There has been a growing demand for technologies that aid in tracking employee productivity as more businesses embrace the work-from-home culture. Managers frequently watch their staff in order to get them to work.
However, the post-pandemic tsunami of remote working is forcing businesses to look for fresh approaches to make sure staff remain productive no matter where they are. A lot of techniques for monitoring employee productivity are turning out to be ineffective since the ends don’t always justify the means.
Employers and supervisors should look for more moral approaches to keep an eye on employee behavior and increase productivity.
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How Does Productivity Tracking Work?
Productivity tracking is the practice of recording and analyzing work actions, including the use of software to make sure personnel are present at their designated duty locations on time and are productive in their jobs.
It has progressed from the use of time-tracking software to the usage of various apps for monitoring screen time, employee idleness, and employee photo capture.
You can’t truly judge how someone chooses to do their job from the luxury of their own home. Private moments could be recorded using software that frequently takes pictures even when the employee isn’t at their workstation.
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What are the Issues with Tracking Employee Productivity?
Although most businesses have legitimate motives for watching over their workers, the methods they choose to do so aren’t always honorable. It could be intrusive to frequently take pictures of a remote worker’s face, for example.
In many circumstances, an employee’s method of completing a task is not an accurate indicator of their productivity. Some employees can learn how to complete their tasks more quickly than others due to years of work experience.
Employees who spend more time at their work than those who have found an effective technique to do it faster are likely to be deemed more productive by productivity software that tracks screen time.
More importantly, it could have a detrimental impact on how an employee views their employment. It is preferable to concentrate on results and performance measurement measures rather than use surveillance tools to keep an eye on employees.
The outcomes of tracking are frequently not the most accurate indicators of productivity. When assessing employee productivity, adopting an intrinsic approach is preferable to using extrinsic methods.
Here are a few examples of how staff productivity tracking affects employees.
Anxiety and Lower Productivity
Monitoring employee output may have a negative effect on their output. When an employee is aware that they are being watched, anxiety might set in.
They experience performance pressure, and their attention quickly shifts from being productive to pleasing their superiors and keeping up with time trackers. Additionally, this anxiousness may result in poor performance and, even worse, costly errors. The tracker’s intended effect ultimately has a negative impact on overall job performance.
Unjustified Evaluation of Performance at Work
Since productivity tracking systems are frequently digitally managed, any work done offline or away from the desktop that is related to the job is not tracked.
Employees occasionally have to decide between making a fast phone conversation relating to work and sending an email that might not be read right away. The length of the calls will determine how long the tracker will consider the employee to be idle during that period.
For an honest worker, this tracking is undoubtedly unjust. The company may run the danger of losing that person if they are required to constantly explain what happened during that time.
Employees Could Lose Their Sense of Identity
It may be difficult for workers whose performance is being watched to maintain their sense of identity.
They may develop a target-driven mindset and become willing to do whatever it takes to demonstrate their work to their staff. They might even start to question their morals as they look for ways to get around the tracker or modify it to their advantage.
As a result of knowing they are watched during working hours, an employee might adopt tricks to acquire some alone time.
Poor Employee Experience and a Toxic Work Environment
Employees who are being tracked for productivity have less time to interact with one another since they are aware of it.
Additionally, it could create a climate of mistrust if workers use various tricks to appear to be the most productive ones at work. This fosters a toxic atmosphere in the workplace and results in generally negative employee experiences.
All in All
Employers must start considering alternatives to surveillance and productivity monitoring tools as a means of ensuring staff productivity.
Employees are feeling the effects of productivity tracking, which could have a negative effect on their performance as a whole. Applying intrinsic metrics over extrinsic strategies is the greatest method to stay away from this path while still maintaining staff productivity.
This entails asking staff members to update established accountability frameworks on their progress and also offering specialized coaching to help them increase productivity.