Do I need to control staff time

At a time when companies are trying to optimize their costs as much as possible, employees are faced with increased control and accounting for their work time. However, control is not equally effective for all employees.

According to various sources, from 10% to 30% of working time, staff spends unproductive. The main devourer of time is, of course, the Internet, which employees use for personal purposes. From one to three hours a day it takes to communicate on social networks, download e-books, online purchases and more. So whether control of working hours of employees is necessary and how effective will it be?
The need for control

“It is important to define the concept of“ control. ” With the proper organization of business processes, issues of planning / reporting, building communications, etc. the concept of control is organically integrated into the company’s activities, even if the concept of “control” doesn’t even sound at all, ”says Olga Shtil, leading recruiting consultant at Brain Source International.

Another issue, she added, is that sometimes control refers to the organization of surveillance of employees. For example, when electronic messages, calls are monitored. This is a negative practice that strengthens mistrust in the team and may lead to a serious internal crisis.

It is possible and necessary to control working hours, but you should approach this process with a clear understanding of why this is done, for which categories of employees and for which posts.

“The approach to control the presence of employees in the office from 9 to 6 is already losing its relevance. More and more companies are building schedules based on the wishes of employees. People are not robots, and everyone has different cycles of mental or biological activity. When working from 9 to 6, people begin to “lose their horizon”, especially where you need to be creative and think with your head, ”said Irina Klinitskaya, HR Director of the international Internet commerce center Allbiz

In her opinion, control should concern the fulfillment of tasks. A disciplinary framework is needed, but it must be flexible.

“When we tightly control an employee, we reduce his effectiveness with our own hands,” the expert says.
Who needs checks?

Experts advise not to establish total control for all employees, without exception. Creative people, for example, can work with a shifted schedule - some can work more productively in the morning, and others in the evening. And with managers, meetings with clients can be scheduled until late in the evening. Another thing is the secretaries, accountants, production workers, in whose work punctuality is important, because they participate in a single production chain.

“A lot depends on the scope of the enterprise. A completely different approach can be in the bank and in the advertising agency. It is clear that the bank has a lot of mandatory procedures, the failure of which clearly and on time threatens the effective functioning of the bank. For an advertising agency, effective work consists in high-quality creativity, a novelty of the approach and idea, and not in strict adherence to policies, standards and procedures, respectively, total control for creative people will not be an effective tool for their productive work, ”Olga Shtil noted.

At the same time, Irina Klinitskaya believes that control is needed, especially intermediate. You need to understand and constantly monitor what the employee is doing. But this does not mean that a person should be pulled every hour and control all his actions. Monitoring at an early stage helps to identify a problem with understanding the task and to help solve it.

“We need to work in tandem with an employee. Figuratively speaking, an employee is like a houseplant - he will wither if not watered. That is, if you do not pay attention to him, then he may lose motivation. A manager spends 80% of his time supporting subordinates, ”she says.
The impact of the crisis

Naturally, employers are interested in increasing the productivity of employees, because this affects the company's profits. If they spend their resources on staff, then in return they want to receive quality work on time. But work efficiency does not just depend on control, it depends on correctly assigned tasks.

“In our company, control was strengthened only by tasks. During the crisis, we evaluated who is doing what, removed all possible duplication of functions, and analyzed the tasks performed. We have no employees who are not 100% involved. Yes, the number of tasks has increased, but everyone understands today's economic realities. There are no more vacancies in the market and people are competing for a position in a good company. We need to learn how to adapt to new conditions, ”said Irina Klinitskaya.

It is worth noting that control in the company depends on many factors.

“For example, the identity of the head / owner of a business has an important influence. Often people from the security forces, the military, and former security officers transfer their experience to business.