal data unrelated to work, such as private messages or browsing history.