I Gave My Employees Full Control Over Their Monitoring Data - Productivity Jumped 50%

After a few months of hiring, my employees' performance was not as productive as it used to be, even after using monitoring software!

First, I blamed their working system. Then I blamed the distractions.

And the root cause of it finally hit me! The issue wasn’t what we were tracking. It was who felt in control of that tracking!

Exactly at that time, I decided to do something completely unconventional. I gave every employee full access to their own monitoring data.

What happened next was unbelievable! Employees' productivity across all departments skyrocketed like never before!

How’s that possible? That's worth a read–

They Thought I Was Questioning Their Effort — I Was Just Trying to Help!!

The first thing I noticed their productivity was drowning, even after being mostly active. Thanks to employee monitoring software for helping me realize that sooner.

This is a great way to keep everyone on track. Employee productivity monitoring tools spot inefficiencies, balance workloads, and recognize hard work that often goes unnoticed!

But that’s not how my team saw it.

To them, it was a point of showing more active time, clicks, and idle time as real productivity. Instead of focusing on problem-solving, they spent hours tracking over the mousepad or using mouse jigglers just to keep that activity level closer to 100%!

Even communicating with colleagues felt like unproductivity to them!

Giving Access was a Huge Blast!

I still remember that Monday morning when I called everyone for a meeting!

They were all in a hurry to get back to their desk, thinking joining the meeting was cutting off their active hours!!

They were not hurrying because they had urgent tasks to do! They were hurrying because they didn't want their active time to drop!

They weren’t thinking about projects, ideas, or clients. They were thinking about metrics.

That’s when I realized something crucial. Productivity isn’t about how much time people spend working. It's about how free they feel to think. And right then, my team didn’t feel free at all.

But who knows, the real blast would come after I announced that I am handing over the access to their monitoring data!

They thought I was doubting their outstanding performance (performance they were calling their screen time activity)

But when I share that I want them to see what I see. I am not handing the access to them to judge, but to understand.

Everything changed!

Their Freedom Became Their Magical Wand!

After one month of giving access to each of them, I called another meeting.

This time, not to share results, but to listen. I wanted to know what they were thinking about their performance now that they could see everything for themselves.

One employee told me how shocked she was when she realized she’d been spending almost three hours every day just on emails.

Another employee shared how he noticed his most productive hours were always in the early morning but yet he used to fill that time with admin work.

“Once I saw that pattern, I switched things up,” he laughed. “Now I do my design work first thing and I finish in half the time.”

The Data that Turned the Table!

But was that so easy for my team that it brought that massive change?

Yeah, the real analysis and implementation of the employee monitoring helped them more than any professional training could!

How did they leverage the tool?

• They tracked their own focus time: Team members started to identify their most productive hours and schedule deep work during those times.
• They optimized their workflows: By reviewing activity trends, they spotted unnecessary task-switching and streamlined repetitive work.
• They started healthy productivity challenges: A few employees made a game of their own progress. They started to compete to reduce office distractions or increase focused task completion.
• They balanced workload better: Data transparency helped everyone see who was overburdened and who had room to assist, making collaboration smoother.
• They owned their growth: For the first time, they weren’t working under data — they were working with it. Confidence and creativity returned to the room.

Closing

If there’s one thing this experience taught me, it’s that trust outperforms tracking.

Every single time!!

When employees stop working to look busy and start working to make an impact, that’s when magic happens.

Trust me, the 50% productivity boost was just a number for me. The real win was seeing my team smile again, think freely again, and take pride in their own growth.

I started with monitoring. I ended with trust.

And that made all the difference.