Employee productivity is a real deal in any workplace, especially during this Corona crisis, with all of us working remotely. Well, I know that remote work might not sound that tricky. It’s not like we are working from Mars, but the pandemic is spreading like wildfire, and we all know this lockdown is not going to cease any soon (Duh!). 

As a result, it has become very crucial for employers to make sure they get as much output from the home office as they did from the office office. All of this has made it very natural for business owners to deploy employee monitoring tools in their online premises. 

And why not? They want to keep an eye on their colleagues’ activities to make sure that they don’t get carried away with the distractions. (I mean, don’t lie. You pet your puppy on your lap the entire time). 

I’ll be honest with you. It does make sense up to some extent. A person wastes less time and becomes more productive when working under vigilance. Well, we might think it works this way, but are the employees really okay with it? 

Unfortunately, no. Studies show that employee productivity falls rapidly in the absence of trust. But can your team trust you when you peek into their screens 24X7? 

Maintaining productivity is crucial, for sure, but you need to make sure that you are not disturbing the employee privacy while looking for a more disciplined environment. 

 

What Happens When You Start Watching Every Single Move: Surveillance Psychology 

 

Don’t you feel at least a bit awkward when you know someone’s watching you? And that is unavoidable! Employee surveillance using cameras is not that uncomfortable, as we all are used to CCTVs. As a matter of fact, even a grocery store has them. 

But it is not the case with system monitoring. Many employees feel threatened by it. A lot of them work on their BYODs and share their devices with their siblings as well. The fear of privacy leads to mistrust among the workers, consequently leading to a toxic workplace.

The employees are less likely to indulge in any creative contribution when they lack trust. They also feel more scared to speak up as they fear the chances of mockery. So, there’s also a defensive silence among them. Now, this kind of environment is, indeed, degrading on its own. 

Well, you would not want an unhealthy workforce environment in the online premises. Neither would you like your employees to feel distrusted. So, is there any possible solution to it? 

 

Productivity and Trust Go Hand in Hand 

 

I guess, by now, we all can agree to the fact that trust makes up to be one of the pillars in supporting a successful organization. Now, let me break this to you- maintaining productivity is very crucial in maintaining mutual trust between the worker and their organization. 

Trusting a team isn’t always easy, especially when it involves remote workers. Is it not obvious why employers want to maintain a strict schedule among their employees? They don’t want you to waste your time! 

It turns out that there NEEDS to be some or other way of tracking down the activities during working hours. But you need to keep the employee privacy in mind. 

The workers who feel trusted are around 60% more productive and creative with their work, as they are more confident with their decisions. On the other hand, the managers who trust their teams have a better understanding of the progress in the pending tasks. 

 

Oh, Do You Know How Can You Make Sure Your Remote Teams Meet Deadlines? Here Are 7 Tips

 

How is Employee Monitoring a Bummer for Telecommuters? 

It doesn’t matter how well you manage your WFH schedule, you would, still, agree with me when I say that working at home is VERY different from working on your office desk. You don’t have to get groceries from the market or pet your kitty during the working hours when in office. 

I think I have already made my point clear here- you need to assess employees differently when they are working in an altogether different environment. 

Most of the monitoring tools record employee attendance by recording their login and log out times along with the total time for which the employee’s screens were locked. This way, the employers come to know the total time for which their employees remained in front of their computers. But how would they know if the employees are actually working or Binge-watching Netflix during their working hours? 

This way, the working hours might go higher than usual, but productivity would fall rapidly. The efforts of those who work for lesser hours with higher productivity will go unnoticed. 

Many tools have similar features that might seem beneficial at first but turn out to be completely unreliable. 

 

Are All Employee Tracking Tools Flawed? 

Luckily, no. 

It looks like EmpMonitor gives a genuine managerial insight into the actual time spent on keyboards as well as screens, metrics on data, and file management on the premises. So that you know when your team is overloaded, identify the time-sucking elements, and assist them in doing more meaningful work without invading their privacy. 

For example, people tend to waste more time on communication tools, social media, YouTube, etc. EmpMonitor provides you with the list of the top-visited websites and frequently used apps so that you know if your team is getting distracted or is capable of managing their workload. 

As a matter of fact, EmpMonitor captures regular screenshots of the employees’ systems. So there remains no iota of doubt if your employee was watching new videos on YouTube or learning something new. 

 

Employee Tracking Is A Win-Win For All 

Employee privacy is arguably the first and foremost thing that an organization ought to keep in mind. And using the right measures and the most trusted tools like EmpMonitor will make sure that employee monitoring actually turns out to bring the best results for all, without invading someone’s privacy. 

Not convinced yet? Okay, let me explain it in details: 

 

1. It encourages a fair assessment of your work: 

As I already mentioned earlier, a lot of employees’ work and efforts go unappreciated when not assessed properly. Moreover, every employee’s assigned tasks are different. A writer might spend more time on their keyboards than a coder. Deploying tracking software on everyone’s systems and analyzing their work will ensure that everyone gets adequate feedback about their tasks. 

 

2. The work environment becomes more transparent: 

 

When your employers know what you are up to, they feel more confident with you and assign you the tasks according to your rate of progress. This way, you don’t get overburdened with your work, and your employers also stay aware of the exact status of the tasks assigned to you. So the transparency increases between everyone. 

 

3. Proper monitoring establishes mutual trust 

As mentioned in the previous point, transparency increases when your employers have a detailed analysis of your activities. So they know that you complete your tasks even if there is a delay due to some other pending work. When a workplace has employers that trust their co-workers, the work environment becomes highly encouraging. As a result, the employees establish more trust in their organization. 

 

4. There is more credibility in your tasks: 

With a record of the work that you perform, you become more accountable with the assigned tasks. With accurate screenshots, your managers can hold you answerable for everything that you do in the office hours. Plus, nobody gets the credits for your work EVER! Also, even when you work for fewer hours, your speed of work stays visible in the eyes of your employers. 

 

Also Read, 

Employee Monitoring: Productivity Booster or Privacy Killer? 

Is Work From Home Revolution Going To Stay, Even After COVID-19?

How To Lead Your Company Through This Time Of Crisis? 

 

Let’s Take Trust Seriously 

Trust is the key to reliability and strength among co-workers in any organization. Maintaining employee productivity is, indeed, fundamental to any growing organization, but the managers need to make sure that they don’t cross the line while doing so. 

There’s no need for you to sneak peek into your employees’ activities all the time like a parent. Keeping a regular check on their tasks every once in a while is more than sufficient. Respect the employee privacy and don’t get on their nerves. Or else you may lose their trust pretty quickly.