Exploring the ethical and productivity implications of monitoring employees, we delve into the debate surrounding workplace surveillance. Weighing privacy rights against business interests, we question if watching workers truly enhances performance or merely fosters a culture of mistrust.
Surveillance Software
There is value in measuring what your employees are doing and how productive they are
- What makes surveillance challenging is connecting it to management
- In January 2021, reports emerged that one in five companies were using surveillance software to remotely monitor their employees-in some cases without the employees’ knowledge or consent
- Demand for employee surveillance software is up 58% since 2020
Privacy matters
The recent rise in employee surveillance accelerated during the pandemic, largely because it had to, but the bottom line is that we are now more than ever accustomed to being watched.
- Is there a way to ethically, appropriately monitor workers?
- A lot of that comes down to how the employees themselves feel about being monitored.
Positive reinforcement?
Studies demonstrate that being watched reinforces positive socially normative behaviors and inhibits negative behaviors
- If you think you’re being observed, for example, you’re more likely to donate to charity and less likely to litter, steal a bike, or take too much Halloween candy
More PwC insights
Even in the 1980s, with minimal electronic surveillance available, employees whose performance was monitored perceived their working conditions as more stressful and reported higher levels of job boredom, fatigue, anger, anxiety, and even depression and other health complaints.
- Workplace surveillance continued despite evidence that it tended to undermine trust between employee and employer
- The shift to remote working has meant that surveillance that was once limited to the office is happening, well, anywhere the employee is.
