Despite evidence that working from home has not diminished U.S. productivity during the pandemic, employers are increasingly turning to monitoring software that can track workers’ keystrokes, log active hours, take regular screenshots and even activate a web camera.Gartner, a technology research and consulting firm, estimates that 60% of large corporations now employ monitoring software, double the share of early last year.
And for more than 85% of employers, work-from-home efficiency met or exceeded their expectations, with half of these companies saying it has been “substantially” or “hugely” better, according toMany companies justify the surveillance on grounds that it helps them improve employees’ performance. Elizabeth Harz, chief executive of InterGuard, said her firm’s monitoring tools can help managers identify burnout, overwork and tasks where people may be getting stuck.
When the pandemic shut down the Atlanta offices of Floyd County Productions last year, Jennifer Garcia suddenly found herself working full-time from home. “But I can see how if you’re not as technically inclined or maybe you don’t have an extra computer at home that you could use for personal stuff, you’re just kind of subject to the whims of your employer.”
Using monitoring programs is nothing new for large companies. The telecommunications firm Vonage, for example,Other firms didn’t respond to requests for information or were vague about their usage. “We removed the line about any unplanned visits because it was an activity that was never put into practice,” the spokesperson said.