In 2023, the American Psychological Association completed a survey that included questions on a controversial topic in the workplace: employee monitoring.
While a few respondents shared their appreciation for employee monitoring, many participants shared the same concerns. Some of the written comments included:
“Stop invading my privacy.”
“I do not need monitoring.”
“Respect my work and my privacy.”
“Just respect my privacy.”
“Ease up on the productivity monitoring.”
Obviously there’s a theme. Workers are worried about the intrusion of employee monitoring and what kind of information their workplace is gathering about them.
At the same time, employers have seen success using the data from employee time tracking to maximize company productivity and determine how they can best support their employees.
Is there such a thing as ethical employee time tracking? We believe so. It’s why, after 17 years, we’re still committed to helping teams work smarter without the burden of surveillance. Let’s talk about what ethical time tracking looks like and how to balance workplace productivity with employee privacy.
Ethical time tracking isn’t about spying
We’ve said it before , but we need to say it again: employee monitoring and time tracking are two very different practices.
Employee monitoring often involves invasive surveillance methods like keystroke logging. It’s the reason for mouse jigglers and the creation of automated task scripts; employees feel like they need to constantly look busy or risk being disciplined. It often contributes to low employee morale and higher employee turnover. 56% of employees who are monitored during the workday report feeling stressed, compared to 40% of employees who are not monitored.
Employee time tracking, on the other hand, is designed to empower employees by providing data about how their time is being spent and how to maximize productivity.
Sure, part of the difference is semantics, but part of it is principle. Employee monitoring is for the employer; employee time tracking is for the employee.
How to take an ethical approach to employee time tracking
Focusing on employee time tracking over employee monitoring is half the battle. However, there are still a number of factors you need to consider to ensure that you’re taking an ethical approach to the way you track employee work.
Consider your motivation
Before you implement employee time tracking, ask yourself why you need to collect the data. Time tracking is a powerful tool to help improve productivity and streamline workflows. However, it could tempt you to start micromanaging perfectly capable people.
When employees are monitored in the workplace, they are more likely to feel like they don’t matter to their co-workers, they don’t matter to their employer, and that they are not valued at work. If you’re implementing time tracking with the wrong motives, your employees could end up experiencing the same beliefs.
Ethical time tracking should create a win-win situation, such as helping employees manage their workloads or ensuring fair evaluations. Make sure that your reasons foster trust, not suspicion or resentment.
Establish clear policies
Having clear, written, posted, and signed policies about employee tracking is unquestionably the most straightforward way to take an ethical approach to employee time tracking.
Create a written policy for employees to reference as needed and encourage people to ask questions and provide feedback before you finalize the policy. The Society for Human Resource Management suggests outlining specific policies that include these provisions:
- Exactly what is governed by the monitoring policy such as electronic communications, telephones, and company property.
- Even if a monitoring policy is in place, the company is not obligated to monitor employee communications to prevent employee disputes or harassment.
- Company-owned computers and telephones are the property of employers, so employees shouldn’t expect privacy when using them.
- Company-owned equipment is provided for employees to complete their work, although a limited amount of personal use may be allowed.
- Electronic communications and files are subject to being monitored, even if an employee has deleted them.
- Employees are not allowed to use company equipment and systems to transmit or download anything that is offensive, obscene, profane, discriminatory, insulting, or illegal.
- Unauthorized use of company equipment and systems may result in disciplinary action or termination.
It’s also recommended that every new employee signs a written acknowledgement of your employee monitoring policies and that current employees are periodically reminded of the policy.
Be transparent
Transparency has two factors: why and how. First, sharing your motivation behind choosing to track employees may help mitigate feelings of distrust often associated with time tracking. Research has shown that while employee monitoring is expected to boost productivity, the opposite is often true. Employees may work more slowly or engage in off-task activities, spurred by their frustration at being tracked. When you explain why you’re implementing the practice, especially when you have good intentions, employees are less likely to feel that distrust.
You also need to communicate early and openly about your time tracking tools and policies. It’s not just good practice—it’s also the law in most places. And even if it’s not legally required, you’ll be better protected if you have signed consent forms that outline the policies employees can be expected to follow.
Monitor objectively
When you use standardized time tracking practices for all employees, you make it easier to avoid bias. The easiest way to standardize time tracking? Adopt a software that captures the same data from all employees.
Time tracking software applies uniform tracking rules to all employees. It provides unbiased analytics on work patterns to help leaders make data-driven decisions instead of relying on their perceptions of who works hardest, which is easily swayed by how they feel about certain employees.
It’s often in your best interest to avoid focusing on the data from specific individuals unless there is a clear, documented reason, such as a performance improvement plan. Use aggregated data to identify trends in your department or team if you’re looking for a way to avoid scrutinizing a single employee.
Make considerations for remote employees
Because they’re out of the office, hybrid and remote employees are sometimes subject to excessive surveillance as they complete their work at home. Companies may feel like they need to implement practices like webcam tracking or screen monitoring to ensure employees are always on task. Some employers believe that they need to invasively monitor workers to make sure they’re ‘getting their money’s worth’ of work each day.
However, real-time employee monitoring has more drawbacks than benefits. Aside from the way it erodes trust and destroys your company culture, it encourages unhealthy work habits where employees feel like they constantly have to be ‘on.’
Research has shown that the average tech worker spends a maximum of four hours a day on ‘focused work.’ Furthermore, it’s recommended that everyone take a 20-30 minute break for every two hours of focused work. Instead of monitoring every move that a remote employee makes on their computer during their working hours, consider utilizing output-based tracking to look at results and deliverables.
Limit data collection
Only collect what information you need for business purposes. In most cases, less is more. Measures like keystroke logging or—in extreme cases—webcam monitoring are intrusive and will destroy any trust you’ve established with your employees.
50% of employees who are monitored at work consider the practice an invasion of privacy. Prevent the same sentiment in your workplace by being explicit about what data you’re collecting and how it will be used. Set data retention limits by deleting or anonymizing data after a reasonable period and let employees know how long you’ll be holding on to their data.
Secure employee data
Privacy and safety concerns are the most common reasons that remote employees disapprove of employee monitoring.
With data breaches becoming increasingly common, there are justified concerns about who else can get their hands on a person’s private information. Keep your time tracking data encrypted when it’s in transmission and in storage, and restrict who has access to data. For example, the manager of one department doesn’t need the time tracking data for employees of a different department.
Regularly review your policies
Laws change, so conduct annual reviews to ensure your current time tracking methods still align with current privacy laws.
Periodically gather feedback from employees regarding their concerns about privacy, fairness, and the tech side of your time tracking. They may be able to suggest a better approach to your current methods or highlight an issue you hadn’t noticed.
Anytime you make changes to your time tracking methods and policies, notify employees and get their consent on an updated form. Again, those clear, written, posted, and signed policies are the best way to ethically track your employees’ work.
Compliance considerations
State, federal, and international laws govern how businesses can and cannot track their employees. It’s critical to be sure you are following all of the applicable privacy laws, especially if you’re working with a remote team spread across multiple regions. Staying in compliance is, if nothing else, a bare minimum approach to ethical time tracking.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1968 is a US federal law that governs how workplaces can monitor their employees’ electronic communications. It includes the business purpose exception, which allows employees to monitor oral and electronic communication if they can show that they have a legitimate business purpose for doing so. It also includes a consent exception, which means that employers can monitor their employees’ communication if the employees give their consent.
The Stored Communications Act, a part of the ECPA, says that employers can access communications like company emails or Slack messages if the act is in line with the company’s monitoring policies.
If employees are represented by a union, the US National Labor Relations Board requires employers to gain consent from the union before establishing any sort of employee monitoring.
While the ECPA establishes federal restrictions on employee monitoring, individual states can impose their own limitations. For example, in Delaware, businesses can only monitor employee activity if employees are informed at least once a day that they are being monitored. In New York, companies must place a conspicuous notice in the workplace to explain exactly what is being monitored and what privacy expectations an employee should have. Employers are also required to provide employees with a written copy of the electronic monitoring policy and keep a signed agreement on file.
If your team includes employees outside of the US, you also need to be aware of international laws. In Canada, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act requires private-sector organizations to obtain informed consent before they collect, use, or share employee data. Before collecting data, companies also have to identify the reason they need to monitor employees.
The EU General Data Protection Regulation, which applies to all companies within the European Union, outlines the same guidelines as Canada’s PIPEDA. Employers must have a valid reason to track employee activity, and employees must be informed about all monitoring practices. The GDPR also stipulates that employers should minimize how much data they collect and anonymize data whenever possible. In the UK, the UK General Data Protection Regulation sets the same expectations.
Choose empowerment over monitoring
Ethical time tracking focuses on empowering employees and end users to take control of their time and data. Ensuring users have control over what and when data is saved, as well as how it is reported, will allow you to foster trust, autonomy, and transparency.
RescueTime’s Timesheets was created with this in mind. Using Timesheets, employees can see how their time was allocated to projects and tasks throughout the day. Work time can be sorted by project, client, or task. Several data views are available to help users discover trends in their work habits and create a schedule that maximizes their productivity.
Are you ready to help your team make the most of their time? Try RescueTime today.
