Cognizant Technology Solutions is reportedly rolling out new monitoring technologies to detect employee activities on company-issued laptops and PCs. According to reports in Mint and other publications, the company has begun training select executives on how to use workforce-tracking solutions like ProHance to monitor staff laptop activity and application usage on specific client projects.
The workforce management tool analyses mouse and keyboard activity to determine employee engagement levels. An employee can be flagged as ‘idle’ if there is no activity for more than 300 seconds (5 minutes). Meanwhile, if a laptop remains inactive for 15 minutes, the employee may be marked as ‘away from the system’.
Cognizant noted that the data was designed to help better understand the client’s process phases and related time metrics to analyse process design inefficiencies.
“We occasionally use various productivity measurement tools, a common industry practice, in select business process management or intuitive operations and automation projects, at the request of customers. The purpose is to help better understand the client process steps and related time metrics to assess process design inefficiencies,” a Cognizant spokesperson said, as quoted by the Mint.
“Also, the tools are used only after obtaining the consent of employees, and it is made clear that these are not used for performance evaluation. Additionally, these tools have no impact on the composition of teams engaged in these projects and any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect,” they further said.
ProHance dashboards give minute-by-minute updates of a typical workday, including the user’s login times, active applications, and task duration. The system compares work habits, breaks, and time allocation across activities to find bottlenecks and optimisation opportunities.
Other firms, like Wipro, are also reportedly using this tool, according to India Today.
A Cognizant spokesperson stated that its employee tracking on specific projects is a common industry practice, performed with employee consent, TOI reported.
The tools are used in select Business Process Management or Intuitive Operations & Automation projects at client request to help understand process steps and identify inefficiencies for transformation efforts. Employees are aware of the tracking and its purpose, and the data is not used for performance reviews.