If you want to introduce a vehicle tracking system at work, you need to proceed with care and attention. Do it wrong, and you will alienate your staff and cause a significant drop in employee engagement, which you will want to avoid at all times.
Employee Engagement
The first thing to remember is that engaged employees are happy employees and thereby more productive (and profitable) employees. In order to have engaged employees, you have to make sure that their voice is heard at every stage of the way and in any decision that influences their own working life.
Steps to Implement a Vehicle Tracking System
As soon as you start considering implementing a tracking system, you are likely to have to discuss your proposal with HR and senior management first. These could express a preliminary agreement, but their agreement should not be binding.
Once this has been done, it is time to consult with your employees. It is vital that you have a good plan and explanation in terms of why you want to have a tracking system installed. Some of the main benefits include:
- An increase in productivity, as it can be calculated whether certain agents are on the best routes
- A lowering in costs, as it can potentially lead to a reduction in petrol costs
- A clear audit trail demonstrating the efficiency of the organisation as a whole
You can expect there to be strong resistance in terms of people stating that installing these systems is an invasion of their privacy and a demonstration that you have no trust in your employees. These are the two main counter-arguments for the system, and they are incredibly valid ones. Hence, you have to address these before going any further.
The Privacy Issue
The privacy issue is best addresses by allowing employees to switch off their tracker as soon as they enter personal time. This requires and demonstrates trust from your side as well, as it means you know that whenever the machine is on, your employees are actually working. Furthermore, the benefits described above only exist during working time anyway.
The Trust Issue
The trust issue is hard to overcome, although the above step may already make things slightly better. This is where employee engagement comes in again, however. By involving your employees at every step of the process – assuming they are in agreement with you carrying on – they will have a greater understanding of the system and its benefits. Furthermore, it will show them that their opinion is valid, heard, listened to and taken into real consideration.
You cannot expect every single employee to agree to the proposal. It is always best to let a majority vote decide upon such issues. Indeed it will mean that some employees will not be happy with the outcome. However, they will have seen that their voice and opinion was just as valid as that of anybody else, and that they were simply in the minority. As a result, there shouldn’t be any bad blood within the company as a whole.
Sarah Rushton is a renowned author and expert in many things automotive related. Sarah frequently visits http://www.navmanwireless.co.uk/ to get the latest information on vehicle tracking.