One of the biggest challenges for companies is tracking employee productivity. Employees may look busy on their laptop, but how can their actual output be tracked? By following some legal ways to monitor employees work, you can track employee output without compromising their privacy, and employees will also feel secure. In this guide, we will explain with some steps how to track employees’ work through legally, which you can apply immediately to your company.
Understanding Basic Idea of Monitoring Employees Work
Employees work monitoring means checking whether employees are focusing on their work during shift timings but it’s important that this is done legally. Here some points you need to be followed for legal ways
- Employees should be informed in advance that their work will be monitored during shift hours.
- Only employees work-related activities will be monitored during shift timings
- The reason behind each monitoring activity must be clearly explained.
Note – Monitoring an employee’s work without their knowledge is illegal and eliminates trust between employees and managers.
Creating Written Policies and Consent Forms
The first step is to write a monitoring policy. This policy informs employees about what should be monitored and which tools should be used for employees work tracking.
Important legal steps
- Policy Draft
The policy must clearly which tool is being used for tracking for employees work
- Consent Form
All employees must read and understand the policy then sign the policy, indicating that they agree to all monitoring rules and terms and conditions.
- Regular Updates
Update your monitoring policy within 6 or 12 months to ensure all legal requirements for tracking are met in future.
Legal Ways to Monitor Employees Using Technology
These ways really work for companies. If you give notice and a consent form to employees.
Time Tracking Software
- How much time is take to completed tasks by employees, you can track easily with this time tracking tool.
- Tracking should be start or end only in working hours and for task
- Example tool – WorkDesQ employee time tracking tool
Screen Monitoring Tool
- This option is available in the tool but first you have to take permission from employees and sign an agreement.
- Track only work-related apps and websites
Internet and Application Usage Monitoring
- You can also track which applications are being used the most and why.
- However, you should avoid tracking employees if they are doing personal work while browsing during their lunch break.
HR Policies & Communication
HR must explain the policies is the most important part of the legal work tracking process. When HR communicates clearly, employees feel more confident about their privacy. Let’s understand how this happens.
Here are some steps
- Announcement
HR should share the company policy via email or notice board so that everyone is aware of the employee work tracking policy.
- Training
Managers and HR need to explain policies to each and every employee
- Feedback Loop
Get feedback from employees on whether tracking policy is comfortable or not.
Do’s and Don’ts of Legal Monitoring
Some things you should do
- Always keep a written policy
- Send consent and notice to employees
- Only work-related monitoring
Some points what not to do
- You should not monitor chats, emails or private devices
- Do not conduct monitoring without any notice
- Don’t use tools or data for wrong purpose
By following these legal ways to monitor employee work, you can track their performance.
Always Respect Employee Policy
Privacy is the main concern for employees while monitoring work
- The data will be accessed only by authorized HR and management
- Create a data retention policy so that you can easily delete old data and update new policies according to company demand.
These steps help prevent legal risks and maintain trust between employees and management.
Benefits of Legal Employee Monitoring
- Improve productivity month by month
- Helps to increase trust between employees and management
- Legal protection
- Better reporting
Step by Step Implementation Guide
- Step 1 policy draft and approval
Finalize policy with legal team and HR
- Step 2 employee consent
Sign policy by each and every employee in office or remote employees
- Step 3 tool selection
Choose only work-related apps and websites
- Step 4 communication and training
HR gives training to managers for how to track work
- Step 5 regular audits
After all step,check the monitoring process and update to management
Conclusion
You can increase team productivity by adopting legal ways to monitor employee work. Remember, consent, transparency, and limited monitoring are key aspects of effective monitoring.