A workforce consists of the human labor employed by an organization. A company cannot succeed without having a strong workforce. The workers form the backbone of any company. The pros and cons of workforce systems are discussed in this article.
What Workforce Systems Do
Workforce systems are put in place to recruit employable people. Organizations aim to build a strong team of skillful employees who will contribute greatly to the realization of their organizational goals. To properly manage their workforce, most organizations make good use of modern technology to help them monitor their workers. In order to expedite efficiency, human resource managers are turning to software applications in order to maximize the rates of return for their companies.
How Employees (Workforce) Are Monitored
Installation of GPS (Global Positioning Systems) on cars or phones. This location-tracking tool allows employers to know the location of their employees at any given time.
Setting up security cameras (CCTV) in business environments. The cameras give video feedback on employees.
Installation of screen-recording applications or keyloggers.
Usage of clock-in & clock-out systems.
Reviews of employees’ phone calls and texts. A lot of other employee management software tools are available on Synel Americas.
The Pros and Cons of Workforce (Employee) Monitoring Systems
The inclusion of monitoring systems in and around workplaces has advantages and disadvantages.
Pros
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Monitoring systems such as security cameras could help an organization to track down thieves and will also root out bad workers.
- It puts the workforce on their toes. The behavior of a person changes instantly when he/she realizes that there are surveillance systems around the job site. Incidences of time-wasting are likely to go down.
- It reveals the quality of service offered to customers. Installed workforce systems give clues to managers about whether workers adhere to a company’s ethical standards or not.
- An organization gains information about the actual working hours of its employees. This information can then be used to process invoices accordingly.
- Monitoring systems can help an organization to discover hidden negative behaviors at the workplace e.g. sexual harassment.
- Employers can sit at home and remotely oversee employee activities. This will cut down transportation costs while increasing work efficiency.
Cons
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Invasion of personal privacy. Technological tools such as CCTV can compromise the private affairs of a workforce. If workers begin to feel that a system is too intrusive, employers may lose a valuable part of their workforce.
- Breakdown of trust between employers and employees. The installation of monitoring system raises the issue of distrust within the workforce of an organization.
- Setting up a reliable workforce monitoring system can be very expensive since it involves purchasing both hardware and software.
- Monitoring systems can attract security threats. Since workers naturally don’t like to be monitored, the presence of so-called security systems can end up attracting threats.
Conclusion
An effective workforce system can change the status quo of an organization by increasing productivity, since it keeps an eye on the daily activities of its workers. But on the contrary, the privacy of employees is also reduced to the barest minimum. Disgruntled workers who aren’t ready to be watched 24/7 may start leaving a company.
