Cognizant to implement micro-tracking: Employees flagged ‘idle’ after 5 minutes of inactivity

Cognizant is reportedly rolling out new digital monitoring systems to track employee activity on company-issued laptops and desktops. As reported by Mint, a select group of staff are being introduced to workforce-management software such as ProHance, which records keyboard and mouse activity to measure productivity. The initiative, which began around a month ago, reflects a broader trend towards detailed activity tracking.

The system flags inactivity according to predetermined thresholds. Employees will be marked as “idle” if no keyboard or mouse input is detected for 300 seconds (five minutes). If a device remains inactive for 15 minutes, it is logged as “away from system” activity. The deployment of these monitoring tools will vary across different teams.

Data not used for performance reviews

While monitoring might raise concerns about its role in performance assessments, Cognizant has emphasised that the information will not be used for evaluations. Instead, the aim is to identify process inefficiencies.

A spokesperson told Mint, “We occasionally use various productivity measurement tools, a common industry practice, in select business process management or intuitive operations and automation projects, at the request of customers. The purpose is to help better understand the client process steps and related time metrics to assess process design inefficiencies.”

ProHance is not exclusive to Cognizant, with other companies, such as Wipro, reportedly using the tool to monitor employee activity.

Employee consent required, but training is mandatory

Cognizant maintains that monitoring through ProHance occurs only with employee consent. However, some executives noted that completing the ProHance training course, which includes accepting the tool’s usage, was compulsory. The course tracks multiple metrics such as productive hours, time spent on specific tasks, and application usage.

One employee told Mint, “We received a mandatory course, which includes a user acceptance. We had to click on ‘I agree’ in order to complete the course.”

According to the report, the enhanced tracking is intended to ensure employees complete their expected working hours while accounting for breaks. Both Cognizant and its clients aim to improve productivity, with micro-tracking providing a more detailed understanding of workflow.