Are You Using the Employees Monitoring Software for the Wrong Reasons?

One of the trending products in the business world right now is the employees monitoring software. It seems that almost everyone is using it! And it's no wonder, given the benefits it offers. Besides protecting your company from insider threat (intentional or not), it makes your workforce more productive, allowing you to make more money.

These are just some of the basic benefits, and we're not here to talk about them. Today, we'll be exploring the reasons why you shouldn't be monitoring your employees. The reasons you should are obviously the benefits it's offering, but if you're not looking to improve on any of those things, that you probably shouldn't be using the employees monitoring software.

You Need a Better Way to Micromanage Your Team

The problem with micromanagers is that they don't see their management style as something faulty. They usually believe that's the only way to manage a team - to keep peeking behind their shoulder after every click and tell them what to do and how to do it. Computer monitoring software can give those types of managers greater power and deeper insight into their employees work. And not in a good way.

More often than not, micromanagers will look at the data, and wait for one wrong move from their employees in order to punish them for such behaviour. Ultimately, this type of management causes employees to leave their positions and move to other companies.

So yes, if you're planning to use your employees monitoring software as a helping hand in micromanagement - don't.

People = Numbers

Your employees are people after all, sometimes they won't be as productive, other times they'll complete the tasks in record time, and your tracker software will give you insights about all of this. Which is great, you'll be able to create improvement strategies for everyone on your team. However, if you plan on solely relying on the data the software provides, you'll waste your money.

The data, however relevant, doesn't give you the full picture of your employees' work. To get the full picture about someone's work, you shouldn't exclusively look into their outputs. You should also talk to their coworkers to determine how collaborative they are. What is more, you should take the time to build relationships with people on your team.

Everyone Is Using the Software

Just because it's trendy, it doesn't mean it'll do you any good. Just installing the monitoring software won't magically solve your business problems. The software gives you data you can use as a basis for improvement strategies. After that, it's up to you and your employees to ensure those goals are being met.

You should monitor your employees only if you have a valid reason for it. Those include increasing security at work, improving productivity and profitability, creating better relationships with clients, etc. If you don't have any goals that resemble this one, and you've heard from your business-owner friends that they're using the software so you want it - you're in for a money and time wasting ride.

Wrap Up

There are so many good, valid reasons to install a computer tracking system on your employees computers. On the other hand, there are these three reasons which don't bring any value to the company. On the contrary, they could do more harm than good. We've seen cases of employees leaving companies because of misuse of tracking tools. No business owner wants that, and you shouldn't let it happen.

To simplify it: review your business goals and think about the ways a monitoring software could get you closer to those goals. That is the best way to ensure you're implementing the software for the right reasons.