Now that millions of people have decided to remain working remotely once the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, the remote work model is here to stay. And numerous business owners need to find efficient ways to create productive remote work environments. An efficient remote work productivity software can be a perfect solution for numerous managers who moved their businesses online.

However, employee monitoring is a controversial issue that raises an array of burning questions like:

• What should be monitored, and how should you use this data?
• How to conduct monitoring without invading employees’ privacy?
• What employees’ activities should stay off-limits?

If you are struggling with finding the right answers to these significant questions, keep reading. We’ll try to find effective solutions for these issues by pointing out the malpractices you should steer clear of if you want to make the most of the employee monitoring process.

Being Secretive About Monitoring

One of the strongest arguments managers have for deploying employee monitoring software is that they use it to see what employees do with company equipment. While this argument is completely legitimate especially when it comes to remote workers, you need to be transparent about employee monitoring.

This said, keeping your employees in the dark about the entire monitoring process may have devastating effects on your business. One recent survey showed that over 70%of employees in America would leave their jobs upon finding out that their managers have monitored them without their knowledge or consent.

Therefore, make sure you inform employees when you decide to start monitoring their activities. Be prepared to provide detailed explanations about the way you intend to track their workflow and how you intend to use this information. It may be a good idea to create a transparent employee monitoring policy that will answer all the questions your remote employees may have about the entire process. Let them express their concerns freely, listening to their ideas and suggestions. In this way, you’ll gain employees’ trust much-needed for employee monitoring to work and produce wanted results.

Not Protecting Employees Sensitive Information

One study found that almost 60% of highly positioned managers have mistakenly forwarded employees’ confidential information to the wrong recipients. This daunting statistic shows how vulnerable employees’ data is in the virtual workspace. Besides sharing personal information, collecting it may also be malpractice that will result in losing both employees and their trust.

For this reason, make sure that confidential employees’ information like personal passwords and bank account numbers stays off-limits. In the post-Covid era, where we still need to adapt to changed circumstances in the workplace, an array of workers put their personal data security above the pay raise or promotion, showing that managers need to ensure top-level protection for this confidential information.

Keeping Track of Everything They Do

Besides enhanced security, try to provide clear goals when it comes to monitoring. This means don’t try to track all workers’ activities because that will backfire quickly. Your employees fear that you’ll use workforce analytics to control them. So if you try to watch their every move, you’ll lose their trust, ruining their motivation and productivity along the way.

Micromanaging is the thing of the past, and if you want to be the leader of the future, you should limit monitoring to work-related activities only during work hours. By doing this, you’ll show your workers that you use monitoring to increase productivity and improve time and project management.

Monitoring Employees Illegally

The question of complying with employee monitoring regulations of the country you’re running a business from is crucial. However, legislation in numerous countries varies drastically. For example, in the USA, it is allowed to monitor activities on company computers as long as employees’ personal emails stay off-limits. In numerous countries, you have to notify employees before including an employee monitoring tool into your workflow.

Since illegal employee monitoring is a serious issue, you need to find out what the legislative framework for employee monitoring is and make sure you comply with it before you start tracking employees’ activities.