Remote work is usually associated with effective time tracking to ensure accountability. However, it is one of the major challenges those who work remotely face. According to a survey conducted by Zippia, 27% of U.S. employees worked remotely in 2023. While flexible schedules are listed as the most beneficial opportunity, and 82% of remote workers say they enjoy having more control over their work hours, time tracking remains one of the most challenging elements for over 60% of them.
On the other hand, time tracking is pretty useful since it helps employers monitor productivity and project timelines. As for employees, it helps them maintain a healthy work-life balance. That is why it is so important to find a consistent harmony between employee rights and employer needs.
In this post, we’ll explore how to detect if your employer is monitoring you without your consent as well as what your rights for privacy are and what should you do to solve this problem.
Employee Rights at Remote Work
The basic right for all employees is privacy, especially if it is a remote work setting. All employers have to respect boundaries and avoid invasive monitoring practices. Many legal regulations determine to what extent employers can monitor their remote workers.
Companies need to have specific policies related to remote work and time tracking. Their employees must be familiarized with them and know clearly what to expect. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides guidelines for recordkeeping and overtime compensation. These are essential remote workers’ rights that cannot be violated.
In turn, the organization has to offer some legal time-tracking options to its employees. They may involve:
- manual time reporting for work hours and activities;
- productivity apps to monitor and streamline work tasks;
- GPS and location tracking to ensure remote workers do their jobs from approved locations;
- screen monitoring with specific tools that can capture screenshots or record screen activity to monitor the progress of work.
In any case, employees need to know that they are monitored and which methods their employers use for that. If not, that can be considered an employee rights violation and may have legal consequences.
Signs You Are Being Monitored
The most significant problem many employers can initiate is the micromanagement of their remote workers. They tend to monitor excessively or invasively, and that results in such negative outcomes as decreased morale and job satisfaction, when employees feel undervalued and demotivated, and reduced productivity due to continuous pressure and stress remote workers experience. Micromanagement environments also diminish creativity and autonomy, since employees may avoid taking risks and proposing innovative ideas. All that can lead to high turnover rates because workers are more likely to start looking for alternative employment opportunities.
As the Co-Founder and CPO of Hiveage, Prabhath Sirisena, argues,
“maintaining a healthy remote work environment and transparent communication between employers and employees is paramount. Signs of monitoring should be accompanied by clear communication, disclosures, and employee consent to strike a balance between productivity expectations and privacy.”
So, where to start if you suspect that you’re being monitored as an employee without your consent? We want to indicate several specific signs that are easy to detect if you are aware of them.
- Unknown programs installed – You may have noticed some computer processes happening without your awareness of them. This could be a signal that someone is tracking your remote work with the help of unfamiliar applications, programs, or toolbars. They are running in the background and hinder your computer’s performance. The most common applications of that type are SpectorSoft and Teramind.
- Slow computer performance – The decrease in computer operational speed always implies some unrecognized activities that may cause your system to lag. Such a slowdown can be a sign that someone is monitoring you and tracking your activities.
- Webcam light activated – When the light on your webcam switches on unexpectedly, your camera may be in use. That is a sign of unauthorized video monitoring.
- Productivity applications – These can boost efficiency if used properly. However, if your employer uses them for constant monitoring, it may compromise your privacy.
- Unexplained network activity – Your employer may use keyloggers or monitoring software that makes your computer display unexplained network activity. You are being monitored if you notice high data downloads or uploads when you are not working on the Net.
- Access to the computer screen – If your employer asks you for access to your computer screen for reasons that are unrelated to teamwork, they may be planning invasive monitoring.
- Unexpected pop-ups – If there are random pop-up windows on your computer containing notifications or messages from hidden sources, you may be sure that your boss is tracking your activity.
- Tracking social network activities – Many managers and HRs are almost sure that they are allowed to track your activities on social media without your consent. That is a rude violation of your privacy, so you need to talk to your boss straightforwardly about the legal consequences of such overreaching surveillance.
All in all, employers have to know that such actions are not legal and that they do not add much to their remote workers’ efficiency. However, the legalities of workplace monitoring may differ from country to country. So you need to check your local regulations for more details.
How to Balance Employee Productivity and Privacy
It is crucial to maintain a trust-based remote work collaboration to achieve harmony between productivity and privacy. Open communication between employers and employees about the company’s tracking policies may help a lot.
Managers have to be sure that all the workers are well-informed about the methods used for time-tracking and the reasons why they utilize them. HR workers should monitor remote work environments to evaluate the potential impact of time tracking on employee privacy.
If you are a remote employee, you need to set boundaries, including clear and reasonable work hours. Emphasize the importance of breaks and downtime to prevent burnout.
If you have noticed that your privacy rights have been violated, report all the concerns to your HR department. HR managers should be receptive to such reports. You can also seek legal advice and guidance on the legality of monitoring practices from professionals.
As a business owner or CEO, implement whistleblower protection policies to help employees report their concerns without retaliation and fear. You have to keep your workers informed about any changes to time-tracking policies and educate them to understand their rights, responsibilities, and your company’s policies.
Final Thoughts
Therefore, we completely agree that organizations and remote employees must collaborate with the help of a successful remote work model to maintain a culture of trust and work productivity. A harmony between employee rights and employer needs should be based on mutual respect, giving priority to employee well-being, transparent communication, providing remote workers with flexibility and autonomy, encouraging their self-care and setting boundaries, and continuous adaptation to evolving needs.
Organizations that manage to adapt to the changing dynamics of remote work are sure to create a workplace that will advocate for their reputation, and provide thriving, sustainability, and success for the future.