The Rise of Employee Monitoring Tools and Why 82% Worry About It

The COVID pandemic popularized remote work arrangements; however, some managers claim that employees aren’t productive if not under surveillance, accelerating the adoption of “monitoring tools.” A survey launched by Real Research, an online survey app, attempted to gather opinions about the use of employee monitoring tools in the workplace.

Here are the key findings of the survey report:

• 44.34% of respondents were fully aware of the increasing use of employee monitoring tools.
• 41.83% of respondents agreed to the necessity of electronic employee monitoring tools.
• 82.09% of respondents expressed some level of concern about the legal and ethical implications of electronic employee monitoring tools.

Monitoring Concerns in the Remote Workplace

Concerns about remote worker productivity have led to a rise in electronic monitoring and surveillance tools. While 44.34% of respondents were fully aware of the increasing use of employee monitoring tools, 37.85% were only vaguely aware, and 17.81% were completely unaware.

“Productivity paranoia,” a term that describes managers’ concern that remote and hybrid workers aren’t doing enough when not under supervision, was also known to 73.57% of respondents (8.13% were very familiar, 18.8% were somewhat familiar, and 46.64% were slightly familiar).

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Tools vs. Trust: Divided Views on Monitoring for Remote Work

Despite the prevalence of productivity concerns, support for electronic employee monitoring tools remains low, with only 41.83% agreeing (9.36% strongly agreed and 32.47% somewhat agreed) to its necessity. Conversely, 21.49% and 36.68% strongly and somewhat disagreed, respectively.

Moreover, the majority (82.09%) of respondents expressed some concern, with 13.45% being very concerned, 31.33% somewhat concerned, and 37.31% slightly concerned, about the legal and ethical implications of electronic monitoring tools.

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Crossing the Line: How Much Monitoring is Too Much?

To what extent do electronic monitoring tools infringe on employee privacy, particularly when working from home?

Notably, 44.04% believed that electronic employee monitoring tools only slightly infringe on an employee’s privacy when working from home. Meanwhile, 25.62% and 12.83% reported significant and complete infringement. In contrast,  17.51% claimed no infringement of privacy.

Ultimately, 68.3% of respondents express discomfort, ranging from somewhat (42.28%) to very uncomfortable (26.02%), at the prospect of being monitored electronically. Others reported being comfortable (21.6%) and very comfortable (10.1%).