Ethics of Employee Monitoring: What Every Business Should Consider

It's Monday, 9 am. You turn on your work computer, and an unseen watcher opens its virtual log book. Since then, your every keystroke, email, website visit, or search query will be methodically registered and scrutinized. A dispassionate electronic judge will decide how productive your daily activity is and report to your manager that you are even a minute late from your lunch break. You think about it and shiver. Perhaps, you won't take a break today and do that extra task instead. It will probably make you stay late at work, but the unsettling feel of those electronic eyes following your every action pushes you forward, never letting you relax.

A scene from a corporate horror movie? Unfortunately, it is the reality for millions of employees worldwide whose employers won't bother with the ethics of employee monitoring.

According to recent research, 78% of employers use tracking software to monitor employees' work activity. The COVID-19 pandemic skyrocketed the popularity of monitoring programs. When businesses had to go remote and the usual performance tracking methods no longer applied, managers discovered the undeniable benefits of monitoring software.

The advantages of tracking software are hard to underestimate.

In analog times, a manager had to check time sheets and reports of performed work manually and make decisions, often biased, about how productive each employee was. Those responsibilities chipped off a significant portion of their work time.

Employees too had to spend time filling in these reports, and depending on the management style in the company, these reports could be quite extensive.

Modern software can do it automatically in seconds, with minimum employee and employer participation.

Boosting productivity is one of the primary goals of employee monitoring software. The program collects and summarizes activity data, such as active/inactive time, the start and end of the workday, visited websites, app usage, and more. This information reveals work patterns, inefficiencies, areas to be improved, and employees who may need extra support.

Employee monitoring supports accountability and transparency. When employees know their work is monitored, they are typically more inclined to stay focused and meet deadlines. Additionally, monitoring data can help resolve disputes and clarify expectations.

Some employee monitoring software can help detect suspicious activity, such as unauthorized access to sensitive data, unwanted app installations, or unusual downloads. Thanks to tracking, companies can identify potential risks early on and protect their systems and valuable information proactively.

As we can see, employee monitoring software indeed gives businesses valuable benefits. However, dazzled by these benefits and the successful experience of other companies, employers often overlook the ethics of employee monitoring and related potential downsides.

Implementing employee monitoring ethically may seem like walking a tightrope. Upset the balance and downsides will outweigh the benefits the tracking software may bring. When implementing monitoring, businesses should consider such issues as legal compliance, privacy, potential biases, and increased stress.

It is a business's responsibility to study the applicable privacy laws and regulations and ensure that their monitoring practices comply. Improper handling of employee data can lead to severe legal consequences.

Privacy is a cornerstone of employee monitoring ethics. The software can track a wide range of activities, from keystrokes and emails to website browsing history and even webcam footage. Even if such practices comply with local regulations, they can erode employee trust and create a sense of constant scrutiny. In the future, it will lead to decreased job satisfaction and increased stress.

If analyzed without careful consideration, monitoring data may be misinterpreted to target specific employees for their identity or beliefs unfairly.

A manager with prejudices against an employee may see their extensive use of social media as laziness and unproductivity. In truth, the employee may use chats for work-related purposes.

Sometimes employers misuse monitoring data to micromanage employees or make unfair judgments about their performance.

For instance, a manager might use the employee's browsing history to accuse them of slacking, without considering factors like research or personal emergencies.

Feeling constantly watched can increase anxiety and pressure on employees. Employees will feel uncomfortable with the idea that their every move is tracked. They may not take necessary breaks or make mistakes for fear that it will degrade their productivity record. Besides, employees will worry that if they do not meet expectations, they may be disciplined or fired. All these factors will minimize the positive effect of monitoring. Instead of a productive and efficient workforce, you will get stressed, burnt-out employees unsatisfied with their jobs.

When employees do not know what information you collect and for what purpose, or - even worse - they have not been informed about the monitoring, they will feel spied on. Their trust and loyalty will be ruined which will lead to a toxic work environment and increased turnover.

Watching out for these potential ethical issues is a business's responsibility. Monitoring should not necessarily be stressful. Its impact depends on several factors: the type of monitoring, the level of transparency, the tracking policy, and the company culture.

So, how do we balance effective monitoring with ethics and respect for privacy? We recommend adopting the following best practices.

1. Study the applicable privacy laws and regulations

   It is the business's responsibility to comply with state and local privacy and labor laws. If your team is geographically distributed, you should pay attention to regulations not only in your head office area but also in areas where your employees live. Consult a legal expert to ensure your monitoring practices do not violate the data collection limitations.

2. Make monitoring purposeful

   Establish clear objectives for employee monitoring, such as improving productivity, enhancing security, or ensuring compliance. Limit the scope of monitoring to activities that are strictly necessary to be monitored to achieve the set goal. Avoid collecting unnecessary data or retaining it longer than your purpose requires.

3. Develop a detailed and transparent monitoring policy

   An employee monitoring policy is a set of regulations and guidelines describing tracking practices in your organization. It should define the following aspects:

   • What is the purpose of employee monitoring?

   • Who is monitored?

   • What activities will be monitored?

   • How long will the data be retained?

   • How will the monitoring data be used? (e.g., performance evaluation, security, training)

   • Who will have access to the monitoring data?

   • How will the collected data be protected?

   • What are the employees' rights regarding the gathered data?

   • How will the company handle complaints or concerns about monitoring?

   The policy should be readily available to employees. The company is responsible for timely informing employees of any changes to this document.

4. Make monitoring practices open and transparent

   Inform the staff about tracking software and the monitoring policies. Explain the purpose of monitoring, for example, performance evaluation, security, or boosting productivity. Disclose the scope of monitoring: what data will be collected, what devices and activities will be monitored, and how the data will be used.

   Mind that the employees might not like the idea of monitoring at first. Be sure to address their concerns and potential objections.

5. Obtain employee consent

   Most jurisdictions require you to obtain employees' explicit consent for monitoring, especially for its more intrusive forms, such as keystroke logging or webcam surveillance. Signing a written agreement for tracking is the most convenient form of obtaining consent.

6. Ensure fair and consistent monitoring

   Ethics of employee monitoring requires you to apply monitoring policies consistently to all employees, avoiding discriminatory practices. If you only monitor specific employees or a team, they may feel you do not trust them and hold a grudge against you or other unmonitored employees. Besides, their colleagues may start treating them differently, which may worsen the atmosphere in the workplace.

   Even if you want to track only selected employees' performance, it is still better to monitor broadly. Broad monitoring will give you more insights into the workflow and may reveal inefficiencies you are unaware of.

   Tracking should serve to identify trends and areas for improvement, not to micromanage individual employees. Regularly review your monitoring practices to ensure they are fair, effective, and serve the set goal.

7. Protect privacy and data security

   Define the scope of data collection essential to achieve your purpose and stay within this limitation. Strictly avoid monitoring employees' personal devices or their activity beyond work hours. If an employee uses their personal device for work, the software should either have an option to stop monitoring manually, or automatically track only within preset work hours.

   If possible, avoid collecting confidential information. Otherwise, use data anonymization, so that the data cannot be associated with specific employees.

   Implement strong security measures for the collected monitoring data. Use strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and data encryption where possible. Restrict access to monitoring data to authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis.

Ethical use of employee monitoring software may resemble walking a tightrope where one wrong step may ruin employees' trust and cause legal repercussions. However, with a responsible and balanced approach, businesses can enjoy the benefits of monitoring without compromising ethical principles. It is a business's responsibility to prioritize transparency, fairness, and employee consent if it strives to create a work environment where technology is used to enhance productivity and performance.