Connect with us

MARKETING

Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on Remote Wo

Published

on

Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on Remote Wo

Pointers

1. Introduction

2. What does employee monitoring mean?

3. Know the Ethical Repercussions of employee monitoring

3.1 Personal Data and Privacy Breaches

Advertisement

3.2  Weakens Employee’s Trust and Morale

4. Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on Remote Workers

4.1 Discuss with your employees

4.2 Know the legal requirements for remote working

4.3 Use monitoring software that doesn’t track personal phone calls or files

4.4 Educate yourself on what is acceptable remote work behavior in your industry

Advertisement

4.5 Keep monitoring results confidential. Do not share information with others

4.6 Get all employees to agree to be monitored during the onboarding process

4.7 Ensure you have a strong privacy policy in place so there are no grey areas

Closing Thoughts

Employee monitoring is a successful employee management approach, but privacy issues and the legal concerns of “how much is too much?” have sparked many inquiries about the ethical aspects of monitoring employees.

For many businesses, this is perhaps the first time they’ve ever dealt with mostly remote staff. And this change has generated a new interest in monitoring software tools that allow employers to look at what a remote worker is doing.

Advertisement

But while monitoring your remote employees, you should follow certain ethics to avoid legal trouble.

Are you curious to know about employee monitoring ethics?

This post will discuss the top 7 employee monitoring ethics while using work monitoring software on remote workers.

Let’s dive in-

What does employee monitoring mean?

Employee monitoring entails monitoring your employees’ behaviors with various workplace surveillance systems, such as video surveillance, electronic security, computer monitoring, and so on.

Advertisement

On the one hand, employee monitoring ethics advise you on how to maintain track of your workers and their job without intruding on their privacy. As a result, you may build a transparent employee monitoring system that promotes a secure and effective working environment.

Is it intentional unethical monitoring or not?

Not on purpose, to be precise.

Employers frequently attempt to safeguard their businesses and trade secrets. The majority of them are probably unaware of the ethical issues associated with staff monitoring.

With the rise in availability of sophisticated employee monitoring software, not every company confines their monitoring to work hours. Employees may view such surveillance methods as an invasion of privacy, particularly if they do not trust their employers. This can result in demotivated or unengaged workers, legal action against the firm, or high staff turnover.

This mutual mistrust is exacerbated when remote workers are involved.

Advertisement

But, Why?

Remote work doesn’t necessitate working in a physical location, so remote employee trackers take on the role of being the sole means to keep track of their job-related activities during business hours.

However, using a monitoring tool while working remotely on one’s personal computer or device might be interpreted as gathering personal information during non-work hours.

This breaches employee privacy and makes remote workers more concerned when employers tell them to install employee monitoring software on their systems.

Do you want to know the major ethical repercussions of employee monitoring?

Read the following section to know the answer-

Know the Ethical Repercussions of Employee Monitoring

Here are two ethical issues associated with employee monitoring to be aware of in order to gain employee confidence and maintain openness in your organization.

Advertisement

1. Personal Data and Privacy Breaches

1645785715 666 Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on

Do you know what makes most workers uncomfortable about being observed?

It is a personal privacy invasion.

Employees may get uncomfortable when their computer usage is constantly monitored while at work.

This might be higher for workers who are being subjected to monitoring for the first time — they may have a greater expectation of privacy as they have not been tracked earlier.

Why not keep track of things without informing the staff?

Tracking workers without their consent may be a significant ethical issue. You will not only find yourself in legal difficulties, but you will also quickly lose your staff’s confidence!

The easiest approach is to inform staff what you’ll be monitoring and how you’ll follow the monitoring standards set by your state/nation.

Advertisement

2. Weakens Employee’s Trust and Morale

1645785715 455 Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on

Employee monitoring might create distrust and animosity in the workplace.

Investigating their personal accounts/messages just to be sure they’re not doing anything wrong might send the wrong signals.

Especially, if you are performing it secretly.

Yes, there may be workers who jeopardize corporate data or act unethically. But assuming everyone is the same can directly influence their motivation, productivity, and performance.

Furthermore, there is a distinction between monitoring and intrusion.

Intrusion refers to peeping into the personal data of your workers, which has nothing to do with your company during monitoring.

Advertisement

If your employees feel intruded on, they may become dissatisfied and unappreciated, leading to poor work culture, damaged corporate reputation, and even legal issues.

Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on Remote Workers

1. Discuss with your employees

1645785715 656 Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on

You must discuss your intentions of monitoring online activity with your employees before you begin. It is also an excellent idea to let them know that you are not trying to spy on them and that there should be no feeling of mistrust.

When you discuss your intentions, you may want to consider addressing concerns that may come up. They will likely be apprehensive about being monitored, especially if they think you might see personal or confidential information. If they know upfront what areas of their activity will be monitored, it can help alleviate those fears. It can also make things easier when there is a problem, and you need access to records to find and fix it.

You should also let them know that all records are secured with password protection, ensuring nobody without authorization will have access regardless of how many employees work at your company.

2. Know the legal requirements for remote working

1645785715 745 Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on

In many areas, employees are allowed to work outside of traditional office space while still completing required tasks. It’s a good idea to confirm whether or not your area has any specific requirements and make sure you fully understand them before embarking on a remote-work initiative. If so, make sure you follow these legal guidelines to help ensure your business stays in compliance with local laws.

For example, companies with workers in California must provide daily rest periods and weekly days off for full-time employees. Companies that do not comply can be fined for violation plus additional liquidated damages.

3. Use monitoring software that doesn’t track personal phone calls or files

1645785716 767 Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on

When it comes to monitoring software, it’s a good idea to pick one that doesn’t monitor employees when they don’t have work-related duties. For example, most employees would feel uncomfortable knowing their employers had access to information about their personal phone calls or correspondence with family and friends.

Advertisement

In some countries like USA, privacy rights are protected by law, meaning you could end up breaking federal and state laws if you install monitoring software that illegally monitors an employee’s personal communications. If you want to use tracking software, make sure your policy is clear on what behavior is tracked.

4. Educate yourself on what is acceptable remote work behavior in your industry

1645785716 422 Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on

You may have a difficult time deciding how to use employee monitoring software in a way that doesn’t violate an employee’s rights or other ethical considerations. The best thing you can do is educate yourself on what is acceptable remote work behavior in your industry and culture before implementing new tools. For example, if you are looking for more examples of professional expectations and guidelines, look at Workplace Fairness’s compilation of acceptable remote work practices. This will give you a better idea of whether it is appropriate to track specific tasks or behaviors with technology (or not). Creating written policies about employee monitoring makes things crystal clear for everyone involved—your employees, their managers, HR teams, and executives.

Discuss current state-of-play: Be honest about where you stand right now: What issues do you see at hand? Do any issues need immediate attention? Formalize rules and boundaries regarding remote worker monitoring.

5. Keep monitoring results confidential. Do not share information with others

1645785716 350 Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on

Regardless of whether you’re monitoring for employee productivity or job security purposes, do not divulge your findings to anyone but those with a need-to-know. You must remain professional, even when presenting bad news. After all, if an employee sees results being discussed openly, they may wonder what you are saying about them behind their back. Even if others have a right to know specific details about someone’s performance (such as upper management), don’t share anything that may be construed as gossip or personal attacks.

Let reports speak for themselves and avoid informal language in e-mails and letters related to your findings. If things must be said face-to-face, wait until after business hours so that you can discuss matters in private.

6. Get all employees to agree to be monitored during the onboarding process

1645785717 663 Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on

It’s a good idea to get all employees involved and on board with your employee monitoring policy from day one. During onboarding, you can run an online survey asking new hires whether they are willing to be monitored at work in exchange for a generous salary and paid time off. Ensure that these benefits are clearly listed for each question, along with an explanation of what type of monitoring is included in your policy.

A common choice is all incoming emails and phone calls, but if you do include calls, be sure it’s very clear that callers won’t be recorded unless consent is given. It’s also recommended that you define parameters for when (and how) workers should contact management if they notice any problems.

Advertisement

7. Ensure you have a strong privacy policy in place so there are no grey areas

1645785717 33 Top 7 Ethical Considerations for Using Employee Monitoring Software on

You should clearly tell employees about their rights, what their employer can monitor and what actions may result in disciplinary action. With a firm privacy policy in place, you’ll avoid any legal implications and have a clear guide for how you should use your monitoring software. Create employee guidelines so they know how they should act.

Employers must understand what they can and cannot do when it comes to monitoring employees, but it’s also vital that employees know how best to behave at work, so there aren’t any grey areas.

Whether you give them written instructions or just verbally explain expectations, it’s a good idea to make sure everyone understands where things stand concerning remote workers and monitoring software.

Closing Thoughts

Companies need to be mindful of the significant ethical repercussions and legal requirements when implementing employee monitoring software on remote workers. The seven considerations we’ve provided can help you find a balance between productivity and privacy, so your business is protected from any liability or data breach risks.

If you want an elevated way to stay in compliance with all these guidelines and know what behavior is acceptable for employees at work remotely, request a demo for Workstatus to completely follow the employee monitoring ethics while managing your workforce.

It’s an easy-to-use cloud-based remote employee monitoring software that helps companies track their remote working staff without having access to personal phone calls or files. Plus, it has features like GPS tracking, automated reminders about daily tasks, GPS time clock app, online timesheets, etc. making life easier for both managers and employees alike.

Advertisement

Thanks for reading!!


Source link
Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

MARKETING

How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

Published

on

A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

Advertisement

Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

Advertisement

Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

Advertisement

“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

Advertisement

Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

Advertisement

Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

Source link

Advertisement
Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

MARKETING

Trends in Content Localization – Moz

Published

on

Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

Source link

Advertisement
Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

MARKETING

How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

Published

on

How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

(more…)

Keep an eye on what we are doing
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Continue Reading

Trending

Follow by Email
RSS