Employee surveillance is on the rise, with companies increasingly turning to monitoring software to keep track of their workforce. In fact, searches for staff monitoring software increased by 75% in March 2020 compared to the previous year. This trend has continued throughout 2021 and 2022, driven in large part by the shift to hybrid work during the pandemic.
Key Takeaway
Employee surveillance is a growing trend, with companies using monitoring software to keep track of their workforce. Erudit, a startup that uses AI algorithms to track workforce stats, has raised
0 million in funding. While there are concerns about privacy and fairness, Erudit believes it can provide valuable insights to support data-driven decision-making.
Amidst this growing demand, startups in the work monitoring software sector have found significant success. Today, Erudit, a company that utilizes AI algorithms to track workforce statistics such as turnover risk and burnout rate, announced that it raised $10 million in a Series A funding round. The funding was led by Conexo Ventures, Athos Capital, Ignia Partners, True Blue Partners, and Fondo Bolsa Social.
Monitoring Employee Productivity
Erudit, like many other workplace surveillance platforms, integrates with popular apps used by companies such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. By collecting and analyzing data from these apps, Erudit’s AI algorithms generate scores on various metrics including “alignment,” “autonomy,” “engagement,” and “satisfaction.”
The co-founder of Erudit, Alejandro Agenjo, emphasizes the importance of data-driven decision-making, stating that companies often lack access to real-time data that can significantly impact employee productivity. Erudit aims to fill this gap by providing insights without disrupting workflow or relying on traditional data collection methods like surveys.
However, concerns have been raised about the potential for mistakes and misinterpretations, as well as biases inherent in AI algorithms. While Erudit claims to use AI models trained by psychologists to extract and classify the sentiment of chat messages among employees, questions remain about the accuracy and fairness of such models.
Privacy Concerns and Fairness
Privacy is another significant concern when it comes to workplace surveillance. A survey conducted by ExpressVPN found that a majority of employees feel stress and anxiety about their employer monitoring their communications, viewing it as a violation of trust. To address these concerns, Erudit allows customers to exclude individual employees, teams, or departments from being monitored. However, the decision ultimately rests with the administrator.
There are also concerns about how AI models might discriminate against people from different backgrounds and cultures who express themselves differently through text. AI models have been known to flag posts about individuals with disabilities as more negative or toxic, highlighting the potential for biased outcomes.
Implications and Future Growth
Even if Erudit’s technology performs as intended, there is still the question of how managers will act on the data provided by the platform. There are concerns about potential unjust punishments or biases against teams that are perceived as insufficiently “engaged” or “aligned.” Erudit has addressed some of these criticisms in a blog post, arguing that its platform is a tool that can be used for both good and bad purposes.
Nevertheless, Erudit has already secured “dozens” of businesses as customers and plans to expand its team in the coming months. With the increasing focus on data-driven decision-making and business intelligence, Erudit believes it is at the forefront of this movement.
