The Rise of Employee Health Tracking
Corporate surveillance is becoming increasingly common with the wide-spread availability of health tracking devices. However, there’s a thin line between improving the overall output of workers and the violation of privacy.
In fact, 50% of 239 corporations that took part in a recent survey were already monitoring the content of employee emails and social media accounts prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this Pacific Prime UK article, we will explore what employee health tracking is all about, and how you can ethically monitor workers in your company.
What is Employee Health Tracking?
Health tracking devices are popular among fitness nerds and employers alike for many reasons. Most important of all, these small devices are able to record a stunning array of data, ranging from your respiration rate, skin temperature, blood pressure, and all the way to your posture, and even electrocardiogram (ECG) for measuring contractions in the heart wall.
A few corporate health tracking programs are even able to transmit data directly from an employee’s phone app to both the employee and employer.
Advantages of Employee Health Tracking
What makes employee health tracking so attractive to employers? The main appeal is the fewer sick days in staff and an increase in cost savings. Here is a list of what you can do with it:
- Track employees remotely and globally
- Optimize performance in workers
- Keep more workers healthy during flu seasons by detecting early signs of infection
- Develop personalized wellbeing strategies for their employees (e.g. remind workers to take care when there is variability in their heart-rate)
- Reduce the risk of developing lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes
Disadvantages of Employee Health Tracking
Of course, a major concern on employee monitoring is what the employers are going to do with their health data and how to keep these data safe. Below is a list of disadvantages including but not limited to:
- Ethical and privacy issues
- Excess control over employees’ lives the more employers know about their off-hours
- Possible revolt from workers
- Denied promotion opportunities or being made redundant by having certain health conditions
- Induced stress, anxiety, and burnout in employees
- Workers being forced to adopt healthy lifestyles to keep their jobs
- Objectification of employees
- The pressure to conform and use a wearable device or be seen as non-cooperative
Keep in mind: Europe’s GDPR (data protection law) also offers employees some level of protection, namely, any employer tempted to sell or misuse data could face paying substantial fines.
What Can Be Done to Make Sure Lines Aren’t Crossed in Employee Monitoring?
To walk the tight rope between improving productivity and privacy intrusion, there are several key points to consider.
Third-party Vendors
First, corporations can partner up with third-party vendors who specialize in managing wellbeing data. These vendors hold your employees’ data independently and under iron-clad privacy rules.
In other words, they make sure employers like you never see individual employees’ health-related information. Instead, you’ll only have access to a population-level view of the overall workforce and the types of wellness interventions your company is using.
Five Practical Tips for Employee Health Tracking
Planning to manage employee data without a third-party vendor? Here are 5 recommendations to follow:
1. Involve All Relevant Stakeholders in Choosing Your Metrics.
Make sure what you’re tracking is relevant and necessary. After all, it is incredibly easy to draw false conclusions from a vast amount of data. For instance, the number of emails written or read by an employee is not an accurate indicator of employee productivity. In fact, this has little to do with productivity at all.
To select the right metrics, involve staff at different levels. That is to say, from hiring managers, supervisors, and even to those being monitored, new and old employees alike.
2. Be Transparent about What You’re Monitoring and Why.
By being honest about what you’re monitoring, you show respect towards your employees and garner trust. This facilitates open communication and you can even receive feedback in return.
Most importantly, set up a system through which workers can appeal to your business’ data decisions. This has been shown to increase the acceptance rate of monitoring in employees.
3. Think of It as a Way to Help Employees Be More Productive.
Avoid seeing monitoring as a form of workplace oppression. Instead, think about what to reward your employees to motivate and boost the relevant numbers, so the negatives and inefficiencies aren’t the only points you focus on.
4. Even Good Workers Cannot Do Very Good Work All the Time.
Understand that even talented, hard-working employees may get stretched thin now and then for a variety of possible reasons. Talk with your staff and focus on establishing creative solutions, not threats. Also, ensure that people of colour are not disproportionately monitored in your organization.
5. Decrease Monitoring When and Where You Can.
You may have given in to the impulse to monitor because of the work from home (WFH) situation that was necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, do look to pull back on your monitoring when things are going well, and your staff are working the way they would on-site.
First, this communicates trust to your employees. Second, it also helps with most employers’ tendency to acquire more control than necessary.
Remember, at the end of the day, your employees are your most valuable assets. Avoid the pitfall of only looking at numbers and basing your hiring and firing decisions on data.
Contact Pacific Prime UK for Corporate Health Insurance
The best decision you can make for your company is to secure corporate health insurance from an established insurance broker like Pacific Prime UK. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, our insurance advisors are more than happy to provide expert consultation and tailored insurance solutions.
Visit our corporate site now for more information! Wish to chat with us? Contact our team of employee benefits experts today!
Serena earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, Canada. As such, she is an avid advocate of mental health and is fascinated by all things psychology (especially if it’s cognitive psychology!).
Her previous work experience includes teaching toddlers to read, writing for a travel/wellness online magazine, and then a business news blog. These combined experiences give her the skills and insights she needs to explain complex ideas in a succinct way. Being the daughter of an immigrant and a traveler herself, she is passionate about educating expats and digital nomads on travel and international health insurance.
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