More than a third of Polish employees feel that their work activity is closely monitored. ADP’s latest study ‘People at work 2025‘ shows that only Switzerland is ahead of us in this respect in Europe. Although globally we are far from the level of scrutiny felt in India (64 per cent), the result of 36 per cent places Poland well above markets such as Japan and South Africa.
A detailed analysis of the data yields findings that may surprise IT and HR managers. Contrary to intuition, the feeling of being watched is not correlated exclusively with remote working and the use of activity monitoring software (so-called bossware). The percentage of employees declaring that they are being supervised is almost identical for those working from home (35 per cent) and those performing stationary duties (34 per cent). Paradoxically, the greatest freedom is declared by hybrid workers.
Moreover, this pressure increases with career level. Senior managers complain about control far more often (38 per cent) than professionals (26 per cent). This suggests that the problem lies not in the technology itself, but in the organisational culture. As the ADP experts note, it is not ‘digital Big Brother’ that is most troublesome, but pervasive micromanagement. Frequent status meetings, the need for constant reporting and a long list of addressees in company emails create an atmosphere of mistrust. For executives, this is compounded by pressure from investors and boards, which cascades down to the lower levels of the organisation.
The report also reveals important demographic differences that should be a wake-up call for Diversity & Inclusion departments. The feeling of being controlled is clearly stronger among ethnic minorities. Although in Poland this disparity (14 percentage points) is smaller than in Italy or Germany, it remains significant. There is also a noticeable correlation with age – the youngest employees (Gen Z and younger millenials) feel surveillance much more acutely than their older colleagues in the 55+ group, which may be due to a different definition of autonomy at work.
For business leaders, the lessons are clear: investing in productivity monitoring tools can be counterproductive if not accompanied by a culture of trust. In the modern working environment, it is becoming crucial to move away from process verification to assessing actual results.
