You Should Not Use These Methods to Monitor Your Employees

Employee monitoring has become crucial for employers in this digital age. Gone are the days when employers used to rely on their employees on the basis of trust and loyalty. In the current times, you cannot completely trust your employees and rely on them to complete their office tasks with full honesty.

Nowadays, employers need to monitor their employees’ activities at the workplace to find out whether or not they are focusing on their work and completing the tasks on time. Employers can adopt several different ways to monitor their employees’ activity during working hours.

For instance, they can install hidden spy apps for Android or iPhone (depending on the type of device your employee is using) on their employees’ devices and monitor their complete smartphone activities including internet and social media usage.

Monitoring employees’ smartphone activity is important because most employees waste their precious office time on leisure activities such as surfing the internet, watching online movies, chatting with their friends on social media, etc.

The loss incurred from wasted time on the internet and social media usage amounts to huge financial losses for most companies.

As per the report published by the Engagement Institute, it was found out that US companies lose a whopping $550 billion every year just due to the lost productivity. According to another report by Udemy, internet use is one of the major reasons employees waste time at the workplace and hence lose their productivity.

In simpler words, all this wasted time in the workplace could cost your business thousands of dollars at the very least. That’s the reason most companies use different employee monitoring tools to keep a check on their employees in the workplace. Most companies use hidden spy apps for Android or iPhone to track their employees’ smartphones that they use in the office.

The Wrong Methods of Employee Monitoring

It has already been made clear that employee monitoring is crucial and every company, whether big or small, must use monitoring tools in the workplace to keep an eye on what their employees are doing. If you want to increase employee productivity, enhance employee engagement, prevent data breaches, and prevent the company from risks and threats, you must install monitoring tools in the workplace.

Installing employee monitoring tools in the workplace is one thing but you should also know how to use these tools. Employee monitoring tools should be used the right way. Every employer must know how to tackle employee monitoring tools to monitor their employees effectively.

Different companies use different tactics and methods to keep a check on their employees’ activity while they are working. For example, some companies restrict their employees from accessing certain inappropriate and unproductive websites and apps. Some companies choose to completely ban social media apps and internet usage on their employees’ smartphones.

However, let us tell you that all of these methods are completely flawed. If you’re thinking to completely ban the internet and social media usage for your employees then you’re wrong and you need to think more about it.

Below, we have explained a few flawed methods that you should never use to monitor your employees in the workplace.

Banning the Internet Use at the Workplace

First and foremost, you should never think about completely banning internet use in your company. If you are thinking about taking this step, we would suggest you stop. It is true that the internet serves as a major distraction for employees, you should not forget that it is also important for most business processes.

Most of the business functions cannot take place without the internet so you cannot think of completely banning internet use.

Almost every modern business is online-based these days. All businesses have gone online and they carry out important tasks through the internet. Whether it is about carrying out your major operation through the internet or using online payment systems, everything is online-based.

By relying so much on the internet, it is completely out of the question to ban internet use altogether. No doubt you can reduce internet distractions but at the same time, you can also restrict your major business operations.

Completely Banning Certain Sites/Apps

Another popular employee monitoring method most companies use is completely banning particular sites and apps such as Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram.

However, this isn’t the right method that companies should follow. Here’s why:

• Websites and apps like Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram are not the only sites and apps that may cause distractions to your employees. There are several different sites that your employees can visit and spend their time on. Also, you cannot consider manually identifying and blocking all the sites your employees may visit because it is going to take you a lifetime.
• You cannot block websites like Facebook and YouTube because your employees may need to visit these websites for work-related reasons. For instance, if you’re running a social media marketing company, sites and apps like Facebook and Twitter are important to your business operations.
• If you are managing remote employees, there is a possibility that they might be using the same computer, laptop, or smartphone for work and personal use. When you limit your employees’ access to sites like Facebook and YouTube in the workplace, you also enforce restrictions on their personal life as well.

Using Hidden Spy Apps (Tools) to Monitor Your Employees

Some employers choose to install hidden monitoring tools on their employees’ devices. They deploy spy software on their employees’ devices to secretly keep an eye on their activities. They engage in secret monitoring and their employees have no idea that their activity is being monitored.

Some of the most common and popular tools employers use for covert monitoring are as follows:

Keylogger Software: Employers use keyloggers to secretly record all the keys employees press on their devices including personal computers and smartphones.

Video Loggers: Employers should use video loggers to secretly record or take screenshots of their employees’ computer screens while they are working during office hours.

Spy Software/Apps: Employers also use spy software and hidden spy apps to monitor their employees’ activity on their computers and smartphones without them knowing.

While these secret monitoring tools help employers keep close eyes on their employees without them knowing, they can also lead to major trust and morale issues. Therefore, you should not consider using such monitoring tools.