4 Advantages & 3 Disadvantages of Employee Monitoring
Employee monitoring can come with its advantages as well as disadvantages, we have put a few together for you to see below:
We now know that when correctly implemented, an employee monitoring system:
- Enables employers to analyze business processes
- Creates a more engaged team
- Saves money on employee retention
- Provides data transparency
- Protects against data loss
Advantages
Effective Management
Insights from gathered data will help you build a more efficient team by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of your employees. Seeing where people struggle and where people shine gives you the power to delegate tasks more efficiently. Matching the strengths and skills of your team members to the right job is incredibly important and enables the team to do their best work!
Discover Unrealized Revenue from a Fully Engaged Team
It is a big problem when employees are not 100% engaged in their work, which means companies need tools to help them determine who is disengaged, the reason for the disengagement, how much it is hurting their company, and how they can help,
Behaviour analytics will show you who on the team is disengaged or headed that way, by showing you how much time employees spend in unproductive applications. Take that information and display it in a graph over time, and you’ll see whose productivity has increased, decreased, or remained the same. With this knowledge, you can meet with the team member if it’s needed. See what’s going on and find out how you can help.
Financial Growth
Many companies face a financial loss due to unproductive employees.
You can cut down on this loss by implementing workforce analytics and productivity tracking program. Successful, data-driven companies use the analytics that tracking software gives them to increase productivity, revenue, sales, employee retention, happiness, and efficiency.
The types of data collected with employee monitoring software allow you to make better-informed business decisions. You may realize you have too many people assigned to one task. Why not make better use of time and the company’s resources by assigning a few of them a new project? Or, figure out which software (that you’re paying for) does not see much usage. Get rid of what you don’t benefit from and stop wasting money.
Security and Safety
Data breaches and cybersecurity should always be a concern for businesses. Hackers are extremely smart! They invent new methods of accessing data every day.
Large organizations are especially vulnerable to breaches. This is because of the scale of the organizations and the increased likelihood of human error leading to hacks such as accidentally opening hacked emails.
Sometimes the threat is internal. 87 percent of people have taken company information and documents with them after leaving a company. Employee monitoring in all its various forms provides supervisors a clear view of what people are doing and when. And in the event of any breaches or legal issues, the data logs act as your company’s “black box.” Your task of discovering the “who, what, when, and where” of the incident becomes a little bit easier.
Disadvantages of Employee Monitoring and How to Address Them
Now you’ve seen all the amazing advantages, What’s stop stopping you from getting started now? Well, you may have to deal with a perception issue.
Your purpose for analyzing your employees activity should be to create a company culture where everyone can perform their best and work together as a team—not to spy on them. But your team may not see it that way at first, creating a few disadvantages.
Privacy
Activity monitoring comes with the concern of privacy. People use work computers for personal reasons, and they want to keep their activity private. Also, people just don’t like the idea of someone watching their every move.
Reassure your employees that their privacy is crucial. You aren’t watching them; you’re dissecting data. You’re not interested in personal information.
Trust
One problem people have with employee monitoring is the trust factor. If they think that what you are doing is spying, they can have feelings of anger and dissatisfaction and turn to disengagement.
You can gain employees support by showing them you are monitoring for the right reasons. Don’t track just to track and don’t be invasive without good reason. The best thing is to be transparent, so stress to your team that the monitoring system is only used as an analytical tool.
Increased Stress Level
Knowing that their activities are tracked, a person may instinctively work harder, take fewer breaks, and worry about their productivity. All of that could lead to an increase in stress levels for your team, leading to both a drop in morale and employee turnover – the exact opposite of what you are trying to achieve!
If you take steps to explain the types of data you are gathering and why, you can help.
Virtual Trak is a great method for tracking and measuring employee work activity. Without a software like Virtual Trak, it’s impossible to understand how work is being completed unless you’re looking over someone’s shoulder.
Want to implement an employee monitoring program at your company?
Get started today with a 10day free trial of VirtualvTrak.
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Set up your company and employees for success today!
Email us on info@virtualgroup.co.za or Call us on 011 966 7733
