The Pros and Cons of Employee Monitoring

Employee monitoring is a polarizing concept for many of us. If you choose to implement it, you run the risk of damaging employee morale and alienating your team. If you don’t, it can be difficult to ensure hybrid and remote teams are actively working.  

With employee monitoring software, managers can gauge how each team member spends their time at work with real-time insights on keyboard and mouse activity, website and app usage, and breaks. Some tools even offer screenshots for desktop users and location tracking for field teams. 

Since the shift to remote and hybrid work, more companies have adopted these tools, but not always without pushback.

When done right, monitoring can give teams accountability and a fair way to measure productivity. But when done poorly, it can damage trust and create tension.

This guide breaks down the pros and cons so you can decide what makes sense for your team and avoid the pitfalls that turn monitoring from helpful to harmful.

Employee monitoring can benefit both employees and employers. Managers can use employee monitoring software to:

• Understand workflows

• Spot burnout

• Enable teams with the right tools

• Improve productivity

• Increase their bottom line

Good monitoring practices help instill teamwork, motivate employees to perform at their best, and identify employees primed for advancement. Now, let’s dive a little deeper.

Benefits for employees

Clearer expectations and role clarity

Monitoring tools can take the guesswork out of what’s expected. When employees see how their time and output connect to company goals, it’s easier to prioritize and deliver.

For example, time tracking can show whether someone is overloaded or underutilized. This time data helps managers set fair workloads.

Recognition and advancement opportunities

Great work often happens quietly. Monitoring highlights contributions that might otherwise go unnoticed, giving managers evidence to recognize effort in real time.

Plus, employees' access to their own data can help them justify promotions, raises, or leadership opportunities.

Team alignment and accountability

When everyone’s progress is visible, collaboration improves. Teams can spot when someone’s stuck, redistribute tasks, and avoid bottlenecks. This transparency builds trust within teams — as long as the data is used to support, not punish.

Higher engagement and retention

When employees feel seen and rewarded, they’re more motivated to stay. Monitoring that celebrates progress instead of shortcomings is conducive to a healthier culture prioritizing employee well-being, career advancement, and retention.

Benefits for the company

Visibility into processes and bottlenecks

Activity reports give managers a clear view of how projects are going. Instead of guessing, they can pinpoint where delays happen and fix processes before they become a bigger problem.

Informed decision-making with real-time data

Dashboards and reports enable leaders to track trends in employee productivity, project costs, or resource use. This allows data-driven decisions about hiring, budgeting, and project planning.

Improved productivity and cost efficiency

A clearer picture of workflows often translates into more output with fewer wasted hours. Those reclaimed hours can be reinvested into other projects so the company can move faster without increasing headcount.

Security and compliance safeguards

Tools like Hubstaff time tracking platform with built-in productivity monitoring can also help flag risky behavior, unusual activity, or potential data leaks. When used responsibly, monitoring supports compliance and protects company assets without sacrificing employee privacy.

While employee monitoring tools can keep teams informed and productive, they can also invite a whole new slate of problems if used incorrectly. Let’s take a look at some downsides of monitoring so you can anticipate and prevent them before they wreak havoc on your business. 

Risk of damaging employee trust

For many employees, even the mere use of employee monitoring tools can create feelings of suspicion and distrust. Monitoring tools are not meant to be a punishment, but they can feel that way if you present them incorrectly. Make sure to get buy-in from employees to ensure implementation goes smoothly. Providing reasons for why and how you plan to track and welcoming feedback early and often is crucial for a healthy monitoring process and sustained success. 

Potential for micromanagement

Monitoring software is meant to be a guide — not a replacement for good management and soft skills. There is a nuance to features like activity and achievement badges, which are intended to provide a high-level overview of employee performance and help indicate when to check in. The idea is to use these features as a gauge. To differentiate between top performers burning out and team members trying to beat the system, you’ll still need to do the extra work to schedule one-on-ones, check-ins, and other means of communication. Monitoring features aren’t meant for employers to constantly observe users’ every move. Using tools like Hubstaff to micromanage can damage trust and lead to turnover, costing businesses considerably. 

Legal and ethical grey areas

The legality of employee monitoring can also be a challenge. It’s crucial to stay abreast of your region’s laws surrounding monitoring. Laws like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) or GDPR spell out some employee privacy standards around monitoring. However, you’ll also need to look to regional or state-specific laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Misuse of data or misleading metrics

Good management is about looking beyond the metrics. For example, the activity levels of a content marketer might be much higher than those of a salesperson who spends considerable time idling while on calls or meetings. Employers need to emphasize tangible outputs, not just raw performance data. It’s also important to empower employees by demonstrating how data will (and won’t) be used to gauge performance — and areas where it can help them in their career development. 

Lower morale and higher turnover

If employee monitoring solutions are used to incite fear, don’t be surprised if you start to see low employee morale and increased turnover. Employees who feel distrusted tend to be less engaged and more likely to move on. 

Fortunately, this correlation works both ways. By reframing employee monitoring apps as support tools (not surveillance tactics), you can better incentivize employees to buy in. The increased trust that results can help you build lasting relationships with employees. 

The difference between monitoring that builds trust and monitoring that damages it usually comes down to two things:

• Transparency

• The tools you choose

A clear policy (paired with software that respects employees’ privacy while providing useful insights) can set your team up for success.

For instance, many teams share monitoring data with employees so they can track their own progress and workload. Others configure settings to balance accountability with autonomy (e.g., using activity metrics for project visibility but keeping screenshots optional).

Practices like these show that monitoring is meant to support people, not spy on them. Tools like Hubstaff make this balance easier with increased flexibility from custom permissions. 

Real-time dashboards let managers and employees see how work is progressing. Flexible settings (such as optional screenshots and app and URL tracking) allow companies to configure monitoring to fit their culture instead of forcing a one-size-fits-all approach.

When transparency is built in from the start, monitoring shifts from being a source of tension to a way for teams to work more efficiently and confidently.