Find Out Everything About Employee Monitoring Ethics

Most companies are now using employee monitoring solutions in the workplace to keep a close eye on their employees’ activities during working hours. While the advantages of employee monitoring surpass the disadvantages, many employees are still not comfortable with the idea of it.

They believe it is an invasion of their privacy. However, companies and employers do not think that way. With employee monitoring tools, they can monitor their employee’s every movement and protect the company from a data breach or any other mishap caused by human error.

There is a long debate on employee monitoring ethics among both employers and employees alike. In this post, we will discuss all aspects of ethics in employee monitoring and find out how ethical it is.

The Need for Employee Monitoring Tools

Several businesses and organizations have now started using employee monitoring software to keep an eye on their employees. Whether it is a small, medium, or large-sized company, each one of them is considering employee monitoring software.

Apart from companies, several small-sized remote teams and even freelancers are also using some type of employee monitoring software to keep track of their employees. Since the Coronavirus pandemic, remote employee monitoring has also become the latest trend. But why do companies want to track their employees?

The first reason is that employers want to protect the company’s data from the employees so there is no data breach. To prevent insider threats and data breaches in a company, employers need to track their employees’ access to private and confidential data.

Another reason for employee monitoring is that employers want to find out how their assets are being used in the workplace including their network, computers, office time, and corporate files. Managers want employee tracking insights so they can assess employee productivity and business processes.

One of the biggest dilemmas’ companies face is that are they doing the right thing by sacrificing their employees’ personal privacy for the good of the whole organization? Is employee monitoring even legal? This question is on everybody’s minds these days. Let’s find out the answer to that.

Is Employee Monitoring Legal?

Employee monitoring is considered legal in the majority of cases. However, the specifics of laws and regulations depend on the country in which you are operating your company. It is important that you inform your employees about employee monitoring tools or even ask for their consent so you can track them without any trouble.

Therefore, you need to get yourself familiar with the laws and regulations of your country when it comes to employee monitoring.

Employee Monitoring Ethics

If you are monitoring your employees’ activities for the company’s good, then it is certainly ethical. But, if you are trying to spy on their activity just for the sake of curiosity, then it means you are invading their personal privacy. This can make your employees feel offended and you may end up facing huge employee turnover which is, in fact, one of the downsides of employee monitoring.

If you have a legitimate reason to track your employees during working hours, then employee monitoring is ethical. Otherwise, it’s not. You simply cannot monitor your employees if you are bored or if you find others doing it. You must have a genuine reason for doing so.

After you have found the reason for monitoring your employees, you should also have a clear understanding of what to monitor. Most employers tend to track their employees’ phone calls, text messages, emails, web browsing, etc. They also monitor the time spent on certain websites and apps, time spent on a particular project, etc.

Now comes the question, where should employers conduct employee monitoring? If you have given your employees computers and mobile phones, you can install employee monitoring software on them and then conduct employee monitoring.

Employee monitoring is tricky when employees are using their personal devices because then the chances of installing the monitoring software on them become less. Remote staff workers that work from home usually use their personal equipment so it becomes hard to find out whether or not they are working.

It is recommended to provide equipment including computers for all your employees and then monitor them. If you cannot provide computers to your employees, then you do not have a choice but to trust them without monitoring their computer usage just for the sake of maintaining ethics.

Last but not least, you should only track your employee’s activity during working hours. You should not try to monitor your employees outside of their working hours. Otherwise, you can cause privacy invasion and lose your employee’s trust in you.

Choosing the Right Monitoring Software

It is important that you opt for the right and reliable employee monitoring software for your company. Mobistealth is the best employee monitoring software because it helps you keep track of your employee’s activity all the time.

All you need to do is download the software, install on your employee’s device, and start monitoring their activities during working hours.