Enterprises urged to be transparent about employee monitoring

With larger numbers of people working remotely, employers are keen to understand the effect this has on productivity. They're using technology like facial recognition and other tools to monitor the use of apps and gather other information.

However, software adoption platform Pendo is calling on companies to be more transparent with employees about what they do and don’t monitor, and why.

There’s been an explosion in tracking since pandemic began, with recent Gartner data showing that 60 percent of large employers are using technologies to track employee productivity.

Pendo has produced an Employee Data Privacy Pledge that asks business leaders across the world to be transparent about the data they’re collecting, and its purpose. If implementing a software adoption platform, the pledge urges employers to offer workers an easy, in-app way of viewing which sites and behaviors are tracked by their employer.

"At the beginning of a decade that will be defined by rising software adoption and remote work, it's imperative we don't abuse the mounds of new data available to infringe on employee privacy by tracking time or personal activity," says Spencer Earp, managing director EMEA at Pendo. "Remote worker productivity should be a process problem, not a people one. Businesses are responsible for the effectiveness and quality of the tools they provide employees, and data monitoring should be limited to business-related data that can help maximize the value derived from company-supplied software -- not infringe on privacy."

The company wants to put the onus back on employers to use business-related data for good to improve their workplace apps, creating and guiding workers through the most effective workflows by evaluating metrics like page loads, event clicks and drop offs.

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