Although employee monitoring has become increasingly popular, many still worry that it can be intrusive and invade employees’ privacy. The main thrust of this concern is the fact that it can be used to collect data that may be considered personal and private – and not related to work activities.
The best way to alleviate these concerns is to make employee monitoring completely transparent. But to do that you need to know how WE Controlio can promote transparent employee monitoring in the first place.
Publish a Clear Monitoring Policy
To begin with, the cornerstone of transparent employee monitoring is a clear and comprehensive monitoring policy. Such a policy should be designed to inform employees how they will be monitored, what data will be collected, and how that data will be used.
This is where it is important to know how to use WE Controlio. Because of its rich features, it can track a wide range of data, including app usage, browsing history, active/idle time, file transfers, downloads, and more. However, it can also capture more than that – such as keystrokes, emails, IM messages, or screenshots and screen recordings.
In your policy, you should specify exactly what sort of data you’re going to collect – and why it is important to the company to gather that data. Then, you can set up WE Controlio so that it only gathers the data that is required.
If you do this, everything will be transparent and completely above board with no ‘hidden’ invasion of your employees’ privacy.
Give Employees Access and a Say
Alongside your monitoring policy, you should try to give your employees opportunities to provide feedback regarding the employee monitoring, your policy, and how it is implemented. By listening to what they have to say and hearing them out, it may be possible to compromise on certain issues while making others more acceptable.
Initially, it would be best to ask employees for feedback after your policy has been drafted. Following that and when the employee monitoring begins, you can check in with employees from time to time to ask for their opinions.
If you use WE Controlio, you may want to also give your employees access to their own data. This is a move that will assure them that you truly are being transparent, as it will let them see exactly what data has been gathered.
It is worth noting that giving employees access to their own data can be helpful to them. It will give them insights into their own behavior, productivity, and overall track record.
Conclusion
All said and done, promoting transparent employee monitoring is really its own reward. The more transparent you are, the more likely it is that employees will be able to accept the fact that their activities are being monitored.
Overall that should result in fewer issues and smoother implementation of employee monitoring. If you continue to listen to employee feedback, you may avoid other issues down the line too.