As vaccination programs get underway across the globe, organizations are contemplating the future of the sudden involuntary experiment called remote work they transitioned to in 2020. Research suggests that nearly 40% of employees in developed economies have been working from home through the pandemic.
While it is too early to tell whether the forced nature of remote work during the pandemic will last as a sustainable work arrangement, it would continue till we reach the critical mass of vaccination. While surveys show that business leaders will allow employees to work at least some of the time remotely, certain trends like the rise of employee monitoring present a much more nuanced outlook for remote work.
Steady Growth of Employee Tracking
As COVID-19 forced employers to embrace the remote work setup, the installation of employee monitoring software too accelerated. Gartner’s recent report Opens a new window found that 16% of companies installed new tracking software on employees’ work devices within the first month of working remotely.
While employee monitoring is not new — organizations have been monitoring employees in the workplace for over two decades now — the speed at which it is happening now is unprecedented.
Productivity and employee efficiency are the most commonly cited reasons for monitoring the employees. Employers have the right to track the performance of their workforce after all.
Employee monitoring predates the information age — assembly lines at Ford factories a century ago used the same approach to watch and listen in on employees to track output.
Today, technology has come a long way. So, techniques and mechanisms to monitor employee productivity have also evolved.
Learn More: Privacy, Productivity, Compliance: 3 Considerations When HR Adopts Employee Monitoring Software
Although employee monitoring is still controversial, organizations have hard data to prove that monitoring is still useful, particularly in roles requiring physical work. For instance, Amazon has drawn a lot of flak for monitoring their warehouse employees using automated tracking. Reports suggest that the company also fires employees based on productivity metrics. Opens a new window
A 2007 American Management Association survey revealed that organizations practiced employee monitoring for white collar workers. The study showed that 66% of employers monitored internet connections, 45% tracked keystrokes, content, and time spent on computers; 43% stored and reviewed computer files, and 10% even monitored employees’ social media activities.
Over the past few years, though, there has been a shift in employee monitoring narrative. Tracking is no longer just a way to measure employee productivity but also improves the overall employee experience (EX). The evolution of HR tech and the industry’s obsessive focus on data has actually blurred the lines between “tracking employees†and “optimizing EX.â€
However, when it comes to remote work during an economically volatile time, productivity and efficiency are under scrutiny. Employers need to ensure that employees are working productively from home and not just working from home.
So, while we have established that, like it or not, employee monitoring is a part of the new remote work movement, how does it impact employees’ and employers’ trust?
With data privacy emerging as a hot button issue for organizations worldwide, employee monitoring brings its unique challenges. How do you build trust and continue to monitor your workforce?
Navigating the Rough Waters of Employee Monitoring in 2021: 3 Tips
There is little doubt about the legality of employee monitoring. If done within work hours and responsibly, employers are well within their right to track their employees’ productivity. However, the ethics of employee monitoring are more complex.
Employee monitoring threatens to erode trust between employers and employees. According to AccentureOpens a new window , 52% of employees believe that mishandling of data damages trust, and only 30% of C-suite executives surveyed, said that they were confident that the data would be used responsibly.
Tracking also leads to increased employee stress that does not bode well with organizations’ priorities to focus on employee wellbeing. Worse, monitoring can lead to public embarrassment for employers. Remember how Google employees publicly alleged the company of spying on employees and suppressing internal dissent in 2019?
There are strong ethical reasons to approach employee monitoring more responsibly, but it is good for business. According to Deloitte Global Millennial SurveyOpens a new window , 55% of millennials will leave employers that prioritize profits over people. Additionally, HR metrics like retention, employer brand, and even the employee experience rely heavily on trust between employers and employees. Given the risk of alienating employees coupled with financial losses that may arise from data mismanagement or privacy breaches, employee monitoring is a double-edged sword.
Learn More: Employee Monitoring Software Does Not Increase Productivity: Clutch Shares Insights in New Survey
Even so, organizations will still find the tradeoffs. A weak economic environment can push organizations to pursue ruthless efficiency and productivity.
So, how can organizations monitor employees more ethically?
Here are three tips to help you navigate the issue of employee monitoring:
#1 Involve all stakeholders and choose your metrics wisely
Go back to the drawing board to identify the metrics that are relevant for productivity. It is all too common for organizations to make snap judgements based on metrics provided by the software. This can lead to both unnecessary surveillance and wrong decisions. If you are monitoring employees, ensure that what you are tracking is relevant and necessary.
“If monitoring shows different levels of time spent ‘on screen,’ it says nothing about who is ‘working hard.’ It just means people are using their time differently,â€Â remarks Carlos Valdes-Dapena, founder and managing rincipal of Corporate Collaboration Resources.
#2 Be transparent with your employees
A great way to build trust with your employees is to honestly communicate with them around what you are tracking and why. Instead of “informing†them of your decision to monitor them, turn it into a discussion — allow them to offer feedback and address their concerns.
“If monitoring must be done, managers should inform employees that they are being monitored and explain why the monitoring is mutually beneficial, good for them, and good for the organization,†says Carlos.
Gartner found that only 30% of employees were comfortable with their employer monitoring their email. However, the same study also found that when an employer explained what and why they will be monitoring, acceptance rates rose to over 50%.
Learn More: 6 Features of Employee Monitoring Software That Can Change the Way You Manage Your Business
#3 Ensure your systems and processes do not disproportionately affect people of color and other vulnerable groups
It is focal to every company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion effort to eliminate any bias or discrimination against the traditionally marginalized populations. Because they have faced institutionalized discrimination for many years, vulnerable groups tend to occupy more junior roles in an organization — and junior roles often face the brunt of most scrutiny. This means that organizations may unknowingly monitor minority employees, inviting significant ethical, legal, and reputational risks.
If you are monitoring employees, ensure that the junior employees are note tracked to a greater extent than their management or not to the extent that places special burden on them.
In Closing
Despite the volatile and complex business landscape, employees are your most valuable assets. As an organization, you have invested time and resources in them, and they are very expensive to replace. Building trust and treating them with respect is something they deserve and something that is also good for the bottom line. If you plan on monitoring employees, you must remind yourself that you can realize much better outcomes with them onboard than without them.