Can Your Employer Monitor Your Computer
Employers monitoring their employees’ digital devices is an interesting subject. Employers believe that they have the right to understand and analyze employee activities in the workplace. The way employers use software and systems to monitor activity may look new, but the practice is really old. With the evolution of technology, employee monitoring has become easier and less expensive. The big question is can your employer monitor your work-supplied computer?
Does your employer monitor your computer?
Employers have the ability and the right to watch your computer during office time. There are three things that support the possibility of monitoring:
1. To ensure you are working
When you work at the office, there is usually a manager to consult who can help you to complete a task. That doesn’t happen when you work remotely. Your manager is responsible for your work and needs to ensure you are working productively. This is the reason management monitors your computer when you are working remotely. In a sense, they are helping you to improve your performance and accuracy.
2. You had an agreement to monitor your work
Often management asks for an agreement at the time of recruitment, to monitor activity on digital devices. Employees can only join the company if they agree with digital monitoring. This clarifies any doubt or misunderstanding between the two parties. The company can also have an employee’s permission to monitor work whenever they wish.
3. Because you work in their office network
You may work at the office from time to time and connect your device to their internet network. In that case, your data goes through their network tunnel and they can view the data history if they wish. This applies to any device that connects to their network, regardless if it’s your personal or official device. It’s their right to monitor your activity on devices because you’re only supposed to do your office tasks. If you are not wasting time on social media or video channels irrelevant to the job, you shouldn’t worry anyway!
Why do they monitor your computer?
1. To ensure the company’s data protection
Companies want to ensure that their sensitive information is safe in employees’ hands and devices. Many companies have struggled throughout the time when employees have sold client data to others. Social security numbers and credit card information are some of the most sensitive information that has been frequently exchanged. Monitoring employees’ online activity protects businesses from this type of data breach.
2. To create a trusted environment
Monitoring lets employees demonstrate they are available and responsive during work hours. It also helps to create a trustworthy and predictable culture. There’s a direct connection between lack of trust and unpredictable communication patterns and it’s preventable with proper employee monitoring. In a remote team, getting to know your co-workers helps to build a good work environment in a remote team.
CloudDesk remote employee monitoring software is the perfect tool to monitor remote employees. It helps to ensure an employer is not paying for unproductive hours and the employees are engaged in their jobs.
If you want to monitor employees to ensure they are working productively, then hit the Contact Us button. We will show you how employee monitoring software works.
