How Employers Should Monitor Employee Productivity

While the concept of tracking employee performance is not new, hybrid work has increased interest in monitoring workplace productivity. It does, however, raise ethical concerns and, when done incorrectly, generates a hostile work atmosphere.

According to Gartner research, the proportion of large businesses employing technologies to follow their employees has doubled to 60% since the pandemic's beginning, which is anticipated to climb to 70% within the next three years.

Why are businesses using productivity tracking technology?

Leaders and managers want to ensure that their employees are productive, regardless of where they are, however, there is a common belief that remote work reduces employee productivity, despite statistics demonstrating that remote work increases productivity. 

According to a Gartner study, 55% of employees are top achievers when given radical freedom over where, when, and with whom they work, compared to 36% of those who work 9-5 in the office.

Nonetheless, leaders claim a variety of reasons for employing employee productivity tracking systems, including:

• Ensuring that task is completed on time

• Identifying work issues

• Ensuring that the technology delivers on the value proposition of the organisation

• Identifying opportunities for process or technology improvement

• Ensure that the employee experience is protected regardless of location

What are the functions of employee monitoring technologies?

These tools are designed to collect data from various sources and provide insights, reports, and suggestions. The most challenging difficulty is the concept of "productivity," which is very contextual. Most of the time, these technologies detect the amount of time spent on tasks and how those tasks fluctuate; nevertheless, this is not a reliable predictor of an employee's success.

While there are drawbacks, it is feasible to use technology effectively to increase employee experience and efficiency.

Employee perceptions of productivity monitoring

Employee productivity tracking is becoming increasingly prevalent, yet employee communication regarding the topic is inadequate.

 41% of employees report that no one in their organisation communicates with them about what data is gathered and why or how it is used. 

Furthermore, Gartner research shows that even when these subjects are discussed, the quality of that communication is often poor, resulting in low employee understanding and awareness of personal data usage.

To help, clearly communicate to employees the many categories of personal information you gather, when you collect it, why you collect it, and who has access to it. Most employees, for example, assume that monitoring occurs only during business hours. Some firms, however, collect employee activity data at other times.

Transparency has a definite advantage. Employees who are informed about why and how their firms collect data about them put in more discretionary effort and have better levels of trust than their counterparts who are not.

Three approaches to a successful employee monitoring

Organisational change management and communication are possibly the most critical steps in successfully implementing this technology. Many employees are initially apprehensive of the rollout, believing it would influence their reputation, choices, talents, or connections.

It is vital to highlight that implementing staff productivity monitoring is a high-risk project that requires all stakeholders to establish and agree on a clear plan. The importance of striking a balance between the efficiency of broad communication and the personalised nature of individual communication cannot be overstated. Leaders in compliance and privacy can collaborate with HR to:

• Adjust communication to the role. Some jobs, such as customer service workers, may be more closely scrutinised than others. Instead of sending out a broad email, be careful, narrow the type of data you are collecting, and clearly communicate the reason to employees.

• Consider where your employees' location. Employees in Western Europe, for example, are less comfortable with employee monitoring than those in East, South, and South East Asia. To avoid these discrepancies, keep FAQ documents on hand and seek specialist training for managers in case issues occur.

• Communicate information through managers. Employees prefer to receive information from their boss rather than from someone else in their organisation. This requires the use of strong relationships, communicates to employees the importance of the information, and enables managers to more readily contextualise the goal of monitoring their direct reports.

Source: Gartner