Employees are the assets as well as precious resources for any company. A good employee forms the backbone of the organization more than any management technique, infrastructure, hierarchy, or HR policies can.
Unfortunately, sometimes it can be difficult to know who is a good employee and who isn’t But the age of Technology that we are lucky enough to call ourselves inhabitants of also offers solutions to such dilemmas. Employee monitoring is the best way to know which of your employees are keepers and which of them are simply wasting your resources and money while taking up office space.
However, simply filling up all the gadgets in your office with computer and internet monitoring software or key-loggers isn’t enough.
There are ways to approach employee monitoring so that it does not affect employees negatively nor does it affect your company’s reputation. More importantly, what you as an employer are attempting to do is multi-faceted. You need to protect your employee’s rights and integrity, your company from bad repute and litigation/legal issues, and effectively carry out the employee monitoring.
May sound a bit tough but following some tips and precautions will make sure that everything is handled smoothly.
Here they are:
1- Let Them Know
Keeping employees completely in the dark about monitoring them while they work or use official devices is not a good idea. If anything, it will harbor resentment and anger when it is found out and at some point, it will have to be found out.
Make it clear what company policies are regarding internet usage, company devices, and break time. That way they too will know to be on their best behavior and hopefully performances will boost.
Although it is not wrong to monitor employees using computer monitoring software but they should not be kept in the dark.
2- Block Some Sites
Instead of leaving social networking and other entertainment sites open to access, acquire software which allows you to block certain sites such as Facebook and pornography sites. This way instead of having to constantly keep an eye out and going through web history to see who has been naughty, you will have no worries regarding time management.
3- Install computer and internet monitoring software
Besides blocking certain sites, in order to protect the company from malaise such as corporate espionage and having company secrets leaked, you should be aware of who your employees are communicating with when they are at the workplace as well as what activities are being performed on the computer.
Any signs of disloyalty or business information leaks should be investigated instantly to halt any damage to the company.
4- Involve Everyone
No department should be kept out of the loop. When you are monitoring employees, do not restrict this to a few individuals who are in the know and are managing things. If your company grows and this practice carries on, a lot of things can get very messy.
Having your IT, Executive, Legal, and HR all in the loop is the best way to implement a long term policy.
5- Be Discrete and fair
There is no need for heads to roll if you find some employees slacking. Instead, adopt a policy of punishment which gets stricter as offences increase. For example, a first offence can be highlighted with only a warning then reprimand and so on. Remember, your aim is not to just fire employees but to make their work more efficient.
I hope you find these tips useful for your business.