Announce monitoring and the same five questions appear, in the same order, almost every time. Having the answer written in advance — in the exact wording you will use in the room — removes about half of the conflict before it starts.
1. "Are you watching me?"
The answer that holds: "We record working time and which applications are used. We do not record what you type — we count keystrokes, never content."
Do not answer only "this is not surveillance". If you skip what is recorded, people fill the gap with the worst case. Name the fields.
2. "Does this affect my review?"
The honest answer depends on the policy — and that policy has to exist before installation, not after. If the data will appear in a performance conversation, say so. If it will not, write that down too: "this data is not used for sanctions; it is used to find process problems."
The failure mode is leaving it ambiguous and letting people assume the worst.
3. "Can I see my own data?"
Yes — and there should be a one-page procedure for asking, sitting next to the one for correcting an error. Refusing is the step that turns a management tool into a legal problem.
4. "What about outside working hours?"
"Activity outside your working hours is not recorded." And that has to be true in the configuration, not just in the presentation. Somebody will check.
5. "What if I use my own laptop or phone?"
The phone is out of scope. With BYOD, only work applications are covered — and you say which ones.
The worst possible answer
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."
It sounds like a defence and is heard as a threat. It also concedes the frame: that the purpose is suspicion. Change the frame instead — the system exists to answer a specific question: shifts that do not add up, overtime nobody approved, files leaving the company. Name the problem, not the suspicion.
One sentence that buys more trust than any policy
"If in three months we have not made a single decision with this data, we turn it off."
Almost nobody says it, which is why it works.
Before the announcement
- Write the five answers down, in the language people actually speak at work
- Decide, in writing, what the data will never be used for
- Name who can see raw data versus the monthly report
- Have the correction procedure ready before someone needs it
The announcement is a one-hour event. These five answers are what people repeat to each other for the next two years.
The nine-language versions of this piece are at imonitor-eam-guides.surge.sh — same structure, written for the local market rather than translated. iMonitor EAM is licensed per seat, on your own server.
General information, not legal advice.
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