The Price of Productivity: The Human Cost of Workplace Surveillance

Sarah, a copywriter at a marketing agency, just returned from a performance review, the third in the past five weeks. Six weeks ago, her manager obliged the entire team to install the employee monitoring program so that he could track their performance. Sarah was not worried at first: she did her work well and had never received complaints about her texts.

However, everything changed with the installation of the software. Sarah's workload suddenly increased, and a week later, she was invited to the manager's office for a performance review. The manager was displeased by the extensive "inactivity" periods of Sarah's computer. He said that if she had time for idling at work, she would be assigned extra tasks. Sarah explained that she preferred to draft her ideas on paper before writing on her computer - that was where the inactivity periods came from. The manager was unconvinced and only recommended drafting ideas on the computer.

Sarah's performance reviews became more frequent. She struggled with the new workload and felt micromanaged and stressed. The monitoring system unfairly targeted her, stifling her creativity and autonomy.

Unfortunately, cases like Sarah's are not uncommon. Critics of employee monitoring software fear its use results in privacy concerns, increased stress, trust issues, biases, and transparency problems. Let's discuss if their fears are justified and if there are ways to implement employee monitoring responsibly and ethically.

Many employers adopt monitoring software because they do not know how to manage their workers, especially remote ones. They believe installing a program on an employee's computer and checking the report in a few days is enough. In reality, implementing employee monitoring requires some background work, without which you risk raising unwanted concerns and issues.

In many jurisdictions, privacy is protected with special regulations, but they rarely cover employee monitoring specifically. As a result, employers may not know what data they may collect and how long they may store it.

Meanwhile, monitoring systems collect a wide range of personal data, including keystrokes, mouse clicks, visited websites, and even emails and message contents. Employees see this as a constant invasion of privacy, especially when the collected data is used beyond the initial purpose.

Besides, there is always a risk that unauthorized individuals may access the gathered sensitive information, either from within the company or through external breaches. The consequences may be horrible, from reputational damage to identity theft.

The survey conducted by the American Psychological Association shows that employee monitoring significantly increases employees' stress. 56% of employees monitored with software feel tense and stressed during the workday. For unmonitored employees, this number is lower - 40%.

The same research reveals that monitored employees more frequently express feelings associated with burnout: irritability or anger towards coworkers or clients (23% vs. 14% of unmonitored employees), feeling unmotivated to do their best (29% vs. 22%), emotional exhaustion (39% vs. 22%) and feeling of being ineffective (20% vs. 15%).

Monitored employees may feel that their employer does not trust them, which creates a negative work environment, lowers morale, and even increases turnover.

When monitoring is used as an invasive way of micromanaging, it violates the unspoken agreement of mutual respect between a worker and their employer. A person will be much less likely to go above and beyond to help the organization if that trust is broken. They basically retreat into doing the bare minimum, says Tara Behrend, PhD, John Richard Butler II professor of human resources and labor relations at Michigan State University.

Some jurisdictions do not oblige employers to notify employees about monitoring, and companies may use it in their favor. Employees may not know they are tracked or be unaware of the scope of monitoring. However, even if the obligations are in place, companies may fail to provide the necessary policies to their workers. The lack of clear and transparent policies regarding employee monitoring leads to insecurity and mistrust among employees.

Another potential problem is discrimination. Monitoring systems may be used to unfairly target certain employees, such as those from marginalized groups or perceived as less productive. Moreover, the technology may unintentionally facilitate this discrimination. No algorithm is perfect; it may contain biases or ignore individual work styles, as in Sarah's case.

So, are the critics right, and employee monitoring is evil? Not at all. If it is used correctly and ethically, both employees and employers can benefit from its valuable insights. Let's reveal some must-dos for implementing employee monitoring.

Companies should follow these guidelines if they want to gain the maximum benefit from employee monitoring technology:

• Study relevant privacy regulations in your area. Ensure compliance with these regulations. Stay updated with the changes in these regulations.

• Define your monitoring goals. These goals, along with privacy regulations, will define the scope of data collection.

• Develop clear policies. These policies should outline the goals, scope of monitoring, and how the collected data will be used. Employees should have access to these policies.

• Get employee consent. Whether your jurisdiction requires it or not, it is always better to inform the staff about the monitoring and acquire their consent. This way, you will avoid trust issues with your employees.

• Involve employees in the development and implementation of monitoring policies to build trust and address their concerns.

• Maintain open communication with the staff. Allow employees to express their concerns and complaints and address them.

• Minimize the scope of the collected data. Gather only the information that is necessary for the intended purpose.

• Limit the terms of data storage. Delete the data that no longer serves the monitoring goals.

• Implement strong security measures. Ensure only authorized personnel have access to the data.

• Conduct regular audits to ensure monitoring systems usage complies with ethical guidelines and legal requirements.

• Provide employees with access to the collected data.

  With employee monitoring solutions like CleverControl, it is easy to do. CleverControl provides employees with personal productivity dashboards where they can see all their collected data and their productivity statistics. This feature not only helps solve privacy issues but also contributes to improving personal accountability and productivity.

• Use the monitoring reports to support employees and help them improve their performance, not to discriminate or punish them.

• Use employee monitoring software in combination with other performance-tracking methods to avoid biases.

Critics fear employee monitoring results in privacy problems, eroded trust, increased stress, and biases. However, organizations can avoid these issues if they implement employee monitoring ethically and openly and involve the staff in the process. Employee monitoring is a tool that, in the right hands, can significantly improve accountability and performance and benefit both employees and employers.