The illusion of productivity: why monitoring employees is a step backwards

In an era of digital surveillance, employees resort to performative tactics like "mouse shuffling." True productivity thrives on trust, communication, and effective people management—not monitoring, writes Moira Dunne

Have you heard of the ‘mouse shuffle’ or coffee badging’ or ‘productivity theatre’ yet? These terms refer to tactics used by employees to show that they are working hard. Why? Because they work in companies where surveillance tools are used to monitor performance. Where working visibility is valued more than actual productivity.

Monitoring our employees

A recent Forbes survey found that 43 percent of American employees say their online activity is being monitored in 2024.

What are we doing? Why are we monitoring people and using surveillance tools? Where did it all go wrong?

As a Productivity Consultant passionate about helping businesses improve by achieving productivity through employee motivation, engagement and empowerment, reading about performative tactics, surveillance and mistrust sadden me greatly.

When and, perhaps more importantly, why did employers revert to such old-school thinking –  that being seen equals working hard?

Of course, the shift to remote working since the pandemic has changed how we work, but matching that with intelligent thinking and planning will help us understand the implications of that change.

Leaders should consider adopting an ‘old-school’ strategy to boost productivity – good old-fashioned people management! This involves communication, building one-to-one relationships, providing clear goals and direction, setting weekly targets, empowering people, and providing constructive feedback and training.

Productivity tools

Managers and team leaders have a key role in enabling productivity. Many of the barriers can be reduced or removed by good communication, clarity and allowing people to protect time for their priority work.

Empowering employees is key to their productivity and well-being, and by providing tools to aid their productivity, you show your team that you’re all in this together, trusting them to achieve the organisation’s goals.

Here are five ways to help employees feel empowered and productive:

1. Reduce meetings and improve decisions, actions and follow-up;
2. Put a smart email practice in place so less time is spent on email each day;
3. Agree on team and individual priorities and plans every week;
4. Identify distractions within the team (such as other departments taking resources, etc) and work to reduce them; and
5. Minimise time spent on low-value activities.

You need to work with your team to identify any productivity barriers and stress factors.

Good people management

We don’t need heavy-handed monitoring tools to manage our employees. We need human connection, leadership and to learn to trust our employees when they aren’t in our immediate eyeline.

In his Forbes article about mouse shuffling, organisational consultant David Campbell stresses that only when companies start trusting employees more and focus on the work they produce—not on how much they seem to be working—will trends like the ‘mouse shuffle’ fade away.

He predicts that better work-life balance and happier employees would be the result.

“Businesses should measure success by results, not by how much time someone seems to be working,” Campbell advises. “They should trust employees to manage their time and focus on achieving their goals, rather than simply being online all the time.”

Moira Dunne is Founder of beproductive.ie