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Is there a way for companies to monitor remote employees without alienating them?
Technology has made it possible for many people to work from home, but it also has madeit easier for employers to track their workers’ activity on company computer systems andmeasure their productivity.
Companies developing plans for remote and hybrid work in the wake of the Covid-19pandemic may see some value in that kind of monitoring to help maintain productivity. Butit also poses the danger of upsetting employees who resent being tracked and fear theconsequences.
A new study from researchers at the University of Virginia and the University of SouthernCalifornia offers some insight into employees’ thinking. It found that they are more willingto accept tracking, and may even welcome it, if the data that’s gathered is analyzed bytechnology instead of humans. The researchers say people tend to perceive technologicalanalysis as valuable information—something that can help them do their jobs better.Tracking that simply provides information to employees enhances their sense of autonomyand motivation and makes them less likely to quit, the researchers found.
But human judgment, whether it’s based on people’s observations or on their analysis ofdata delivered by machines, opens employees to criticism.
“Regardless of who that human is, the fact that there is a human who could be looking atyour data and interpreting something about you, that’s aversive to us, because we all wantto be seen in a good light and we’re worried and concerned about potential negativejudgment,” says Roshni Raveendhran, an assistant professor of business administration atthe University of Virginia and one of the authors of the study. “If there’s no humaninvolved, then people are open to using technological products to track very personalaspects of themselves,” she says.
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“If your boss was to keep looking at how long you were staring at a computer screen or howlong you were in a Word document, that would actually be super-aversive,” Dr.Raveendhran says. On the other hand, she says, “If I had a tool that told me, ‘I’ve beentracking you. You seem to be writing better at these times, you seem to not be productive atthose times of the day, this is when you should be taking a break,’ I’m not only going to bemore likely to comply, but I’m going to be excited about doing it and following that.”
The researchers conducted five experiments that solicited participants’ reaction to variousaspects of having their work activity tracked and analyzed. The participantsoverwhelmingly preferred technology-based analysis to human judgment.
Dr. Raveendhran says organizations should consider making tracking data more readilyavailable to employees to help them discover what steps they need to take to improve theirperformance.
“We have access to all kinds of tracking devices at the moment, and our companies areinvesting in these types of tracking technologies, so why not empower people to actuallylook at their own data?” she says. “Those reports can actually go to your employeesdirectly, where they can feel empowered to make decisions and take actions based on theirown behaviors because they trust the data that was tracking them.”
Mr. Bhattacharyya is a writer in Philadelphia. He can be reached at [email protected].
Appeared in the August 2, 2021, print edition as 'Why Workers Prefer Being Tracked by Machines, NotHumans.'
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BUSINESS | JOURNAL REPORTS: LEADERSHIP
Why Employees Prefer to Be Tracked by Machines Rather Than HumansTechnology lets bosses monitor workers’ productivity. But how they do it makes a big difference, a study found.
People tend to perceive tech-based analysis as valuable information.
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By Suman BhattacharyyaJuly 30, 2021 1:00 pm ET
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