In this digital economy, monitoring of employees both inside and outside of offices is on the rise. Managers can now (legally) monitor emails, internet browser history and the activities employees indulge on Google, Gmail, and (if left unblocked) on Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, office mobiles given as part of joining packages help bosses track employee locations through GPS.
The digital era has brought in a host of disadvantages for the employee who might do a quick online search for job consultants and recruiters or might even visit the sites of a rival company. Such activities, albeit done in a random fashion, and perhaps with no particular intention, is enough to alert bosses.
According to Francis Padamadan, country director of talent management firm KellyOCG India, employee monitoring is more popular with the sales forces of FMCG and BFSI companies. “Such employees are mostly on the move. Last mile delivery companies are leveraging GPS to monitor their staff. Some IT companies have started using perimeter sensors to detect the presence of unwanted elements on their campuses with a view to providing better security to their female employees. The same can also be used to track employees in the future.”
Companies say tracking mechanisms are a channel to gauge employee productivity and enhance output using lead indicators, besides mitigating risks on leakage of confidential information and data.
Says Saba Adil, chief people officer, Aegon Life Insurance, “it is a decent practice to use past data and performance indicators to draw up a roadmap of what activities an employee should do in order to attain targets. But the tracking has to be an enabler, not a restrictor. What would work is empowerment and not policing. Corporate structures should engage with employees to help them find their sense of purpose and be accountable for their deliverables.”
Wearables
The rise in wearables in the workplace is predicted to enhance employee surveillance. Global statistics say that over 75 million wearable devices (smart watches, fitness trackers and smart glasses) will be deployed in companies by 2020. Corporates are increasingly leveraging wearables through their corporate wellness programmes to garner information about employee fitness and fatigue levels. And such indicators can help companies select only the ‘fittest’ for projects and promotions, indirectly providing lesser growth prospects for the ‘non-fit’ employees.
Padamadan says a cost reduction in wearables would increase their corporate deployment.
Impact
Experts say monitoring pushes down employee morale. “Employees will feel their professional integrity is being questioned. They may also feel such measures could be misused to layoff employees during performance reviews or bad market conditions,” says Padamadan.
Thus, transparency is the key here. “There should be no ambiguity on why the monitoring is in place. In the absence of total transparency, setting up invasive processes impacts employee morale and strains the employee-employer relationship as trust gets compromised. This can impact productivity as well,” says Adil.
...& ANALYSIS
- Firms say tracking mechanisms are used for gauging employee productivity and enhancing output
- The rise in wearables-smart watches, fitness trackers, smart glasses- may enhance surveillance
- Experts say monitoring pushes down employee morale. Hence, transparency is key for productivity
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 "Tracking"){kind=tracking}
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