British banking group Barclays is reportedly being probed by the country’s privacy regulator for spying on its staff, Reuters reported.

The bank was piloting the Sapience software, a system that tracked how its staff spent their time at work.

Using this software, managers were able to track how long the company staff spent time away from their desks and the time is taken to complete tasks.

According to its company website, the Sapience software monitors computer usage to track employee productivity and gives companies “insights into work patterns”.

The privacy regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), said that a formal probe was ongoing.

However, the agency could not determine when the investigation would conclude.

A spokesman for ICO said: “People expect that they can keep their personal lives private and that they are also entitled to a degree of privacy in the workplace.

“If organizations wish to monitor their employees, they should be clear about its purpose and that it brings real benefits. Organizations also need to make employees aware of the nature, extent, and reasons for any monitoring.”

Earlier this year, critical media reports accused the bank of spying. In response, Barclays promised to change the system.

In February, Barclays said it will use the Sapience software to only track anonymized data.

Back in 2017, Barclays had introduced a tracking system called OccupEye, which also faced widespread criticism.

Financial institutions and banks are increasingly adopting such systems, which also use voice recognition and other behavior-tracking tools to identify employees’ conduct.