It is a matter of balance as opposed to choosing productivity over privacy. With the right means in place and with the right tools, companies can engage in ethical employee monitoring that enhances employee performance while creating trust and transparency within the workplace.
The Dilemma: Why Balance is Important
The need for very robust employee tracking software stems from the legitimate business needs:
- Accountability: Making sure that employees are actually working and utilizing their time productively at work.
- Billing Accuracy: For client-facing roles, tracking time accurately is a necessity to create fair and verifiable invoices.
- Resource Management: Knowing where time is spent will allow for an easier optimization of workflows and project allocations.
- Security: Protecting sensitive company information and company assets.
However, if the monitoring is perceived as secretive or overly intrusive, it can contribute to:
- Lower Morale: Employees do not feel trusted, which leads to resentment and disengagement.
- Higher Turnover: Talented employees leave for companies that they feel respect them.
- Less Innovation: Employees become hesitant to be innovative or proactive when they feel they are being constantly monitored.
- Legal Risks: Monitoring employees improperly can lead to privacy lawsuits and compliance issues
Ethical Tracking Methods: The Foundation of Smart Monitoring
The key to ethics in workplace monitoring is to adopt practices that respect transparency and mutual respect.
1. Transparency as a Fundamental Principle
Importantly, responsible employee monitoring with transparency.
- Policies made easy: You should have a written policy that is available to share openly. The policy should detail what type of information is being collected, how the information is being collected, why the information is collected, and who has access to the information.
- Informing and educating employees: It is critical to inform and educate employees up front to promote awareness of monitoring. This is essential to create a baseline expectation and set the stage as it relates to the employee being aware of monitoring.
- Provide access to what personal information is being collected: Consider giving the employee access to what personal information is collected about them. This provides the employee with the opportunity to self-correct and have accountability on the basis of what information was collected about them.
2. Monitor what matters: work behaviors, not personal behaviors.
Monitoring responsible, smart employees is to monitor work behaviors and not personal behaviors.
- Monitor the way the employee uses applications and websites in the course of work: Tally the amount of time being used with the employee using work applications and sites. Ethical technology tools can be used to help discern personal from work.
- Project and Task-Specific Time: The use of time for monitoring is the most ethically defensible and useful monitoring because it ties time directly to a specific project or task. Measuring contribution not based on presence, but on work products.
- Activity Levels Rather than Keystrokes: The abstraction of just measuring activity levels or logs rather than logging every keystroke or mouse click (obviously too intrusive). It's not measuring “watching” but activity levels and then being idle or having sustained focus. This is outside the work habits, but measurement is still measuring engagement.
- Randomized Screenshots: Randomized use of screenshots is acceptable if they serve primarily as proof-of-work and not constant monitoring. There should be a clearly defined policy on data review and purpose, so employees understand what the use of random screenshots is for.
3. Purposeful Data Use as well as Manager Training
The way "how" monitoring data is used is as important as the "what" that is collected.
- Coaching rather than discipline: You can use the monitoring data to educate employees and identify areas for support or training instead of merely using the data to discipline. If an employee spends a lot of time on distracting apps, offer them alternatives to focus, not a write-up.
- Workflow Optimization: Evaluate data to discover bottlenecks, enhance efficiencies, and redistribute workloads. When conducted properly, employees can see that monitoring is designed to improve the efficiency of the team rather than simply scrutinizing individual performance.
- Data Security: Follow through on the data security processes to ensure the data you collect is protected from unauthorized access or breaches.
- Educate Your Managers: Help your managers develop an understanding and useful skills that allow them to ethically interpret and constructively communicate what the data is saying about their teams. They will be the first to implement your digital monitoring policies in the office and in remote work.
The Modern Workplace Tracking Advantage
When done well, modern workplace monitoring becomes a powerful ally rather than a disruption. It produces evidence to support data-driven decisions, contributes to a level playing field of accountability, and ultimately boosts productivity. When companies actively pursue a balance of privacy and productivity, they create a workplace experience in which employees feel valued and empowered to do their best work.
