Employee control
Access systems, video surveillance, project management programs, biometric control, employee movement monitoring systems, and other similar solutions appear on the market because there is a real demand. According to researchers from TechNavio, the global market for biometric access control systems alone will grow 18% annually. The forecast for the Russian market of protection systems against leaks of confidential data (DLP), which control employees' PCs, is an increase of 13-15%.
The need for control is not born from scratch: a sane businessman will not spend millions on a fashion trend or his desire. Employees, on the other hand, in most cases feel that control solutions are the employer's whim. But:
- First, the use of control tools requires significant investment. In addition to money for installation, operation, and technical support of a solution, time and labor are required. For example, testing and searching for an optimal DLP system alone can take up to six months of an information security specialist's working time.
- Secondly, the employer's control over the performance of duties by the employee has always been. The only question is how it was realized before and now. Handwritten reports on several pages, journals of arrival and departure, vigilant watchmen, endless "briefings" and, of course, the personal control of the leader - all these methods of observation were relevant 15 years ago, and are still used somewhere. Today they have been replaced by high-tech solutions.
For our client, a large government copyright organization, after introducing a time tracking system, it turned out that out of 700 employees, 52 specialists spent 15–20 hours a week on various entertainment resources and online games. Of course, it was not pleasant for the manager to learn that the institution lost more than 10 million rubles annually from the misuse of working time. However, there are also advantages - for the first time in many years, the reduction was painless and effective for the organization.
Calculating the damage caused by employees' idleness may seem petty to some. But we're talking about business, right? And the business, whatever one may say, should not suffer losses from the fact that the staff spends the company's resources at their discretion. Optimizing costs is one of the tasks of a manager.
It cannot be said that the news about the installation of the monitoring system is perceived by employees with great enthusiasm, although we have seen positive changes in the last five years - the attitude of personnel to monitoring work is changing from a sharply negative to neutral. Still, some control tools "take root" in the company more easily, some are more complicated, some of the employees try to bypass. Therefore, to implement the control system without incidents, it is worth adhering to the following logic of actions:
1. Do your preparatory work. If no monitoring tools have been used previously, then it is necessary to describe the reasons that prompted such measures. The HR department or the head of the organization is best suited for this task. It is necessary to explain to the staff that this is not a loss of trust, but the objective challenges facing the business. Striving to cut costs, discourage theft and fraud, and optimize business processes will help keep your business running at this difficult time. An elementary check of telephone consultations - recording of negotiations with clients - will help to reveal the rudeness or unprofessionalism of some employees. By explaining to employees the goals of implementing control, which is called on the fingers, you can count on understanding from the team and avoid the facts of opposition to innovation.
2. Collect feedback. After the employees have heard the manager's point of view regarding the implemented control tool, it is necessary to get feedback: questions, doubts, indignations. This will help reduce rumors and speculation, as well as keep you out of trouble with key specialists. Better to allow employees to ask questions and resent anonymously. So you will see a more real picture - people are not afraid to speak up. It is good if a lawyer gives clarifications on the legislative side of the issue. Probably the most frequent question: how legitimate is this or that control system? It is answered by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 15, 21, and 189) - such systems are legal, subject to certain conditions. So part 1 of article 22 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation secures the employer the right to control the performance of the employee's work duties and the use of the equipment and other technical means provided by the employer for work.
3. Tell us about the positive side of the issue for employees. It is really difficult for employees to see the benefits of implementing control systems, but they are. For example, tracking the workload of each employee in a department will help distribute tasks more evenly, eliminating overwork. Stopping the theft of the customer base will elementary save the business from ruin and save jobs. Give real cases of other companies that have solved this or that problem with the help of any monitoring systems for the work of personnel.
4. Make additions to the official documents. In the employment contract, it is necessary to fix the rules for the use of information resources, technical and other means of the company. Next, notify employees against the signature that the company is monitoring the quality of work performed. The exact wording will depend on the specific monitoring tool. In any case, the documents will be insured against unfounded claims from employees, and in the event of an incident and court proceedings, they will be required to justify the legality of the monitoring tools.
The recommendations above are a generalized outline, but they provide a general understanding of the strategy. For clearer instructions, you can contact the developers of a particular product - sometimes vendors provide them by default.
We have been observing a change in attitudes towards employee control for more than 10 years, since the advent of information leakage protection on the market: there are still negative comments on the Web, but in general, the degree of intensity has dropped significantly. Largely due to the competent approach of employers when introducing a particular control tool.
23.11.2020
