Employee Tracking Software: Management or Spying?

Well, everything matters in the way you choose to see it. So here we’ll consider field force management software to see if it is a managerial tool or spyware. 

What About Employee Tracking Software Can be Spying?

Here are a couple of things that employee tracking software collects:

• Executive’s real-time location 

• Geospatial information while logging in and out

• Pictorial proofs of delivery or attendance 

• Executives’ device battery and network status 

When we look into the data a company gets access to through field force management software, we might think of it as spyware. However, the software doesn’t start collecting data until the employee personally consents to it. This itself removes the spyware feel from the setup. 

What About Employee Tracking Software Can Be Managing? 

Well, there are several features of employee tracking software that can be thought of as managerial tools. Here are some of them:

• Fool-proof attendance management 

• Data analysis 

• Report generation 

• Seamless communication 

• Task management 

• Complete surveillance 

• Document management

Field force management software has several features that help constitute it as a managerial tool above else. While the information it collects might be mistakenly thought of as spyware, what it eventually does with that data is certainly a managerial necessity. 

Spyware Vs Managerial Tool

Here are a couple of aspects that we can look at in field force management software to determine whether it is spyware or a managerial tool. 

• Kind of data collected: It is important to note that no field force management software collects data that doesn't come from the company’s direct use. The two sensitive things it stores are locational data and device battery and network status. Both of these things are crucial for management and do not breach privacy during working hours. 

• Collection consent: What differentiates an ethical practice of data collection from an unethical one? Consent! Spying is when data is collected without the person's permission or even without them knowing! Employee tracking software, however, only starts collecting data when the employee consents to it from their device. 

• Full disclosure: A great ya to make your employees comfortable with the idea of tracking is to be transparent from the beginning. Tell each employee what all will be tracked from their device so that they do not feel any qualms regarding the same. 

We Don’t Think It Is Spying! 

Yes, field force management software helps you see where each employee is going. It also gives you access to some information that might seem like spying. However, no good employee tracking software will start tracking employees without their consent. And when there’s consent, it is not spying! 

The brilliancy of field force management software lies in the fact that employees can stop the surveillance when done with work. This way, their personal-professional balance stays.