Employee Performance Monitoring at Tumgo: Good or Bad Idea?

Tumgo, a leading energy drink maker, was facing a challenge in managing its sales force and distributing its drinks to customers and retailers spread throughout the nation. As the company's sales force continued to grow, it needed a better way to manage its distribution network and the growing number of remote employees. Faced with this challenge, Tumgo's vice president of sales decided to implement XoraStreetsmart (Xora), an employee performance monitoring system (EPM) that uses mobile phones GPS to track employees' locations.

Xora allows dispatchers to see the exact location of remote employees on a map and uses mobile forms to gather data from the field, such as how fast employees are driving at any given point of time to assist and automate dispatch decisions. iv. By doing so, Xora enables companies to improve dispatch decisions, reduce fuel consumption and over-time, and increase the productivity and efficiency of the fleet. The system also allows the employer to know exactly when employees sign in using mobile apps rather than paper time sheets and their location (e.g., whether someone signs in from home." Finally, information from the system is integrated with payroll software, simplifying the payment process and saving administrative time, thus allowing for more accurate billing. Overall, the system increases efficiency by saving time, saving fuel, and providing faster customer service. In order to function as efficientlv as possible, Xora needs to collect information via its GPS technology 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

By implementing Xora, Tumgo will be able to track how many miles per hour covered by its sales force, how many stops they made each day, and how long they spent at each stop. This will also enable the company to improve customer service by making sure every store is visited regularly. To implement Xora, Tumgo required all employees to download the application onto their mobile devices, and to ensure the efficiency of the software, keep the application activated 24 hours a day.

Steps:

As you develop arguments against or for Xora, consider the following issues:

• Usefulness in achieving the company's goals (Is the data being collected useful and accurate? Is the information being collected related to the position in question?)
• Effectiveness in delivering goals (Will the EPM provide data on issues that are specific, meaningful, and under the control of the employees?)
• Employee reactions to the system (e.g., perceptions of fairness, job satisfaction/ morale, commitment, stress, and employee well-being)
• Effect of system on employee performance (effects on counterproductive workplace behavior such as absenteeism or tardiness, productivity changes)
• Acceptability of the system
• Legal and ethical issues

Privacy concerns

Implementation of the system