As companies implement return-to-office plans, employers are increasingly interested in utilizing artificial intelligence, not to replace workers, but to watch them.

Between March 2020 and June 2023, demand for employee surveillance software grew 54%, according to research from Top10VPN, a virtual private network comparison site.

And employees are noticing. Fifty-one percent say they are aware that their employer uses technology to monitor them while they are working, according to data from the American Psychological Association.

Knowing they are being watched has had negative psychological effects.

Almost one-third, 32%, of employees who know their bosses are using technology to monitor them reported their mental health as fair or poor, according to data from the APA. Only 24% of those not being monitored said the same. Almost half, 45%, of those being monitored say their workplaces have a negative effect on their mental health, versus the 29% of those not being monitored.

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