The coronavirus pandemic has changed the mode of operation of
many businesses across the world, and affected too. With 29% of remote
employees struggling with work-life balance. HR is faced with the huge task of tracking employees digitally, Traditionally, an employee would
come to their office, scan their ID card, and get attendance. The employee
would then proceed to log in to their computer, and IT could monitor their
activities and timings.
In the WFH trend, tracking undergoes a 360° shift.
Companies now have to depend upon online tools. Virtual timesheets, virtual
attendance, and virtual performance management are trending areas in HRM today.
Remote employees can be very productive. At the same time,
they can be counter-productive without access to the right tools to make
working from home more comfortable. Using time tracking software or something called
manual process of monitoring, can also help to keep your remote workforce in
check.
Should Workers be monitored ?
As per the many researches done during past two decades major part of employees or workers are not willing to be monitored. However, in point of Employers view and theoretical discussion on HRM Monitoring, Training & development are very important to the employees as well as the employers(How to Monitor Remote Workers Humanely, n.d.). Some companies in heavily regulated industries, such as finance or health care, may have a need to monitor workers for compliance reasons.
The best tools for your remote team to stay on top of their game while working from home ,range from time tracking software to schedulers, remote employee monitoring tools , video conferencing platforms, work management tools and so on.
Frame work to Monitor ?
1. - Create a policy for
measuring work-from-home and remote employee productivity.
2. - Define key performance
indicators (KPIs) for each role in your remote team.
3. - Create milestones for each
task you assign to an employee.
4. - Use a task or project management software to track work and create visibility.
However, Monitoring Should be,
-
Monitoring needs to be justified
-
Monitoring
should be Humanely
-
Relay benefits of monitoring
- Should be fair & equal.
Did HR do this ?
A big YES !, Companies such as Teramind, ActivTrak, InterGuard, Sneek and Hubstaff offer technologies that enable organizations to monitor their employees at home. These technologies can track employee time spent on apps, websites or e-mail; gauge team productivity levels; and help enforce data security policies. They offering technology that can give HR and line leaders greater visibility into how employees spend their time at home(Monitoring Remote Workers, n.d.).
Both in the employer perspective & Employee, the monitoring is some kind of compulsory process in modern HR society. Further it is compliance and regularity when it comes to financial sector. Even in Remote working environment Monitoring has become an unavoidable fact. Hence, the HR practitioners and technologists have introduced many number of Digital tools to monitor remote working employees. Usage of these tools have been successful. However, all these monitoring processes should be worked on through a humanely manner. Even in SL the remote worker monitoring is done by IT units of the organizations and HRM has done their best on this.
Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f0YioxMoR4
References
How to monitor remote workers humanely. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2021, from https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/How-to-monitor-remote-workers-humanely
How to Track Employee Time & Productivity While Working Remotely - YouTube [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f0YioxMoR4 (accessed 8.27.21).
Locked Up: Keeping Your Remote Workforce on Track Amidst
Health Crisis -- Occupational Health & Safety. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24,
2021, from
https://ohsonline.com/articles/2020/06/04/locked-up-keeping-your-remote-workforce-on-track-amidst-health-crisis.aspx
Monitoring Remote Workers. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2021, from
https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/all-things-work/pages/monitoring-remote-workers.aspx
Posts
Hello Oshadha. Employee monitoring should be Humanely, fair and equal. It helps for the employees development and also for the company productivity. As you mentioned most of government organizations are tightly monitoring their employees time to time, because of the organizational compliance purpose. Sometimes it makes employee disturb. But as well as it helps for employees improvement.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your great ideas and comments Parami.
DeleteGreat Article overall Oshadha! I think it's really relevant in today's context especially with the present inclination towards work from home & remote working. The organizations should really maintain a strict monitoring process as you have mentioned, overall a great article.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your great ideas Jude. Appreciate it.
DeleteIt's a 50/50 situation, oshada. In my opinion, corporations should monitor employees with some constraints.Do not go beyond the bounds of the law and ethics.You have presented nicely with those stats.Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteNice and trending topic Oshadha, I'm partially agreed on employee tracking. Respecting someone is that you take the time to openly and honestly communicate with them. Tell employees what you are monitoring and why. Give them the opportunity to offer feedback other wise the process will be in a failure.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing valuable comments Nadun.
DeleteAn important process every organisation must carry out from time to time. As discussed in HRM a healthy amount of stress in organisations will help to ensure high performance, monitoring is one of the best ways to implement that.
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteMonitoring is important from both employee and employer perspective. Remote working is high using topic in current pandemic situation. Agreed that monitoring of these process should be in humility manner and high involvement in HR would be more important.
ReplyDeleteThanks for nice ideas
DeleteA new concept Oshada. In the work from home environment digital tracking is a must but Organizations must maintain their ethical standards. Nicely written, Thankyou for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rukmali.
DeleteTrending topic Oshadha. In this pandemic that’s led to unprecedented levels of remote working, digital tools to monitor employees in real time are gaining popularity among organizations looking for new ways to track employee productivity. At the same time, the trend raises concerns about employee privacy and how far companies should be allowed to go to keep tabs on their workers. Applications such as StaffCop, Teramind, Hubstaff, CleverControl, and Time Doctor include real-time activity tracking, can take screenshots of workers’ computers at regular intervals, do keystroke logging, and record screens. In some cases, the tracking tools can be installed without the knowledge of employees.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing valuable ideas.
DeleteHi Oshada, great content! clearly understand
ReplyDeletethe Organizations have by and large met the challenges of this crisis moment. But as we move toward imagining a postpandemic era, a management system based on old rules—a hierarchy that solves for uniformity, bureaucracy, and control—will no longer be effective. Taking its place should be a model that is more flexible and responsive, built around four interrelated trends: more connection, unprecedented automation, lower transaction costs, and demographic shifts. Thanks for sharing
Agreed Miihirani, You added valuable concept too. Thank you for your valuable ideas and comments
DeleteMonitoring employees is common HRM procedure. In remote working it is bit complex. However, if HR can monitor more humanely then the out come would be more effective. This is contemporary important topic. Great article
ReplyDeleteThank you for your adding Tharindu
DeleteCommunication and monitoring are major issues when managing a remote team. We can use email, Slack, and other tools to communicate. But what about monitoring? It's a tough one. Task completion can be used to assess employee performance, but it is not the whole picture. We can't see their daily progress or productivity throughout the day. That's why we need remote employee monitoring software. Using software to monitor remote employees can increase productivity, accountability, and task focus. This keeps businesses running smoothly even in difficult times.
ReplyDeleteEmployees have a right to privacy in the workplace, and they must be notified if and when they are being monitored, according to a variety of federal and state regulations.
ReplyDeleteTimely topic Oshadha, I think monitoring is important for both employer and employee. When management is monitoring remote work performance and behavior thruough email activities, by giving task list, implementing time tracking software, keeping track records etc..
ReplyDeleteemployees tend to be more focused and less distracted in their work, which improves the overall productivity of the business.
Well written article which is important for current scenario, as explained all employee should be monitored since they are getting paid and all organization should have their customized tool to make sure that the employees work remotely are productive and active.
ReplyDelete