{"id":46148,"date":"2021-09-08T01:35:46","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T20:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/?p=46148"},"modified":"2021-10-21T12:24:33","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T06:54:33","slug":"future-of-remote-employee-monitoring-pros-cons-and-how-to-do-it-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/business\/future-of-remote-employee-monitoring-pros-cons-and-how-to-do-it-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Future of Remote Employee Monitoring: Pros, Cons and How to Do it Right"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Global Workplace Analytics claims that remote work has grown by 159% since 2009. Owl Labs, however, states that it has increased by 55% over the past five years. With the pandemic, remote work and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/future\/top-6-challenges-of-onboarding-remote-employees\/\">remote employee<\/a> monitoring have soared, and so have doubts as to how to do it in conformity with the law.<\/p>\n<h2>Remote Employee Monitoring is Growing<\/h2>\n<p>Two months into lockdown -May 2020- around 20% of surveyed organizations had acquired remote work monitoring software, according to a Gartner research.<\/p>\n<p>Fast-forward to 2021, 48% of employees are believed to somehow do remote work after the pandemic, 18% more among those who worked remotely at least part-time before the pandemic.<br \/>\n<!-- Home page 728x90 --><br \/>\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 728px; height: 90px;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9864771813712812\"><\/ins> <script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>There are several reasons for companies to monitor their employees -trust, cybersecurity and backups, and productivity monitoring. Josh Bersin, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/business\/hrs-role-in-knowing-and-reducing-ai-bias\/\">HR industry<\/a> analyst at the Josh Bersin Academy, says that if the idea is to benefit employees it&#8217;s great. If it&#8217;s for evaluating employees it&#8217;s dangerous and if it penalizes them it&#8217;s probably not a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>This is due to the fact that the relationship between employer and employee has been thrown into turmoil during Covid times. Moreover, the doubts regarding the productivity of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/business\/how-to-create-your-perfect-remote-work-environment\/\">remote work<\/a> vary depending on who is asked to and how each individual adjusts to this new reality.<\/p>\n<p>However, trusting someone to do their job properly is a key requirement for remote work. This is especially true when Tecla research shows that 85% of managers believe that remote workers will soon be the norm.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Kropp, Gartner&#8217;s chief of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/business\/what-is-the-future-of-hr\/\">research in HR<\/a>, said that monitoring includes everything from technology that can take photos of employees using their laptops to tools that track keystrokes and allow workers to track productivity levels.<br \/>\n<span class=\"seethis_lik\"><span>Also read:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/top-10\/best-10-semrush-alternative\/\">Best 10 Semrush Alternative For 2025 (Free & Paid)<\/a><\/span>\n<h3>Pros Of Remote Employee Monitoring<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/business\/how-to-support-your-employees-who-are-working-remotely\/\">Remote employee<\/a> monitoring has many benefits. It allows for teams to be aligned and keeps tabs on their productivity.<\/p>\n<p>Software monitoring can help improve employee productivity by measuring how much time coworkers spend on the company&#8217;s behalf, from their arrival time to when they leave. This can be done from anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n<p>So, employers can see if workers, for instance, spend endless hours on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/business\/what-is-influencer-marketing-and-how-to-work-with-social-media-influencers\/\"> social media<\/a> or browse other pages that have nothing to do with their daily contracted activities. They can also take steps to help employees who are having difficulties with clients or projects.<\/p>\n<p>Monitoring can also help with billing and budget management. A client&#8217;s satisfaction will be affected by an accurate measurement of their project timelines and the resources they have been allocated.<br \/>\n<span class=\"seethis_lik\"><span>Also read:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/top-10\/top-10-business-intelligence-tools-of-2021\/\">Top 10 Business Intelligence Tools of 2021<\/a><\/span>\n<h3>Cons Of Remote Employee Monitoring<\/h3>\n<p>It is impossible to detach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.workpuls.com\/employee-monitoring\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">employee monitoring<\/a> from an ethical frame. &#8220;Employees may feel their privacy has been devalued or violated, and it may be difficult to retain employees if monitoring seems intrusive,&#8221; according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/business\/top-5-benefits-of-hiring-an-hr-consulting-firm-for-your-business\/\">HR<\/a> Daily Advisor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Monitoring could signal a lack trust, which can lead to resentment and lower employee morale.<\/p>\n<p>Gartner&#8217;s January 2021 research shows that less than half of workers are comfortable entrusting their company with their data. 44% don&#8217;t know anything about the data companies collect.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Kropp states, &#8220;If it is really about &#8216;Are people productive? You might be able to show it with better tools.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you use it to understand your employee&#8217;s experience, what is difficult for them, what&#8217;s broken, and what are they spending their time on, that&#8217;s where productivity gains are.&#8221;<br \/>\n<span class=\"seethis_lik\"><span>Also read:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/top-10\/10-best-saas-marketing-tools-and-platforms\/\">10 Best Saas Marketing Tools And Platforms For 2021<\/a><\/span>\n<h3>How to do it right<\/h3>\n<p>Jennifer Betts, OgletreeDeakins&#8217; employment lawyer, says that &#8220;most instances state laws require&#8221; you to give employees advance notice about your monitoring in order to protect their privacy rights. It is best to obtain the consent of employees for monitoring in writing.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Usamakahf, a partner at Fisher Phillips, asserts that employees have an expectation of privacy when using personal computers or phones unless another company policy has been communicated in writing.<br \/>\n<!-- Home page 728x90 --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 728px; height: 90px;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9864771813712812\" data-ad-slot=\"3152971286\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>With regards to independent contractors, companies could be traversing a trickier, pricklier path, since hiring this type of workforce and using any kind of tracking and monitoring software on them, &#8220;could affect their work status at your company,&#8221; according to Flex Jobs.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/business\/top-6-business-benefits-of-remote-work\/\">remote job website<\/a> says that independent contractors are allowed to do their work &#8220;how and when they want.&#8221; This is especially so, as independent contractors use their own personal devices like phones, tablets, or laptops.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you, as an employer, are tracking and monitoring them, you may be controlling or directing their work, turning their independent contractor status into employee status.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Specialized website Creators emphasizes that &#8220;Spying on your independent contractor&#8217;s online activity dramatically increases the risk that the IRS or some other government agency will reclassify your independent contractors as &#8217;employees,&#8217; with disastrous consequences for you and your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/business\/how-are-best-skills-the-key-of-the-future-business-world\/\">business<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global Workplace Analytics claims that remote work has grown by 159% since 2009. Owl Labs, however, states that it has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":46149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[1939,7309,7308,7311,1602,7310,148,2347],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46148"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49229,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46148\/revisions\/49229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/46149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-next-tech.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}