Because of the numerous benefits associated with it, staff tracking has progressed from the ‘to do it or not to do it’ consideration to ‘how to make it more ethical.’
As the remote work culture gained popularity, remote employee monitoring software began to build its foundation with high-level threat detection and data leak protection features to entice businesses.
And, today, they are an indispensable part of our working lives, which everyone has unanimously embraced for improved security and accountability.
The complexities associated with staff tracking software have increased as it has advanced.
Shadowing your workforce is risky, raises privacy concerns, and is difficult for a variety of reasons, including costs, culture, and employee perceptions, given that they are the heart of any business.
A staff tracking software is essential for establishing accountability, maintaining productivity, and uncovering insider heinous crimes such as data theft.
The main challenge is balancing the organization’s security needs with the privacy of its employees.
Let us examine the benefits and drawbacks of employee monitoring to help you decide whether it is worthwhile to implement in your organization.
THE Advantages of Remote Employee Tracking
1. TRANSPARENCY IS BRINGED INTO THE ORGANIZATION BY STAFF TRACKING
Remote team management has advantages and disadvantages because you cannot handle them in person, such as when employees begin, when they take breaks, whether they are working or not, or the average time spent on a particular task.
Staff time tracking increases transparency by recording detailed reports on each employee’s task details, which can help you improve the company’s productivity even further.
Employers can keep track of the following with employee monitoring software:
- Check in
- What they were working on
- Total amount of time spent
- Employees benefit from apps and websites that are visited. They have work details to prove how much time they spent on a specific task.
The use of time tracking software and employee monitoring software aids in the removal of mistrust between managers and team members.
2. YOU CAN MONITOR PRODUCTIVITY RATES
By monitoring employees’ daily schedules, staff tracking addresses productivity concerns to a large extent.
Most businesses do not use active employee monitoring tools, resulting in low productivity and occasional issues with accountability.
In the absence of an employee monitoring tool, how will you track the organization’s productivity? Extremely difficult!
And I can’t rely on guesswork for this!
Poor accountability affects everything from poor workload distribution to incorrect employee recognition. Management will never recognise deserving candidates and will be perplexed as to why the target is not met on time.
Sounds like the perfect recipe for workplace harakiri!
Thus, staff tracking promotes higher productivity by rewarding satisfied employees for their efforts.
You can also receive daily report updates such as:
- Total number of working hours
- Applied applications
- Visited websites
- Tasks completed
These insights allow for more effective work on improvements. Furthermore, employees can self-monitor time-wasting behaviour and meet objectives on time.
Investing in employee monitoring is always beneficial because it provides us with the following advantages:
- Spend less money.
- Determine time wasters.
- Overall productivity has increased.
3. ACCOUNTABILITY STANDARDS ARE ESTABLISHED THROUGH STAFF TRACKING
Staff tracking establishes a positive accountability standard for what is acceptable in the workplace, particularly for online activities.
The Monitoring system specifies which online activities are tracked during work hours, instilling in employees a sense of accountability to use only necessary applications during work hours.
Some have mandatory firewalls that block specific apps in order to enforce the use of unnecessary applications. However, it is difficult to justify blocking specific websites for remote employees, especially when the company does not provide a separate official computer.
You can see which websites your employees are using when they are clocked in by investing in staff tracking.
If you catch them on social media during work hours, remind them of your company’s work policy.
4. ASSISTS WITH STAFF WORKLOAD TRACKING
Staff tracking applications provide real-time insight into employee activities and overall productivity, allowing you to effectively manage your team workload and develop balance and happiness among team members.
The majority of tracking applications are excellent workforce management software that assists managers in understanding and tracking assignments, deadlines, and resources.
Disadvantages of Remote Employee Tracking
1. PRIVACY WORRIES
Employee monitoring raises a number of privacy concerns. Most employees are concerned that their non-work hours are being monitored as well.
They are concerned about the safety of their private conversations and passwords.
Some employers monitor their employees without their knowledge. If you are the one doing so, we urge you to stop immediately to avoid legal repercussions and irreversible trust issues between you and your employees.
It is never acceptable to spy on employees without their permission.
2. POSSIBLE TRUST BREAKDOWNS
Employees may believe you doubt their credibility and commitment after knowing them for so long, potentially leading to a toxic work environment, lower employee morale, and higher employee turnover.
You can combat this by making it a standard company policy that is not directed at any specific individual. Staff tracking norms will be applied to all employees, from interns to junior employees to executive leadership.
Inform your employees that the monitoring is to-
- Increase productivity.
- Establish guidelines for accountability.
- Improved Management
- Ease out the billing process.
GOODS, BADNESS, AND UGLYNESS
Finding a balance between your company’s demands and your employees’ concerns is critical.
Find the right discretion that does not influence the motivation of your workforce before implementing a staff tracking system by following these clever tips-.
Ascertain that the employee monitoring tool serves your legitimate business interests.
Create a policy that is easily understood by employees.
Think about whether your approach might infringe on your employees’ reasonable expectation of privacy.
Instead of relying solely on tracking systems to evaluate performance, use common sense.
Obtain written permission for various types of monitoring.
Once information about an employee’s activities has been recovered, it must be handled with care and confidentiality.
