Employee Surveillance-a right for employers, or an invasive step too far?

Fifteen years ago, one of us worked for a company where a recording device was planted by a manager who wanted to know what his team said about him when he was not there. It made for an extremely dramatic afternoon when it was found.

Times have changed, and in this new world companies monitor productivity in a much more sophisticated way. There was a doubling of employee monitoring during the pandemic and now 60% of employers use technology to track at least part of their employees’ activity.?These can comprise of keyboard clicks, monitored idle time, mouse movement, facial recognition and even computer cameras and microphones to capture activity and desk attendance on a timed basis.

Often employees are not aware of the nature of the monitoring, in a 2021 Gartner survey it was reported that 40% of workers said that their employers never informed them about what data is collected.?

But does it work?

A recent podcast from The Daily reported that following the introduction of many of these software during the pandemic, companies interviewed found ‘ workers were working for another company during the day. They were essentially two-timing their employer, which does happen a little with remote work. They were watching video games. They were watching porn. And so, the software gave the company X-ray vision. And they were able to just eliminate the people who were truly derelict’.

Some employees also stated that the knowledge of being monitored helps them stay focused, more efficient, and aware of how they use their time.

Interestingly, several women at all levels interviewed felt that it made the playing field more level ‘ They talked about wanting to work in an environment in which rewards are not based on who is schmoozing with who or who is going out drinking with who, but instead on who is really being industrious. And they felt that monitoring helped them prove how good they really were.’

However, many more workers are resisting. According to a study but Morning Consult, half of tech workers stated that they would avoid taking a new job if tracking was occurring .In a 2022 Zety survey, 71% of respondents stated that they would leave an employer if they used excessive monitoring.

Some employees believe that monitoring can erode trust and autonomy and damage company culture as it often focuses on measuring the wrong things. A system may be able to count keystrokes but not monitor offline activities such as reviewing data, taking notes, or reflecting on the content of an email. Industry reading, networking and team collaboration are also some examples of important activities that do not fit within the surveillance model.?One recent, highly publicized example of this issue in action was at UnitedHealth where the tracking system would mark medical professionals idle when they were having sensitive conversations with patients, as they had ceased typing.

So, do employers have a right to know what employees are doing for every minute of company time, or is this kind of monitoring an invasive step too far??There are barely any legal restrictions throughout the USA regulating this practice. The responsibility therefore lies squarely with the employer to determine what is right for their company.

It may be a case of not what you do, but how you do it. To avoid employee alienation, it is important that employers take a balanced approach to monitoring. Companies that are transparent, and explain both the purpose and method of monitoring, retain employee trust, and have lower attrition rates. 61% of employees are in favor of using monitoring as a mechanism to reference rather than a means of day-to-day management.

Companies who are listening seem to agree. Amazon has is now only looking into ‘idle time’ of more than 15 minutes, which is a big movement away from its metric driven culture.?Following the published New York Times article that outed them, UnitedHealthcare have announced that the will no longer time track their employees. They have not yet stated what methods they will use in it’s place though.

We would love to know about your experiences of surveillance by your employer, and if you felt it altered the way you work or how you behaved. Please let us know your thoughts below!