The Pros and Cons of Employee Monitoring

If you’ve noticed your team’s productivity is slipping, it’s time to start considering the pros and cons of employee monitoring. But let’s be frank: monitoring employees has a stigma around it.

Monitoring employees can create a culture of distrust if handled poorly — but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Many organizations monitor employee activity to watch for signs of progress and identify areas for growth. They even use employee monitoring to manage and reward teamwork and boost employee morale.

This article covers different monitoring tools, how they can help employees and companies, what situations employers will want to avoid, and the best way to get a positive employee monitoring plan up and running.

But first, let’s be clear about what is and isn’t employee monitoring.

Employee monitoring is a form of surveillance in the workplace where employers gather various performance and productivity metrics. This might include device activity, URL and app usage, and location.

In most cases, employee monitoring software reinforces internet usage policies. It also adds a layer of security and allows managers to make sure employees complete their work.

There are many types of employee monitoring that organizations can utilize to keep watch over their workforce. Check out a few examples below.

GPS tracking software

When employees travel during work hours, ensuring they complete their jobs safely and promptly is hard.

With GPS tracking software, managers can track employee activity for field teams. They can view a team’s location, track routes and mileage, and verify their work hours from one central location.

For employees who travel or work in hazardous conditions, GPS tracking helps supplement safety protocols. It’s also helpful for identifying lost, damaged, or stolen equipment.

Monitoring internet usage

Employee monitoring software allows employers to determine how their employees use the internet. Standard monitoring capabilities include logging visits to social media sites, recording browser history, and taking screenshots of employee monitors at set intervals.

Some employee monitoring apps can also gauge the internet bandwidth to ensure employees aren’t using applications or visiting websites they’re not supposed to.

Email monitoring

Many employers set up email monitoring to protect their businesses from malware or viruses. The same monitoring software ensures that employers respect clients and one another.

Overall, email monitoring helps ensure the quality of messages being transmitted, including unsafe file sharing and inappropriate or offensive language.

Recording phone conversations

Quite frequently, companies record phone conversations for quality control and training. While this type of monitoring is quite popular in call centers, it can also be effective in other industries.

A phone recording policy helps prevent employees from using business phones for personal calls. It’s also useful for archiving conference calls for anyone who can’t attend.

Monitoring software and app usage

When employers monitor software and app usage, they gain a glimpse into the day-to-day lives of their employees. They can see which tools are helpful, distracting, or just unnecessary.

With this data, employers can make better software purchases that save money and help their teams be more productive.

Tracking employee time

Employee time is easy to track. With the right employee time tracking software, you can see late, missed, or abandoned shifts with the right employee time tracking software. You’ll also be able to spot burnout, see time spent on specific tasks, and generate timesheets to pay your team.

Keylogging solutions

This type of monitoring records the keystrokes made on a device. Employers can then use this data to gauge how productive their employees are. While keystroke monitoring can be incredibly insightful, it can also log sensitive information like passwords, credit cards, and banking credentials.

If you’re simply looking for a gauge of productivity, a tool that tracks keyboard activity might be a better (and safer) fit.

Video surveillance solutions

Video surveillance is common in workplaces and is usually used for security purposes. In most cases, the risk management team utilizes footage to ensure no theft, sabotage, or violence occurs.

While video surveillance is widespread, read up on the laws in your area to check what is allowed. For instance, numerous U.S. states require proper signage for legal video surveillance.

Employee monitoring can benefit both employees and employers. Managers can use employee monitoring software to:

• Upgrade workflows

• Improve productivity

• Increase their bottom line

Good monitoring practices help instill teamwork, motivate employees to perform at their best, and help point out employees primed for advancement.

Monitoring benefits for employees

Monitoring employees can directly benefit workplace culture. When everyone is on the same page, you’ll see benefits like:

General clarity of expectations

Providing clear expectations goes a long way. When your employees know what’s expected of them, they have the blueprint for success. This helps employees feel empowered to do better work.

Reinforced reliance on co-workers

Teams function seamlessly when all co-workers are held responsible. Projects become easier, relationships grow stronger, and everyone benefits. Transparency helps teams empathize and understand their role in the process.

Team and employee recognition

Employees excelling in their positions shouldn’t go unnoticed. Monitoring employees highlights outstanding employee performance that might generally happen behind the scenes.

Clear path to promotion

Increased employee recognition clears the way to new career opportunities. Employees who regularly complete tasks efficiently and effectively will have performance data at their fingertips. They can use this data to make a case for promotions, raises, and other opportunities.

Heightened employee retention

All these factors combined can create a positive work culture that encourages teams to work hard, rely on one another, and succeed. Those feelings of personal and professional growth will often lead to increased employee retention.

Monitoring benefits for the company

Monitoring employees leads to significant benefits for the company. For managers or business owners, employee monitoring can:

Create engaged employees

All the employee-specific benefits of monitoring mentioned earlier work together to help build a more engaged workforce. Increased engagement can lead to increased productivity, better outputs, and profits.

Improve workflow and productivity

Monitoring employee processes is more than just watching what employees are doing wrong. With proof of work and time tracking tools, managers can see how much time employees spend on each activity, locate bottlenecks, and improve processes.

Taking a candid glimpse at the way the business functions helps improve processes. This is especially helpful when managing a large team of remote employees.

Informed decision-making

Most monitoring software will present real-time employee performance data via impactful reports. Others provide real-time updates on a dashboard. These features allow management to see and assess trends in employee productivity. This allows them to make informed decisions for the good of the company.

Improve data security

Monitoring employees can also offset future cybersecurity issues. Some tools help you gauge URL and app usage to identify data breaches. With the right data, managers can identify if the breach occurred due to glitches in security, risky behavior, or employee negligence.

Increase revenue

When processes are efficient, employees are engaged, and decisions are informed, reduced overhead tends to follow. This adjusted spending can then lead to increased revenue.

There are some cons to workplace monitoring — but they all center around negative perceptions and improper implementation of monitoring policies.

The stigma around employee monitoring

The stigma with employee monitoring is that it negatively impacts employee morale. Employees may fear that monitoring processes would weaponize the work environment. As the manager, you must be transparent with employees and let them know they are not being penalized. Create a policy that shows them the positives, helps them buy-in, and gives them ample notice of the changes.

Feelings of distrust

Some employees feel like their employers don’t trust them. Managers can combat these feelings by explaining how effective employee monitoring programs help improve productivity, balance workloads, and prevent burnout and distractions.

Managers should also show how monitoring data becomes an undisputable gauge of employee performance that can be used to negotiate promotions and wage increases.

Employee privacy concerns

Privacy concerns are another valid complaint. Employees should feel comfortable logging into their bank account or entering their social security number on a form.

These concerns often stem from misinformation. Explaining how keyboard and mouse activity tracking is not keystroke logging is essential. Proof of work tools that blur out personal data also eases these concerns.

Legal issues in monitoring

Companies can easily fall into legal trouble when they use tracking tools unethically to uncover employee data.

Employee monitoring laws allow companies to monitor their employees during the workday legally. Laws like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 look out for employees’ rights.

Many of the concerns above can be addressed when employers clearly articulate their reasons for using employee monitoring software. Once employees realize that the ethical use of monitoring software is a primary goal, monitoring processes can be understood and accepted.

The legality of tracking employees in the workplace varies from country to country and is subject to specific regulations and monitoring laws. Employers can monitor certain aspects of their employees' activities in many jurisdictions. Still, this right is not absolute and must be balanced with employees' rights to privacy and dignity. The critical considerations for legality often revolve around the nature and extent of monitoring, its purpose, and the consent or notice given to employees.

For example, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) allows employers to monitor employees' work-related communications with some limitations in the United States. Generally, employers can monitor company-owned devices and systems and conduct surveillance in public areas of the workplace. However, they often need to inform employees of these practices, and some states have additional protections for employee privacy. On the other hand, monitoring personal communications or private spaces like restrooms is typically illegal.

In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has stringent requirements regarding employee monitoring. Employers must have a lawful basis for processing personal data, and they must balance their legitimate interests in monitoring with employees' privacy rights. Employee consent is one possible legal basis, but it must be freely given and revocable. In practice, many European countries have labor laws that specify the conditions under which employee monitoring is legal.

It's essential for employers to understand and comply with the relevant laws and regulations in their jurisdiction and to adopt transparent and fair monitoring practices. Striking a balance between the employer's legitimate interests and employees' privacy rights is crucial to ensure both legal compliance and a healthy work environment that fosters trust and employee productivity

Putting a transparent monitoring policy in place is a great way to address concerns. That said, the right employee monitoring tools make a difference, too.

Hubstaff employee monitoring software provides proof of work with time tracking, keyboard, and mouse activity monitoring, URL and app usage metrics, and optional screenshots. Managers and employees can view these real-time updates from the dashboard for better decision-making.

Are you considering implementing an employee monitoring program to improve your process workflows, productivity rates, and workplace culture? Our employee monitoring software can help.