New technology is changing the way companies track and manage employee performance. In particular, digital monitoring is growing in popularity, resulting in big payoffs for employers. According to The New York Times, companies that are digitally tracking performance are learning about how their employees work together and how to spot the most productive workers.

Digital monitoring is just one of the ways analytics is changing the workplace. Many employers are using physiolytics to translate data from wearable devices into feedback on performance in real-time.

According to this article from The Harvard Business Review:

At a distribution center in Ireland, Tesco workers move among 87 aisles of three-story shelves. Many wear armbands that track the goods they’re gathering, freeing up time they would otherwise spend marking clipboards. A band also allots tasks to the wearer, forecasts his completion time, and quantifies his precise movements among the facility’s 9.6 miles of shelving and 111 loading bays. A 2.8-inch display provides analytical feedback, verifying the correct fulfillment of an order, for instance, or nudging a worker whose order is short.

Privacy is still a concern, as employees may not be comfortable with providing their managers with so much personal data. To make this work, companies must adopt strict privacy policies and maintain transparency throughout the process. Leaving those concerns unaddressed may cause employees—including top talent—to leave their jobs.  But with the right procedures in place, monitoring employee performance could lead to big business benefits.