The intention has always been to develop a highly productive workforce, monitoring employees is not the goal.

With the exception of inflation, few topics generate as much digital ink today as employee monitoring. Business press and even some of the major media outlets are filled with articles expressing concern about the subject - it's intrusive, it's a form of spying, undermines trust and damages morale. These concerns are justified when monitoring software takes the form of surveillance.

But they divert attention from the true purpose and benefits of these tools, which provide greater visibility into our modern digital workplace: tools that support the culture and environment in which employees thrive and deliver their best work.

By focusing on what we want to achieve, we can use workforce analytics as a powerful solution to engage and empower our teams, instead of controlling and micro-managing them.

Workplace surveillance is counterproductive

Workplace surveillance, including practices such as keystroke logging, email monitoring, and capturing images or videos from employee webcams, has directly contributed to what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella calls the narrative of "productivity paranoia". In this environment, employees constantly feel watched and judged, creating feelings of distrust and resentment that undermine morale and productivity.

Research shows that employees who constantly feel observed are more likely to become disengaged or "quietly quit" and less likely to put in their best effort. In other words, if the goal is to create an engaged, motivated, and productive workforce, implementing monitoring tools will backfire.

There are also legal considerations. Depending on the laws and regulations in your jurisdiction, excessive employee surveillance may violate their right to privacy. This can expose your company to legal challenges and liabilities that are costly and damaging to your reputation. Forrester believes this risk is so real that it has incorporated it into its forecast for 2023.

Modern work requires analysis, monitoring employees is not the goal

In the modern digital workplace, data and analytics are needed to better understand how work is done today and to improve how work will be done tomorrow. In other words, it requires workforce analysis. This includes tracking metrics such as productivity, focus, and collaboration time, as well as app usage and flow. By integrating data across a team, function, or organization, patterns - based on real-world data - help leaders understand exactly how inputs were first generated and lead to the company's outputs.

These insights help companies better understand the implications of company policies and respond more quickly to employee feedback.

With Monitoo, you will have ethical monitoring, without invading your team's privacy, request a completely free trial now and learn about all the functionalities.

Visit www.monitoo.com.br and get in touch with us!