Cognizant begins to monitor employees' laptop and web activity; says 'not tracking' them

Cognizant has recently introduced training for select executives on 'ProHance' which is a software that provides minute by minute visibility into employees systems.

As per ProHance's website, it shows the time of login and log out and time on and away from system. The tool monitors how long the employees stay active on their systems, and what applications and websites they visit.

If there is no activity on the system for five minutes, it will be marked as "idle", and if it is inactive for fifteen minutes, it will be marked as "away from system".

As per a report by The Times Of India, the tool records mouse and keyboard activities of the employees, however, Cognizant has made it clear that they are not "tracking" the employees or will not "evaluate" their performance.

In a statement, Cognizant clarified that this is a productivity measurement tool, which is a common industry practice, and is used to "understand client process steps".

"We occasionally use various productivity measurement tools, a common industry practice, in select Business Process Management or Intuitive Operations and Automation projects, as the request of customers," the publication reported.

"The purpose of these tools is to help better understand the client process steps and related time metrics to assess process design inefficiencies as part of the process transformation efforts," the statement further read.

It also mentioned that the tool is used only after getting the consent of the employees and is not used to evaluate the performance of the employees.