For example, in the case of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) and Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS), empowering employees by letting them see real-time data for self-measurement seems like a good idea. I have done it with a maintenance application where technicians could see their progress on response time and escalation. The actual repair was a separate evaluation process that came later.
-
The idea is to write Key Performance Indicators which RTLS/RFID data can support.
- Make it easy for an employee to view their performance against those Key Performance Indicators.
- Insure the display/dashboard can reflect the results of the employee's personal efforts to improve their
performance.
- Supervision would be
required to use the same results as part of the appraisal process.
However, there is a serious downside as well... like using facial recognition to check if the employee is smiling. Someone’s probably thinking of how to detect a smile 99% of the time, then automatically send a text message or Mr. Grumpy animated gif when a smile is not detected. Remote monitoring for the Smile Police?
How
do you think RFID/RTLS technologies can be transcendent in customer service and
performance outcomes?
How would you do it?
How would you do it?
What
are the things that companies should absolutely avoid?
Please leave a comment. Thanks
Please leave a comment. Thanks
The smile police thought made me laugh at first, thinking it was a good idea. But, then I thought about the healthcare application, and as a nurse, can think of many times when it would be inappropriate to smile (example: when delivering tough news/information to a family).
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think there are many great applications/uses for RTLS, such as locating equipment and reporting on hand hygeine compliance. We just have to be careful to balance the useful applications with being too over-zealous and causing unintended consequences.
Has your perceptions of the benefits of hand hygiene or RTLS changed in the last year? Would you mind sharing how?
DeleteAmanda,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. Careful consideration is definitely in order. This blog post follows up on a comment made in "Covering Your Assets by Exposing the Butt-Ugly Truth." As we covered equipment with RTLS tags, a manager wanted to track nurses to see where they were. I gave the manager another recommendation.
I put the "Smile Police" in this blog post to help prompt a discussion. Please feel free to share the blog post. I would love to hear your colleagues' comments.
Regards
Al
Did management want to see where nurses were? Or locate them when needed? There's a big difference. We recommend that our clients refrain from using RTLS in a punitive way. Instead, the location of staff should be used as a time-saving measure and a way to automate nurse call cancellation and patient flow. It's about becoming more efficient, not about tracking. When used this way, we've heard from nursing over and over again, "We couldn't live without it!" While RTLS data can certainly be reviewed for process improvement (hand hygiene compliance, nurse rounding reports, etc.), as you mention, it should be done with an overall goal of improvement, not punishment.
ReplyDeleteJeanne,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. To answer your question, "Did management want to see where nurses were?" I can't reveal every point about my book. The situation and recommendation are written there. But, I will say the emphasis was on the "where"!
What do you think about the idea of pushing the information on efficiency to the individual staff, so they can measure themselves against their previous actions, the KPIs, or even against grouped peer data? Of course, other individuals identities are concealed.
Thanks for you comments.
Al
I think that's a great idea, as long as the data is presented in a positive manner. Our enterprise software includes a dashboard feature that displays group data (average call response time, for example), as well as detailed reports that can be automatically scheduled and e-mailed to individuals.
ReplyDeleteHi to all. For out of US applications, you have to take care of local legislation (just as an example: privacy and control @ distance in the work place).
ReplyDeleteFor example in the country where I'm working now, control@diastance is generally forbidden. You can have it in place after a consultation with unions. If unions aren't present in the company, in alternative you have to address the issue with a specific public office to obtain the authorization to operate it.
In more general terms, regarding the usefulness of the approach, I too see space for effective applications, subject a lot of common sense is put in place, balancing pro & cons.
Invasive behavioral control could be a lot demotivating for otherwise motivated work force (think about average climate in the call centers...)
Dom,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I would very much like to see more about the control @ distance policy. Are the guidelines accessible online in English?
Hi Hardy, I'm not sure to have an english doc.
ReplyDeleteSome more days and I'll adjust to share a synthesis, with main legal ref.
D.
Thanks dom
DeleteI think this is an age old problem- how closely should you monitor staff? Could this technology be used in other verticals and not just healthcare- for example looking at where police are? Or would it be a better use of time to look at how patients are doing?
ReplyDeleteUseful technology without a doubt, how has it been received so far? Is there a ward or focus that have shown most interest?
Charlotte Munday
Hello Charlotte, It has been over 1 year since your initial reply. Have you been presented any RFID/RTLS use cases? Are you more aware of the technology now?
DeleteI don't have experience in the healthcare industry but the questions below can be applied accross industries.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the goal, what is the company trying to achieve or improve?
Some areas to be careful with: Privacy issues, ADA (disabilities)or any regs that address protected groups, demotivation reactions, moral issues. It's important to have a real business need to implement a system like this and ensure that you communicate its purpose clearly, train supervisors properly so that they don't misuse the information, you may want to do pilot testing to assess the accuracy, effectiveness and behavioral results.
T. Milan
Idea is good but it is matter to see how much it is effective practically.
ReplyDeleteThe real use of technology is when you use if really in the correct and positive manner. It is a double edged blade with both positive and negative effects, based on its use.
ReplyDeleteWe have tried using this in our RCM and EHR system. One can easily have a real time information about what is actually going on in the provider's clinic. You can monitor and manage your employees, from where they access the system, what they do in the system, etc.
So, it all boils down to one thing: Proper use and implementation of technology will result in overall growht of the company; else, it will create one heck of a problem for the company from which it would be difficult for any company to get out without any negative impact.
Raj,
DeleteIt is over a year later since your initial reply. Some would consider the projected growth of RFID/RTLS astronomical. Do you see any of the possible negative impacts being addressed?
Raj,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input. I believe the "Proper Use" should be defined I did find instances where managers seemed focused on catching someone rather than improving the service.
Al
From Okanta, submitted by email
ReplyDelete"When trust is absent, it is probably a good idea to figure out why. Remote monitoring will not reveal the reason/s. I am very skeptical about remote surveillance of any kind but, it is ubiquitous. While I understand the pros and cons of the technology under discussion; I would be reluctant to employ it and, I would not like working in a place that used it.
In the only hospitals with which I have experience (Mass General & a few others for treatment; others as a visitor; Eisenhower Medical and the Isaak Walton Killam Hospital as an employee). from time to time, I have noticed that staff is not in sight. What is really distressing is finding a whole group of people who might be paying attention to patients, gathered together over coffee. Also very distressing from the patients’ point of view is overhearing what should be private conversations between nurses and doctors about who went where with whom the night before, while the patient is lying there immobilized, anesthetized and perfectly able to hear every sound but apparently just a piece of meat in the hands of the people working. If it is this sort of thing remote monitoring will record, it seems a waste of money because people can monitor themselves to prevent this. Burn-out is surely a factor in the variety of behavior and practice one sees in hospitals but remote monitoring cannot fix that either.
I once had the experience of working for some pleasant but unscrupulous employers who became paranoid about their employees stealing from them. A camera was installed above the registers so employees could be watched from inside the office, or tapes could be reviewed later. It was primarily a cash business but, the odd thing is that these employers subsequently ended up in jail for (three years each, I think) for, in essence, stealing - tax evasion, tax fraud and conspiracy (with a bank manager). It often seems as if people who are most worried about being stolen from are often not strictly honest themselves. Again, another trust and respect issue.
I am much more in favour of employers earning the trust and respect of their employees. Obviously in hospitals, sheer numbers are daunting, but as each new person comes on board in most places, they are given the policy manual or code of conduct to read and digest. In a cooperative and trusting environment, employees help each other out and employers don't feel the need to "catch anyone."
When all else fails and conditions are unsettling enough, either work to change that picture or, leave and go into business yourself. Personally, I do not want Big Brother hanging over my shoulder every moment of the working day but, the reality is that he is more often there than not."
Like anything else, they are tools. Sledgehammers are used to destroy things, mostly. For demolition in order to make way for a new structure, or to break down doors in order to rescue someone trapped inside the building. Perhaps they have limited use in industries like mining or quarrying in remote ares inaccessible to vehicles?
ReplyDeleteComputer chips are everywhere. They are tools, too. Whether good or bad depends on who's using them for what. The internet, social media, etc., all have both benefits as well as deletrious effects. Gaming can be a boon or a bane.
I guess a basic question when employing these tools could be "Am I using them for control or for everyone's benefit?" Mind you, a certain degree of control is of course required - think what would happen if your bodily functions decided to go autonomous? What's the intent?
Does the NSA data collection efforts increase your concerns?
DeleteHi Al,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the opportunity to comment.
What is the one thing a company should absolutely avoid?
Hiring the wrong people!
Best regards,
Ian Freeman
The issue, I think, lies in the intention. Obviously the companies intention is to spur people on to better performance, but we cannot do that by policing them. As you have stated, someone will eventually find a work-around.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, feeling "policed" is often demoralizing. It can feel as though I am not being trusted to motivate myself to do a good job. And if people feel undervalued, they will work down to the level of expectation. Many people will supply you with the minimum and not the maximum of their effort.
Someone gave the example of GPS monitors attached to nurses. My hospital does this. What was the intention? Is it to find people when you really need them, as in an emergency? Or, is it to monitor the movements of people as part of their employee feedback? Or, so that you can tell them that they were not where they were "supposed" to be while on the clock?
Whatever the reasoning, this must be clearly communicated to the employees.
Having Big Brother track what you do, what you say and where you are all the time is very demoralizing. Tracking devices and monitoring equipment makes neither customers nor employees happy and well liked only humans can make humans happy.
ReplyDeleteDevices are what they are - not happy gadgets or value added things.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete