Opinion: Workplace monitoring- Who’s watching who?

Since the pandemic, we’ve seen the rise of employee monitoring tools put in place by Australian organisations to monitor the activity of their employees.

VP of advisory in the Gartner HR practice, Aaron McEwan.

Most are so focused on tracking performance metrics that they forget their employees are also watching them and they’re feeling more empowered than ever to share their experiences with others.

Open any social media platform or mainstream news feed and you’ll likely tumble down a rabbit hole of negative work stories. TikTok trend #WorkTok and Subreddit r/antiwork are perfect examples.

Whether it’s unpacking the traits of toxic colleagues or watching someone livestream quitting their job – there’s an unlimited appetite to hear about the work dramas and experiences of others.

Critically, many of these conversations or ‘stories’ aren’t based on quickfire reactions and gut instincts.

Over the past few years, employees have experienced enormous changes to their working life, from the pandemic to mass layoffs, new technology and financial instability. Keeping pace with the demands of an evolving workplace is impacting both their physical and mental health.

Increasingly, employees are looking to data from a variety of sources, including wearable tech and external websites, to understand the impact work is having on their wellbeing.

Gartner research shows as many as 51 percent of employees have looked at publicly available employee wellness data about a company before applying for a job and 46 percent stated that data had convinced them to stay in a role.

It’s clear employees are doing as much monitoring as employers when it comes to workplace satisfaction and wellness. As a result, organisations are under more scrutiny than ever.

While few organisations will ever know the true cost of this informal employee-led reporting, the potential outcomes cannot be ignored.

From talent walkouts and service boycotts to stock price plunges and even deliberate sabotage – there’s no telling how employees, customers and the broader market will react to negative online commentary.   

Employees want to feel valued

With the rise of hybrid and remote work, burnout has become rife as workers attempt to ‘prove’ that they can be trusted to work effectively away from the gaze of their managers.

This isn’t helped by feeling under surveillance, with many organisations tracking employee email activity, location data, medical data, virtual meetings, and more.

It’s hardly surprising organisations today have a trust problem and one that is likely to get worse.

This lack of trust has led to many workers feeling they are just a productivity statistic. Employees frequently state that they just want their organisation to see them as an individual and to work with them so they can perform at their best.

To validate how they feel about their workplace experience, Gartner research shows that more than half of employees (56 percent) have consumed employee-generated information about their work and/or employer in the past year.

From keeping an eye on colleagues' LinkedIn, Insta and TikTok accounts to reading past-employee reviews on sites such Indeed or Glassdoor; employees want to know what others are thinking and saying about their company.   

More importantly, many employees feel they should share their personal work experiences with others, almost as an act of service.

As many as 52 percent of employees say they would share anonymised wellness data about their employer in public forums such as Glassdoor.

Employees want radical transparency

The issue of trust for employees is particularly clear when it applies to the use of individual metrics.

Gartner research shows less than a third of employees trust their employer with their data. This sense of distrust stems from the fact that most workers don’t know what data is being collected about them, or why.

Employees are aware that many organisations track everything from the number of keystrokes made, hours worked and even the moods and emotions of employees, but few know how the information is then used.

When there is a lack of transparency about the use of data, employees start to feel like they are under surveillance and this can lead to a host of negative behaviours.

Monitored employees are more likely to take unapproved breaks, disregard instructions, damage workplace property, steal office equipment, and purposefully work at a slow pace.

Despite this distrust, there are circumstances where employees are open to the idea of sharing personal data with their employer, provided it leads to better work/life outcomes and personal support.

For example, the use of data to alert employers when training or tech support is needed, or if individuals are at risk of burnout, would be most welcome.

Using data to co-create a positive employee experience

Most organisations that monitor their employees do so because they genuinely want to make positive changes to their work environment.

This type of monitoring takes a human-centric approach, using insights to continuously improve the structures, policies, interventions and support mechanisms available to positively impact employee productivity, experience and wellbeing.

A data driven talent culture drives positive employee outcomes. It enables effective decision making, increases retention and engagement.

However, any employee data that is collected needs to be respected, protected and used for the right outcomes. A data partnership is essential to ensure employees understand how, what and when their data is being used.

From here, employers and employees can work together to establish a data-informed human-centric experience that delivers insights on the most important aspects that impact workplace wellbeing, performance and productivity.

Not only will this enable organisations to make better decisions, but everyone wins.

The future of the employee experience is undoubtedly intertwined with the continued evolution of technology in the workplace, combined with radical transparency.

Organisations have the chance to stem the flow of data and commentary about their workplace, if they embrace a new culture of data sharing with their employees.

Aaron McEwan is VP of Advisory for Gartner’s HR Practice, providing strategic advice to organisations on the future of work and talent. He is also a behavioural scientist and coaching psychologist.

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