HealthMet and Workplace Surveillance

This case study presents the dilemma of a vice president of human resources at a health data processing company who must decide how to implement the results of digital productivity monitoring software that tracked employees’ work activity via, among other things, keystroke tracking, monitoring websites visited, and checking email content. The data tracked through the software produced an overall employee productivity score meant to assess who was doing what and when and helped identify employees who had generally been inactive and unproductive. This software was controversial within the company. Many employees called it intrusive and dystopian. Other employees were positive about the software’s use, claiming that it helped them be more productive and focused, and that it rewarded good workplace behavior. The decision the vice president now faces is how to adjust the salaries of all employees based on the productivity detected by the monitoring system in the face of internal polarization about the software. Should the vice president boost the salaries of those with the greatest productivity and decrease the salaries of those with low output?