Work from Home My experience with CCTV
I share my experience in installing a CCTV in the office. 

I told my staff that there is a CCTV. They get used to it. 

The CCTV record the staff at the workplace during the working day. It turns off when the staff leaves the office after work. 

I am able to monitor my staff when I am outside of the office. I only do it occasionally, and only for a short while. 

The CCTV records the office and stores the images on a SD card. I keep the images for 7 days only. I am able to scroll quickly through the recording for any time slot during the past 7 days. 

I call this passive monitoring. As there is a video recording, I can view the movement for any time during the past 7 days. However, I never found the need to check the recording. 

The staff knows that there is a recording and that the boss can view it when the need arises. 

This imposes a discipline on the staff to be at the workplace, or have a reason to be away (e.g. to visit the washroom or go out for a meeting or for lunch).

In my opinion, a CCTV should be installed at the home, where the staff works from home. This monitoring should be restricted only to the work desk and not the rest of the house. 

It will ensure that the staff is at work, when he is supposed to be at work. If the staff needs to be away, there must be a good reason. If there is a need, the boss can check how long the staff is away from the work desk and if there is a valid reason to be away. The staff can report the time slots that he has to be away. 

If the staff is willing to have a CCTV at the work desk at home, the boss will be more willing to allow the staff to work from home. The boss can be assured that the productivity and discipline is similar to the staff being in the office.

Some staff can be trusted to work from home without monitoring. Some staff are valuable that the boss has to give them to flexibility and freedom to keep the staff motivated. 

The good staff are likely to agree to be monitored. They have nothing to hide.

However, this situation does not apply to most staff. They are inclined to take advantage of the flexibility. The productivity is likely to drop. 

If the staff is not willing to be monitored, the boss is likely to insist that they report to the office. The staff will not have the flexibility that they wish.

The monitoring by CCTV is not a perfect system. But it is better than no monitoring.  The staff can pretend to work and not do so. This can apply for work in the office or at home. It has to be supplemented by other monitoring, such as looking at the work that has been completed.

Tan Kin Lian
 

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