The Even Uglier Truth Behind Employee Monitoring

Audio with Captions:

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Well folks, I usually have to work a little harder to come up with themes for our blogs, but unfortunately mainstream news is doing my work for me. In my last blog, I talked about quiet quitting and quiet firing. And then bam, two days later, the news is covered with the investigative reporting from the New York times about employee monitoring.

[00:00:29] And I've seen polls "is employee monitoring ever okay?" "Are you okay if your employer is watching what you do?" And the responses are really, really interesting. There are those that are taking the approach that "well it's okay if my employer watches me because I'm not doing anything, they shouldn't see" or "it's okay if my employer watches me because they have to worry about the security of the company." Now if any of you really think that this is about the company securing their assets from the bad guys, we need to have a coaching session.

[00:01:14] Because it is not about that at all. There are loads of ways to secure a system that do not involve scanning what an employee is doing. Because if you have a good security team, you can block the bad stuff so they can't go to it anyway. But that's not even the issue here. The issue is trust. And companies that are clocking their employees in and out, that are watching their amount of time that their computer is active, that are installing cameras to watch what they're doing, that have keystroke software, and the list goes on. It is about trust or the lack of trust.

[00:02:04] Now I would like to think that this is an isolated situation and The New York Times just got hold of something and went off running and made it a big news story. But the reality is I have so many examples that I've heard from people that I know from years ago that tell This isn't new. This isn't a fad. And this isn't The Times going off on a wild goose chase.

[00:02:35] I remember at the beginning of the pandemic. People telling me we're having a real issue because the government is saying we can't have people come to the office, but we have to be able to watch them. And we can't do that from home.

[00:02:53] Now, if we start to unpack this a bit and look at these trust issues, there's even more to it. Because this also means that we have such piss poor management and leadership styles going on in these companies that they have to- it's not even micromanaging it's beyond micro-managing it is next level. That they don't have systems in place to support the goals of the company. And that the only way they can ensure that employees are being productive is if they keep an eye on them.

[00:03:41] But if we use an agile mindset to our ways of working, it's about trust. It's about transparency. It's about self-empowerment and self-organization and creating a culture where people can actually own the work that they're doing and contribute to the value of the organization. And nobody needs to be watching anyone because it is very clear what the goals are and what the objectives are.

[00:04:17] So why do we still have organizations where people have to employ quiet quitting strategies of just doing the bare minimum or supervisors who have to install software to keep an eye on everything their employees are doing in 2022?

[00:04:39] What is happening? Where are we? And this article about this investigation indicated that there was a growing trend toward monitoring employees. Which means we are going in the complete opposite direction of where we need to be going for healthy workplaces.

[00:05:02] And if we think (as a collective, not me personally), that this is actually going to reduce the issue of quiet quitting, we are very much mistaken.

[00:05:16] How can we expect employees to be a part of the success of an organization and want to help the organization create value if we are essentially spying on them to make sure that they're doing it.

[00:05:33] So all of these. All of the things that have led to quiet quitting, especially in the U.S. creating that culture of the more you work, the more you will be recognized. And this idea that we have to keep our thumb on the pulse of what's happening, or they will just take advantage and get away with things is not creating the solution to any of these problems. In fact, it's creating more and more of an environment of us versus them. Between your senior tiers and your workers. And it no longer becomes teams and goals and value. It becomes tick boxes of who is doing the most and who is doing the best. And who was on their screen the most. And who was answering the most phone calls. And it deteriorates any chance of creating a value driven organization.

[00:06:39] So I challenge any companies out there who are still thinking in these terms to take a look at all of the resources that we offer and even schedule a call with me. I know it's hard to see past where you are and to dig yourself out of the hole that you've created. But let's have a quick chat and see if we can't start to break that pattern of command and control and I'll get them before they get me attitudes that are going to eventually, if they haven't already, destroyed your company because people have choices. And there is a lot of talk about the companies that are doing the right thing. And if you're going to be on the right side of this, you have to change your mindset and get started.

[00:07:31] And if there are any employees out there who find themselves working in one of these dire situations and not knowing how to climb out of that and make a change and find something else, because sometimes it is easier to stay with the devil you know then go somewhere else and find that you ended up back in the same situation, I would also like to talk to you to see if we can't make a plan for how you can start looking for an organization that supports you so that you want to support them and make a plan. Because it starts with How you researched the companies and the questions that you ask in the interview.

[00:08:13] So that is all I'm going to say about this for today, because it's made me a bit frosty and I could go on and on and on forever. But the reality is if you are spying on your employees, and trying to make yourself feel better by saying it's for security. Just stop. Because you are on the wrong side of this conversation. And you need to change what you're doing.

[00:08:38] I really hope that next month when I start my recordings, that there's not so much negativity in the news and I have some other topics to bring to you. But in the meantime, check out our written blogs, our audio blogs and all of our socials. And sign up for our free resources so that you can stay connected to what is happening in a positive agile way of working environment. Until next time. This is Indra Books.

Do you want to change work culture at your organization? Maybe you aren’t doing employee monitoring (we hope not) but you want to create higher performing teams built on trust and values. Let’s talk about how we could work together.

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