Although more and more businesses are using employee monitoring tools, it is still viewed very differently by employees compared to employers. The latter see it as an invaluable tool with many benefits, while the former view it as a potential invasion into their privacy.
As you can imagine this creates a conflict between both parties interests. That is why it is necessary to find some way to balance them out and prevent tensions from rising.
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Legal Protections
It may seem that one best places to start balancing employee and employer interests is with the legal protections that are afforded to employees in terms of their privacy. Unfortunately these protections vary in different jurisdictions – with some having little or no protection at all.
In the EU the GDPR requires that employers notify employees and obtain their consent before using software to monitor employees. On the other hand in the US, most states allow monitoring in the workplace as long as it is within reason.
Principal of Minimal Intrusion
Arguably the best way to ensure employees are not too put off by the fact that monitoring tools are being used is to make it as minimally intrusive as possible. In other words you should only monitor specific types of activity that are necessary to fulfill your goals.
A good example of this is if you use Controlio it has the capability to track app that are used, websites that are accessed, emails, file transfers, IM messages, keystrokes, and more. It can even capture screen recordings if necessary.
Needless to say you might not need to monitor your employees so closely. Instead, you may opt to use Controlio to track app and web usage as well as rely on its productivity score as a metric of gauging whether or not employees are wasting time at work.
In that way you can monitor employees effectively, while avoiding looking into emails, IM messages or other personal communications.
Monitoring Policy
Another important way to assuage your employees concerns is to come up with a monitoring policy that is both clear and comprehensive. The policy should detail exactly what will be monitored as well as explain why it is important to the company.
Additionally the policy should also provide details on how the data that is collected will be used, and give employees a way to provide feedback or raise concerns if any arise.
Before you start to create a policy however, you may want to look into exactly what Controlio can do. All you need to do is sign up here and you’ll get to try out the full length and breadth of its features.
Conclusion
Although it will require time and effort, it is worth adopting a careful and measured approach to employee monitoring and balancing the interests of employees with your own. The fact of the matter is that employee monitoring has very attractive benefits, but there are also pitfalls involved that could damage employee morale and lead to disputes if you aren’t careful.
