Hearts & Minds: Nothing says ‘we trust you’ like a traffic light over your desk

Presumably, it seemed like a good idea at the time: to install a smart dashboard that allows bosses to track pass swipes and Wi-Fi connections. But the decision by one of the big professional service firms to enhance its monitoring of office attendance with a ‘traffic light’ system has made headlines for the wrong reasons. Staff showed up as ‘amber’ if their attendance record dips below 60 per cent and ‘red’ if they failed to turn up less than 40 per cent of the time. Likewise, their laptops were checked to see if they were working at client sites on the days they claimed. All sound managerial use of data, intended to improve efficiency, productivity and compliance. Except the firm finds itself accused of adopting ‘Big Brother’ tactics, engaging in surveillance and snooping. Staff have complained the policy has broken the firm’s commitment to ‘trust’ and ‘empower’ them.

If only they had thought where this would likely go, how it most likely would be perceived. We’ve been here before. A Sunday newspaper executive pinned up a wall chart awarding ‘stars’ to reporters based on where their stories appeared that week. ‘Gold’ was the front page, ‘silver’ was an inside page lead, ‘bronze’ was down page. Fine, except that it led to journalists grabbing a share of bylines and claiming a joint star and the night editor, who revised the pages after the first editions of the other papers had landed, supplementing, downgrading or scrapping stories completely and replacing them with new ones, with his name at the top. Cue a toxic atmosphere, bad tempers, rows and of course, leaks to rivals who revelled in the chaos.  

A former colleague has posted how a bank COO introduced a scheme similar to the one making headlines today. Again, cards were checked to see who was entering the building and when they left. Corporate affairs were the worst offender, until it was explained that they included the events team who were out… organising events.

This new development may have obvious commercial benefits but has the hidden reputational risk been weighed up, for if, when, it gets out? If it’s still to happen, then it must be accompanied with a proper explanation. Transparency and framing matter. Tell people what data you are collecting, why and how it will help them as well as the business. Otherwise, your bright, shining dashboard will flash ‘red’ and become the story, not the work it was meant to support and encourage.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.