VMware shared results of a global study that revealed the rise in employee performance and trust established in new hybrid working models could be under threat from an increase in the implementation of remote monitoring measures.
“Globally we are seeing organizations shift permanently to hybrid work models that don’t require knowledge workers to be office-based all the time. With this shift, employers should proceed with caution when replacing presentism with monitoring tools. Monitoring and performance are two very different things,” says Shankar Iyer, senior vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware.
He added, “Digital workspace tools enable people to work from anywhere and our research shows employees are feeling more valued and trusted. A lack of transparency and measurement by ‘stealth and numbers’, can quickly erode employee faith and lead to talent heading for the door, in a highly competitive and challenging skills market.”
Amin Hanafieh, country director, UAE, VMware, said: “The results of the survey show the importance for company leaders to take a step back when deciding how to assess employee productivity. While technology was key to enabling the distributed workforce, traditional techniques such as regular catch ups, setting expectations, agreeing KPIs, and keeping open lines of communication can be used effectively to monitor and measure productivity.
The focus should be on providing the employees with the tools they need to perform their roles, while agreeing expectations on performance, with the employee’s full buy in.”
The study, “The Virtual Floorplan: New Rules for a New Era of Work,” conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of VMware, found that 90 percent of companies surveyed in the UAE have either already implemented or are planning to implement employee surveillance measures to monitor employee productivity since the shift to hybrid working.”
He added, “Among these organizations, the measures being taken include the monitoring of emails56 percent, web browsing and collaboration tools 44 percent, as well as video surveillance 36 percent, attention tracking via webcams 34 percent and keylogger software28 percent. However, 46 percent of UAE companies that have already implemented device monitoring, and 64 percent of companies who are currently in the process of doing so, are in fact seeing “drastically increased” or “increased” employee turnover.
The research findings suggest there is a delicate balance to be struck as businesses look for new ways to assess employee performance beyond presentism. From the employee perspective,80% of UAE employees agree that moving to a distributed working environment has meant that their performance – and not traditional metrics such as time spent in the office – is being valued more by their employers. And,85 percent of employees agree that remote work technologies have enabled them to work more efficiently than before. A further 85 percent of organizations have had to develop new ways to measure employee productivity. Among these organizations, the new approach to monitoring productivity has been achieved through the use of performance-focused solutions including regular catch-up with managers to discuss workloads (54 percent)assessing output and agreed deliverables (54 percent),and using new project management software (56 percent).
However, now that direct reports are not necessarily sitting a few cubicles away, employers are evolving new ways to monitor and quantify employee productivity. While 83 percent employees recognise their organisation has had to develop new ways to monitor productivity as part of the move to hybrid working, transparency remains critical.
Employee surveillance is one of many topics touched on in The Virtual Floorplan study. Key findings include:
VMware commissioned a survey, undertaken by an independent research organisation, Vanson Bourne, in July and August 2021. 7,600 respondents were surveyed globally, consisting of HR, IT and business decision makers as well as employees across IT, Manufacturing, engineering and production, Financial services, Business and professional services, Retail and wholesale, Energy, oil/gas and utilities, Distribution and transport, Public healthcare, Construction and property, Public Education, Telecommunications, Consumer services, Local government, Central government, Media leisure and entertainment, Private education, Private healthcare, Hospitality and others. All organisations surveyed have 500 or more employees globally. The countries surveyed include UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, US, Canada, Japan, Australia, India, China, Singapore and South Korea.
