Every business owner wants to ensure their business is running as efficiently as possible. After all, an efficient business is a profitable business — which is why many business leaders are looking into employee work tracker tools.
However, there are some concerns regarding monitoring staff productivity. We’ll explore both sides of the argument in this article and explain how to introduce monitoring staff productivity without being intrusive.
Why businesses want to monitor staff productivity
Productivity doesn’t just include how much work an employee does. It can also influence the company’s profits compared to competitors, capacity utilisation rates, employee growth, and other factors.
The most common reasons to monitor staff productivity include:
Establishing operation patterns: When a business has numerous employees and multiple locations, knowing how each operates becomes more difficult. Tracking staff productivity gives business owners and managers insights into the larger picture of the operations at each location, which can provide valuable insight to make future business decisions. According to a study, 80% of monitoring software vendors state that monitoring enhances the “ability to make informed decisions.”
Understanding staff performance: Individual employee productivity tracking can help managers identify strengths and weaknesses. They can use the tracking data to help create a guide to improve performance.
Finding operational gaps: If multiple employees seem to struggle with a certain aspect of their responsibilities, productivity tracking identifies this factor as a larger problem instead of a specific employee issue. This will allow managers to address this concern through better training or operational system upgrades for more efficient work.
Identifying better resource allocation opportunities: Gaining a larger perspective, whether of an organisation’s operations as a whole or by individual location, can help a business owner or manager identify opportunities for better resource allocation. This step can help prevent staff burnout, turnover, and poor customer service.
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Reasons staff may feel that staff productivity monitoring is intrusive
Just as it’s important for employees to understand why businesses want to track productivity, it’s equally important for business leaders to understand why employees dislike the idea of employee work trackers.
May feel like spying: Depending on the monitoring software, employees could have their voices, movements, tasks, and other actions tracked, which can feel like an invasion of privacy. Employees also worry about what management does with such information and the ability to watch them at all times.
Puts pressure on employees to perform: Not all employees work the same way — even if they achieve the same results. In some cases, productivity tracking data leads managers to think a certain way to do a task is the best (and only) way. If employees are given a “this way or no way” directive, employees can burn out faster or be less likely to contribute innovative ideas.
Might give the impression leadership doesn’t trust employees: For many staff members, productivity tracking feels like a new form of micromanaging, which ultimately means that leadership doesn’t trust employees to do their jobs.
Might reinforce unequal power dynamics: When one person monitors staff performance, the power imbalance between employees and management may feel even greater, breeding distrust.
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Examples of productivity tracking’s negative impacts
Here are some cases showing how exclusive focus on productivity metrics can harm both employees and organisational outcomes.
Giving real-time feedback to call centre employees can actually decrease customer service quality.
Monitoring the speed of grocery store employees who are fulfilling online orders tends to result in grabbing the wrong products and decreasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Amazon received a lot of negative publicity when the pressure placed upon warehouse workers and delivery drivers was revealed. Reports show high injury rates in Amazon warehouses and over half of Amazon workers feel burned out.
9.3% of U.S. workers report more workplace injuries in heavily monitored businesses.
47% of workers who have automated task management technology work at a fast pace that isn't healthy or safe.
Does productivity monitoring actually improve productivity?
After seeing both sides of the argument, it’s time to ask: Does productivity monitoring help with productivity? Yes, if implemented properly. Productivity tracking can provide a greater picture of daily operations and what’s needed to help staff achieve better results.
Poor implementation of productivity monitoring can actually decrease productivity due to increased staff anxiety, poor quality of work to meet numbers, and a declining workplace culture.
6 ways to monitor staff productivity without being too intrusive
Here are six ways to monitor staff productivity without offending your employees.
1. Choose a tool that only collects the data you need and nothing else
If you are going to use any type of employee monitoring software, choose a tool that will only collect the data you want to focus on. Don’t monitor everything and anything just because you can. Having specific things to focus on shows that you not only respect staff’s privacy, but that you are using it in a positive way rather than purely for surveillance.
2. Communicate with your staff about the monitoring
Do not implement any form of monitoring without talking to your staff first. By directly communicating with your employees ahead of time, you’re showing them respect.
You must explain that you will still protect their privacy. Tell the team what exactly the software will monitor so they can ask questions and get comfortable with the idea.
Communication also gives you the opportunity to clarify why you are using monitoring and what goals you have. This step can make the monitoring feel less like surveillance due to mistrust and more like another tool to understand business operations.
3. Avoid using monitoring to punish employees
No matter what productivity data you collect, avoid using monitoring results to punish employees. Instead, if an employee is underperforming, use that data to create a performance improvement plan. Explain that you’ve noticed performance gaps, and identify areas of improvement to work on together.
Emphasising that the organisation and the employee will work together feels less like a punishment. If it’s a store-wide problem, gather everyone and explain that there will be a process change to improve operations — not employee performance.
4. Don’t forget to celebrate positive patterns
Monitoring productivity will also highlight high performers, and you should celebrate them! Whether a team member has always been a great employee or an individual has worked hard to improve their performance — shout them out. (Side note: A lack of performance recognition is one of the biggest complaints among shift workers.)
Consider the many different ways to positively recognize your employees.
5. Let staff access their data
Don’t hide the data you collect from your employees, as that will make the monitoring seem more sinister to them. When they ask about what’s being collected, show them and explain what you want to do with this information.
6. Talk to the staff to get firsthand information
One final way to implement productivity tracking is to talk to your employees. Numbers and metrics aren’t the only valuable types of data! You can learn insights about store operations, other employees’ performance, and other productivity indicators by talking to staff and management.
Most employees have a lot to say about how a business is run. However, getting honest and useful input is often easier said than done. With multiple locations, gathering data can be difficult. You could consider using anonymous surveys or asking managers to discuss operations with staff.
Improve communication and productivity with Deputy
Monitoring staff productivity doesn’t have to feel like surveillance. Instead, it can simply be a matter of better time management, attendance tracking, and communication. Monitoring productivity may also go hand-in-hand with understanding how to monitor staff attendance.
All of these efforts are easier with Deputy. Try Deputy’s time and attendance features for free!
