Analysis: there are several reasons to be concerned about this workplace trend as firms seek to push employees to return full-time to the office
Here's the latest in a series of increasingly sinister salvos in the war between employers and employees about whether and when they must return to the office. Price Waterhouse Coopers, one of the world's "big four" accounting firms, plans to use geolocation technology to track the location of their employees in the UK to enforce a back-to-the office-mandates.
Electronic surveillance is increasingly widespread, with up to half of the employees in some industries subject to some form of surveillance. Many companies already use suites of electronic surveillance tools to monitor their employees, ranging from programs that allow managers to monitor keystrokes on employees' computers to using video cameras to monitor employees’ behavior and movements. Surveillance is sometimes done openly and with the knowledge of employees (laws, labour agreements and workplace regulations often require disclosure), but surveillance might be entirely covert in some organisations.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, Prof Kevin Murphy on why more firms are tracking their workers
There are several reasons to be concerned about this trend. First, surveillance of employees creates the very real possibility of unwarranted invasions of privacy, especially if surveillance is covert. Second, surveillance can be a significant source of stress for employees and a threat to their well-being and mental health.
So why would a large and respected firm engage in forms of surveillance that are likely to reduce employees’ satisfaction with and commitment to their company and create a PR nightmare? My guess is that PwC, like many other corporations, is losing the tug of war between executives who want employees to come back to the office and employees who prefer to continue working remotely.
For most employees, the choice between continuing to work remotely and returning to the office is an easy one. Returning to the office means going back to commuting, lunch at your desk, office politics and endless meetings. Returning to the office might boost your chance of promotion and salary increases, but the prospect of distant and uncertain rewards is often a poor motivator for employees who have been working remotely successfully.
From RTÉ Radio 1's The Business, tensions persist in the continuing debate about hybrid working over return-to-office policies that bosses generally want but the staff often don't
Why then are managers and executives so strongly convinced that pushing employees to return to the office is a good idea? The usual explanation, that face-to-face interactions are critical to building and maintaining the culture of organisations, is far from convincing. Many, if not most, firms have weak cultures that have little real effect on the behaviour of employees.
The argument that forcing unwilling employees to come back to the office will somehow improve the culture of your business strikes me increasingly as nonsense. There might be some increase in creativity when employees interact face-to-face, but there is little credible evidence so far to support this argument. I think the best explanation is that executives and managers have not learned how to manage remote workers, and that they want employees back where they can be more easily controlled.
The push to force employees back to the office is starting to look desperate. An organisation that resorts to spying on employees is telling you several things. First, employees are probably resisting your attempt to force them back to the office.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Brainstorm, how coffee badging became a new workplace trend
Second, you do not trust that employees who do show up for work will stay there. If you force employees to show up, they probably will, but they still may find ways to get out of the office as soon as possible. For example, I've previous discussed coffee badging, the practice of showing up to work and making your presence known than leaving the office to take a coffee break and not coming back.
Finally, you are so strongly convinced of the importance of returning to the office that you are willing to follow potentially self-destructive policies, such as electronic surveillance of employees.
Organisations that resort to spying on their employees are playing with fire
Most employers who have issued back-to-the-office mandates are relying on coercive methods which are all stick and no carrot. If you really want employees to come back to the office, you should think about incentives rather than coercion. That is, offer employees rewards that realistically offset the costs of returning to the office. If you think incentives are too expensive, you are probably not thinking carefully about the costs of coercive back-to-the office policies.
Organisations that resort to spying on their employees are playing with fire. They can be reasonably certain that employees will become less satisfied and less committed and can also be certain that their public image will suffer. They may experience some benefits if employees come back to the office, but it is unlikely that the benefits will offset the costs. Businesses that are attempting to fully come back from the pandemic need many things, but more spies and better surveillance are not on the list.
Follow RTÉ Brainstorm on WhatsApp and Instagram for more stories and updates
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
