How do you make a company more effective? Does employee GPS tracking make employees think about a lack of privacy? It is important to know where the employee monitoring system meets privacy. Aigerim Berzinya, Director of Marketing at Turtler, explains the benefits and potential risks of GPS tracking
The productivity level is a key concern in every company. Every employee within a company is (pardon the cliché) a cog in a machine, and their efficiency has a direct impact on overall productivity, however small their role may be.
Employers want their employees to be at their best and delivering the best results at all times, but motivating them isn’t always as easy as it should be. Today, however, GPS tracking enables Ireland’s companies to keep an eye on their employees at all times to improve performance and minimize wasted time.
There are a number of ways GPS tracking can help make your workforce more efficient and productive – but there are also negative side effects. Namely, the potential invasion of privacy for Irish workers.
The benefits of GPS tracking
One of the main benefits of introducing GPS tracking into your daily operations? Planning.
This is mainly true for companies that specialize in the delivery of cargo, especially with a fleet of trucks driving on and off motorways across Ireland (and beyond). Punctuality is important: B2B and B2C customers alike get angry when they receive deliveries later than expected. This can have far-reaching effects on your reputation.
Because only a bad online rating is enough to arouse doubts in a potential customer. Reputation building is incredibly important to SMEs and the power of dissatisfied customers should never be underestimated by SMEs, which make up over 98% of Irish businesses.
With GPS tracking, companies can monitor their drivers’ routes and recommend faster alternatives. You may be able to stay updated about potential obstacles or detours, minimizing wasted time. The driver himself has his own GPS device installed in his vehicle, and both parties can discuss complications or suggestions while viewing the same data.
Another advantage of GPS tracking is the cost savings – especially when it comes to fuel consumption. A driver may constantly choose routes that end up taking longer than expected or driving in a way that uses more fuel, resulting in higher expenses. Businesses may also become suspicious of a driver’s expense reports and want to compare their driving habits with the money they spend.
GPS tracking devices give employers the freedom to judge how honest or efficient their drivers are. Just installing GPS devices and monitoring software can prevent unethical behavior and inspire employees to work at a higher level.
However, companies in Ireland can use GPS location in their offices, warehouses, factories and stores. These can be installed as apps on phones (either private models or those provided by the company) or come in the form of wearable technology (e.g. a wristband).
With GPS tracking, employers can monitor their employees during the day and evaluate their activities and habits. For example, an employee in an office can spend most of the day walking from one department to another, talking to colleagues, and distracting themselves and their colleagues. While on rare occasions this isn’t a major problem, if done regularly (or even daily) it can seriously affect productivity – and ultimately sales.
GPS devices give companies the ability to solve such problems with employees when necessary in order to reduce wasted time as quickly as possible. You can provide data that shows the time the employee was away from their desk, distracts others, and breaks down the impact on overall performance.
Again, the presence of GPS tracking technology can be enough to inspire and motivate employees to do their best.
The Potential Risks of GPS Tracking
A company has the right to implement tracking in some cases. As mentioned earlier, GPS technology offers a number of advantages – but it can be viewed as an invasion of privacy.
** The Irish Data Protection Commissioner states that any company that wants to incorporate GPS into their operations has a good reason to do so and can substantiate that claim **. It is also imperative that companies not use tracking technology to monitor employee activities outside of work, which is an invasion of privacy.
In some cases, companies may install a tracking app on their employees’ work or home phones. They need to show their employees how to disable the feature to prevent their personal activities from being monitored by their employer. You should also be assured of the security of the technology to allay concerns about unauthorized access to sensitive data by individuals.
In the past, Irish workers have resented being monitored by GPS tracking technology because they believed it was going too far and their privacy was being violated. This is a legitimate claim, especially in cases where workers have not been made aware of their employer’s surveillance. Workers may feel defensive about the proposal to be monitored, conclude that their employers do not trust them to perform well, and ultimately have a negative impact on morale.
This is why it is so important for any business to be transparent to employees if they intend to monitor them. They should fully disclose their reasons and how the data collected is used.
** A workforce that feels trustworthy, respected, and motivated will be far more productive than one that doesn’t **. It is in the interests of every company to take these issues seriously.
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