Living a corporate life, you must have witnessed the shifts in dynamics in your workplace. The rapid normalization of remote and hybrid work has eradicated the traditional notions of supervision. While this favors employees’ expectations, the same evolving landscape created a new challenge for managers.
How do managers ensure that their remote workforce is productive and accountable when they can’t physically supervise them? As an ongoing challenge for many organizations, the answer has been to deploy digital monitoring tools. Yet, the very mention of such software for monitoring purposes often evokes a reaction of suspicion. Fueled by widespread stories on social media platforms like Reddit, this employee tracker is condemned as “bossware”, a tool of control and mistrust.
This difference in perception presents yet another hurdle for managers to tackle. On one hand, there is a legitimate need for accountability, data-driven insights into workflows, and protection of company assets. On the other hand, there is an equally critical need to respect employee rights, foster a culture of autonomy, and psychological safety.
So, how do organizations overcome this challenge? In any case, compromise should not be the resolution. What truly works here is redefining the purpose of monitoring from surveillance to empowerment.
The legitimate need for data-driven insight
Addressing the ‘how’ means taking reactive measures, but understanding the ‘why’ means a proactive approach to any concern. Thus, organizational oversight necessarily may not lead to micromanagement. In today’s work dynamic, it is a fundamental business necessity. Let’s decode this ‘why’:
- Secure monitoring can help companies prevent data breaches, ensuring compliance with regulations, like GDPR or HIPAA, and fulfilling their ethical obligations..
- Understanding how employees utilize the system and collaborate enables leaders to identify bottlenecks, allocate resources effectively, and pinpoint where additional training or tools are needed.
- In a remote setting, employees’ productivity cannot be ascertained. But with objective data, managers can identify and recognize the top performers, promoting a more equitable performance review process.
The goal here is to find clarity by analyzing the collected data. This helps managers understand workflow and performance to offer tailored feedback and leadership.
The high cost of the surveillance model
Organizations implementing covert monitoring will have to pay a steep price in cultural currency. This means demotivated employees and decreased retention. When employees feel watched at all times, several negative outcomes are almost inevitable:
- The element that binds together a high-performing team is psychological safety or trust. But discreet monitoring shatters this unseen trust, implying to employees that leadership does not trust them to do their jobs without oversight.
- When monitoring feels like Big Brother, employees are pressured to appear busy at all times, forcing them to resort to counterproductive behaviors, like constantly moving the mouse or writing lengthy but meaningless emails. These unwanted activities shift focus from meaningful output to performative activity.
- Top-performing employees thrive on autonomy and trust in the workplace. A culture of surveillance takes away accountability, making them less engaged and driving them away.
These outcomes reflect how fundamentally wrong the perception of bossware is. True productivity cannot be accurately measured in clicks per minute or seconds of activity. The measurable value is created in moments of collaboration, creative problem-solving, and improvement.
Reframing the narrative – Ethical monitoring
The ultimate solution to the employee tracker’s dilemma lies in a fundamental reframing of its purpose. Your goal should not be to watch employees slacking off, but to understand how work gets done and to remove the obstacles that prevent them from performing at their best. This requires a commitment to three core principles of monitoring: Transparency, communication, and ethical application.
Absolute transparency
One of the main reasons why Bossware fails is secrecy. Unannounced deployment of the monitoring tool destroys the credibility of the purpose. So, start with a pilot phase before full rollout, while clearly addressing:
- The “What”: Explicitly detailing what data will be collected from the employees.
- The “Why”: Explaining the business purpose: is it for security, to identify workflow bottlenecks, or for individual development?
- The “How it will be used”: Ensure to employees that their data will not be used for micromanagement, like punishing them, but for macro-level insights and support.
When you are transparent about your purpose and policies, employees are far more likely to accept monitoring as they understand its purpose and know the boundaries of its use.
Continuous, two-way communication
Simply informing employees about deploying a monitoring system is not enough. Company-wide announcement is only the start of an ongoing dialogue. There should be separate and official channels or forums for employees to ask questions, voice concerns, and provide feedback on the system itself. This approach translates to respecting and valuing employees’ perspectives.
Furthermore, the data collected should be a starting point for conversations. For example, analyzing a productivity report showing a team spending excessive time in a specific software, the supervisor could say, “The data suggests this tool is creating friction. Are you facing any problems with it?” This data-driven feedback positions the supervisor and employee as allies to resolve a common problem.
Ethical application and outcome-oriented management
Another powerful way to build trust is to judge employees based on their output and the quality of their work, and not by the time they spend on activities. For example, did they deliver the project on time and to a high standard? Was the client satisfied? These are the metrics that truly matter.
Since monitoring is non-negotiable, such tools should be used to identify systemic issues that prevent employees from achieving these outcomes. This outcome-oriented approach enables teams to have the autonomy they deserve and empowers them to manage their time and attention in the way that works best for them.
Last words
The employee tracker tools themselves are neutral; it is their impact that is determined by the work culture and intent behind their use. By reframing the narrative of monitoring, organizations can transform a potential tool of surveillance into a catalyst for building trust, support, and high performance.
