Data Monitoring and Employee Privacy Study

Employers have been seeking to track their employees since the start of standardized business. Assembly line workers were monitored by foremen. Officer workers were literally overseen by managers. Now, employees are scrutinized from afar by their company’s HR or IT department. The widespread use of computers in almost every office job has made it easier to collect data not only on what employees are doing (or perhaps not doing) but also on their general “productivity.”

To better understand the current state of employee monitoring, and crucially, how employees feel about being monitored, TechnologyAdvice Research conducted a nationwide online survey of 401 office employees between the ages of 25 and 54. Respondents were surveyed about their current workplace policies, how they felt about various monitoring techniques, and whether any specific policies would make them uncomfortable or nervous at work.

The insights collected can help businesses determine what types of monitoring programs are likely to be accepted, and which are likely to generate negative pushback from workers.