In today’s world, there would be hardly any company that works without employee monitoring. Employee monitoring has become a crucial part of every organization. For many years, employers have been tracking their employees’ activities during office hours.
They can track their phone calls, text messages, web browsing history, social media accounts as well as their whereabouts. With the sudden rise in GPS technology, most employers have now unprecedented access to their employees’ locations.
There was a time when employers could track their employees’ whereabouts by installing GPS devices in company-owned vehicles. However, with the rise of technology, employers can now track employees’ locations through monitoring apps having GPS technology. Those GPS apps could be in the form of Android spy software or iPhone trackers that have been installed in employees’ smartphones.
Why Track Your Employees?
Employers could have several reasons to track their employees’ activity and whereabouts during working hours. Let us understand why most businesses want to track their employees. First of all, most companies use tracking apps to track the mileage of company-owned vehicles, to monitor where their employees are and protect them from any potential harm.
It has been seen that employee monitoring is becoming crucial for every company. Almost every organization is using some sort of monitoring solution to keep track of their employees’ activities. Employees are usually fine with monitoring tools because they do not take monitoring in a negative light.
In fact, they know that their companies are not spying on them but rather monitoring their activity to see if they are performing the assigned task and not wasting time doing anything else. Employees do not mind being monitored as long as they know that they are being tracked by their employers. They take monitoring in a positive light because they know which information is being collected by employers and what would be done using that information.
Most of the tech companies are already making use of GPS tracking. They are tracking their employee’s activities and also monitoring their whereabouts. In fact, employee monitoring has become quite common in the workplace now.
Another reason employers also track their employee’s location is to see whether or not employees are on the right track. Sometimes when an employee has been sent to attend a business meeting or important delegation in some other place, the employer usually tracks his location to ensure his employee is at the place where he is supposed to be.
When employees are aware of a GPS tracker installed on their smartphone, they would not go to any other place but head straight to the meeting point and attend to their business. GPS trackers help companies locate their employees so they can find out when or if the employees have gone somewhere else.
The Negative and Positive Aspects of Employee Monitoring
Now let us talk about the negative and the positive aspects of employee monitoring and GPS tracking. Not all employees are happy and comfortable with the idea of their work activity and location being tracked. Some of them worry that their private information would be shared and spread around their workplace.
To eradicate their fears, most companies are trying to be as transparent as they can when it comes to employee monitoring. Transparency can only come when employees would know when exactly they are being tracked and that only the information that the company needs is being monitored.
On the other hand, there are many employees who see employee monitoring as something beneficial. They believe that employee monitoring has allowed them to be more motivated and efficient. It has helped them increase their productivity. With the help of monitoring apps, the companies can actually get to see how hard their employees work for them. This helps employees get a raise or promotion.
Some employees work harder when they realize that their activity is being monitored by their bosses. To impress their employers, they work harder and even stay late at the workplace. On the basis of their sheer hard work, many companies offer a raise in their salaries and also offer them good promotions in the company.
The Future of Employee Monitoring
Employee monitoring is there for a long time and will continue to be a part of an organization in many years to come. With employee monitoring solutions, companies can keep a close eye on their employees and can detect which ones are worth keeping.
As soon as an employer comes across a lazy, dishonest, or inefficient employee, he can hand them their resignation letter and prevent the company from potential losses. A company is always at the risk of a data breach which may occur due to the negligence of the employees. Some employees may even bring harm to the company by leaking the company’s confidential data with competitors or third parties.
Employers can only track such employees if they are constantly monitoring their activity and reading their emails, text messages, and tracking phone calls. If they suspect an employee and want to spy on their activity secretly, they can consider deploying hidden spy apps for Android or iPhone on their device.
This enables the employers to catch the deceitful employees red-handed and throw them out of the company before they can cause any harm.
Employees are usually fine with monitoring solutions being deployed on their devices as long as their personal privacy is protected. On the other hand, employers should inform employees beforehand that their activity will be monitored during office hours.
Therefore, if companies decide to track their employees’ whereabouts and their activities at the workplace, they must let their employees know that they are being monitored. Instead of emphasizing on monitoring their activity, they should clearly tell them about many benefits of employee monitoring.
With the rise in cell phone tracking and GPS monitoring apps, there is no doubt that companies have greater access to their employee’s activities and whereabouts today ever than before. Employers have several legitimate reasons to monitor their employees through monitoring apps and GPS technology.
However, employers are encouraged to take the necessary steps to ensure that those monitoring apps do not violate the applicable laws or break employees’ trust that they have on the companies.
