Monitoring Employees: It May Not Be Such a Good Idea After All

Following others blindly is never advised, as something that works perfectly for others may be dangerous for us. There has been an increase in the use of computer software with monitoring capabilities to keep a check on employees’ activities in workplaces. Employers offer various justifications to prove this is well within their legal right, but that isn’t all there is to it. The main question here is whether installing an employee monitoring software is worth the potential consequences and if the benefits clearly outweigh the cost? Let’s take a look at some of the lesser known facts about the use of digital solutions to keep track of employees’ activities.

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Similar to a Fishing Expedition

Monitoring employees is similar to a fishing expedition where you have to spend hours waiting for the fish to take bait, and that too only if you are lucky. Otherwise, you go home empty-handed. Determined to prove to themselves that installing monitoring software was the right idea, employers start observing everything way too closely, hoping to find an employee doing something wrong. The determination and at times desperation can even make them forget the original motivation behind monitoring the workforce.

Monitoring Drains Energy

Undertaking the task of monitoring employees is similar to agreeing to an over-time without getting paid for the extra effort. Employer may either assign the task to any IT guy, which is not really a good decision, or he may monitor the logs personally. In both the cases, the job becomes tough; especially when the employer has lots of other, may even more important, things to do.

Employees take it Negatively

Installing a monitoring app gives a loud and clear message to the employees that the company does not trust them. This feeling alone may be enough to kill their loyalty and commitment towards the organization. A resentful workforce is the last thing any company could possibly want, as employees are the asset for any business, and business cannot take a single breath without them. Talking from another perspective, the feeling that they are being monitored causes distrust, stress and insecurity among employees, which, of course, is pretty bad for a company aiming for growth and productivity.

Comes with a Cost

Installing a monitoring software means increasing your expenses without any guarantee that you will be reaping any benefit. Using a monitoring application does not always work. What if it creates a hostile environment at the workplace where all the employees grow resentful towards the company? Monitoring software may not only cost you financially, but may cost you in various other ways as well.

Employees Are Smarter

If you think that installing a monitoring app will magically make your employees more productive, professional, and well disciplined, then you are wrong. Employees also have access to latest technology; they know how to sabotage these apps and software. So using a monitoring app is not a good idea unless you have taken the employees onboard, which is the ethical and legal way, or opted for a monitoring solution that works in stealth.

Forget about the statistics given by monitoring software vendors. Instead, just think like a responsible and professional businessman whose biggest priority is to take care of company’s most valuable assets, its employees. You don’t need to constantly breathe down their necks or spy on them to the best out of them. Show some faith in them and see what a big difference it makes.