Many employers want to use tracking as a type of control to see how their employees are behaving and where are they at the moment, especially if they are using the company devices or vehicles. However, that is a very debatable question whether it is okay to do that because it disrupts the privacy of the employees, but on the other hand, it proves to be very effective in some situations.
To manage every person who works in your firm can be a very hard job because you are responsible for every one of them and at the same time you have to be careful if they are procrastinating or just showing up and then disappearing having no work done, and still asking for more finances.
That has to be regulated well. If the company is working with any sort of transportation or it gives vehicles to the people who work there, it should be tracked to increase the safety of the firm and avoid abusing resources from the employees.
In this article, we will talk about using the GPS to track your employees, what are the benefits of it, and is it actually legal to do that.
Benefits of using it
There are many great things that using a tracker offers both for safety and improving the working flow of the firm. Many firms are using GPS with a recording device in the vehicle to increase the safety of both the driver and the finances of the company. What’s more, is that you can even use your employee’s phone as a GPS tracker which can reduce costs as suggested by find-my-phone.org.
For example, if the employee gets into an accident where they are not responsible for that, the video and signals of the place where that happens can be proof and he will not be charged for it. Even if something happens and they are responsible for that, the video will show where they have made a mistake and they can fix their habits to avoid problems like these in the future.
Another example of why it is great for companies to use this tracking plus recording method is if the vehicle that is owned by the firm is being driven by more people. So, if there is damage done to it, there can be proof and the person responsible for that will bear the consequences leaving the other people unharmed.
If there was a situation where clients are not satisfied with your work, and they have a complaint against one of your employees, the tracker can show if they went there to finish the job and how much time they stayed there, so you can protect the people working for you and in the same time see if they are not working properly so you find a solution to it quickly. When managing the finances in your firm, you will have to pay attention to every cost that you make to see if it is an essential one, or it can be avoided or at least reduced.
The tracking device can help you with that because it will show the distance that was passed by your workers and if that is matching up with the cost of gas. You can see every day how have they worked, or if they were using the vehicle for private purposes without informing you. That will help you to find out what was the cause, and you can prevent things like these from happening in the future with a nice conversation.
You can simplify the job of other people that are not related to the driving process. For example, the person working with your finances will have to see where all those money was spent, and they might require documents from the drivers of their report of the distance they have passed and gas that they have spent on.
Simplifying the job of many people using one device can be really helpful to let them focus on their job better and show better results. Since we have seen some of the benefits that using a tracker offers, now it is time to see if it is legal and if you should implement it in your firm.
Is tracking your employees approved by law?
There is no law that is forbidding using this device so far when it comes to supervise and track your employees. However, this is a really confusing thing because on one side we have no laws that are forbidding that, and on the other side we have a law that protects the privacy of the people.
There are a few laws that are implemented to have the people working in a firm protected from these devices. That basically is a law that does not allow people to be tracked or their location to be known if they don’t allow that.
However, firms who lend vehicles or firms that work in transport and distribution and have people working in a vehicle of the firm should inform the employees that they will be tracked and they have to confirm that they understand and that accept that. That way, the employers are protected and both them and the workers can use the benefits that this device offers. This law does not work on devices that are placed by the police because they do not need permission to do that.
What should the owners do?
To protect yourself from unwanted problems, when you invite people for a meeting when they are interested in the workplace you should state some of the things that they have to know. Other than discussing general conditions, you should explain to them that you will use a tracking device for the vehicle that they will drive and you should explain all the benefits that it offers.
You can also write that to a list and have them sign that they are accepting this method so you are completely protected. In addition, you should explain to them that there are consequences if they turn the device on because that disrupts the work. If they know the work, and they accept the tracking, they should get the job. If they are not accepting, they should look for another one.
