Key features of employee monitoring software
07.08.2020
Back to blog listTo answer the controversial question why having to "babysit" employees monitoring their performance there is a simple answer: it enhances the employee workplace surveillance ensuring they are using best practices when it comes to work-performance and access to sensitive data. Moreover, monitoring software ensures that all employee activities are tracked, facilitating decision-making on staff-related issues.
There is no need to pretend you are working; everything you have managed to undertake during the day will be visible in a daily diagram.
Check out SearchInform Program Controller.
Employee monitoring gives companies an overall vision on work processes in and out of the office. The software reports which applications are used, the time spent on unproductive tasks and at what time of the day each employee is most productive.
Let’s get a vivid and extremely simplified example:
The typical working day length equals 8 hours — it is estimated a typical worker is wasting between 90 to 270 minutes. How much money does it cost you as an employer?
Suppose your employee in average is wasting two hours of paid working time every day. You are paying him suppose $10 per hour. Every week you will pay for this little “out-of-route” activity $100, which will result in - using the standard 261-workday calendar - $ 5,220 paid entertainment time per year. And that’s only for one person!
Boosts Productivity At The Office
Thanks to employee monitoring software, companies can monitor almost 100 percent of employee activity and communication, such as Internet and program usage, Internal and External mail, PC screen recording, video and audio surveillance.
Based on this info you are given a powerful tool to make legitimate decisions on appropriate salary, rates, product prices and staff-related policies.
One more advantage on this part is that you will get an accurate statistics about a specific employee, which will enable you to adjust your approach towards them objectively, for instance, employee X has gotten much less efficient in the past month, or employee Z has really accelerated his work rate lately.
Increases data security
As might be expected employee monitoring is not only about supervision, it is about data. Would it be necessary to mention that employee monitoring secures sensitive data from leakage?
Intellectual property and trade secret is something every company cares about. Precaution measures consist of simply employee monitoring software and the right decisions during setup and configuration.
Privacy issue
There is a silver lining of course, does monitoring employees correspond to human rights? An installation of such a system might make a particular employee indignant instilling a feeling of distrust, however, the law supports the employer:
—the employer has a legitimate stake in how employees spend their time, and people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they’re at work.
If the company owns the computers, they are legally allowed to monitor all activity on the device, including email when sent through the company’s Internet.
Stress level increase
Here a psychological factor comes into play. Some confess that being monitored was incredibly stressful. If you look at the situation from the employee’s perspective, knowing every second of their workday is somehow being tracked is definitely a reason for anxiety.
Types of Employee Monitoring
You can set up any channel of information being captured or you can set up all of them.
Internet Usage Monitoring
Monitors URLs and time spent on websites. By implementing this approach, you are to discover how the Internet is being used and see if there is any way to improve its usage by the team. You can make policies restricting potentially unproductive resources such as Facebook, Pinterest or E-shopping platforms, meantime, for example, enabling access to social media manager who obviously need them for working purposes.
Email Usage Monitoring
Email is widely used in many offices. Companies who supervise employee email mitigate the risk of information leakage.
Computer Programs Monitoring
Analogous to the Internet usage monitoring, this type of monitoring provides an employer with a detailed report on desktop application usage. The collected data highlights how much time is dedicated to productive work, when the computer was passive/active, and which applications are used more often than others are.
Keylogging Monitoring
Keylogging records the keys a user presses on the keyboard. It could be very helpful, however, some experts insist that by monitoring this a company violates workplace privacy. It is ill-famed for being used with malicious intent. Loggers collect and store passwords, bank account information, private messages, credit card numbers, PIN numbers, and usernames. In case this sensitive information is in wrong hands, you are likely to be subject to a court trial.
Any violations of a company’s policies that otherwise may have gone unnoticed or unreported will automatically warn the management.
What are my goals?
Having said a lot about employee monitoring system it would be useful to take another run on objectives you as a supervisor might keep in mind.
Think about the goals for your business.
Do they evolve around cutting expenses, improving customer service, becoming more efficient by being better at micromanaging or you simply are willing to implement a legal protection to (of) the sensitive data you possess.
Considering the above-discussed we have all rights to state that the challenging issue about monitoring software is how to introduce your employees to the system.
As we have already mentioned employee monitoring comes with sheer amount of indignation on a part of a team. Let us be frank: change is hard, and it is even harder when you are trying to convince employees to voluntarily be monitored. As a matter of fact, you can convert this attitude into an enthusiastic one. We suggest you begin by stating benefits employees will get among which you could mention that they will never be under-paid again, they will also get insights into their own work patterns, which will make them more competitive and productive. Emphasize that an implementation of such software will pull away the necessity of making monotonous reports on a daily and weekly basis. Moreover, employees will have an extra motivation: knowing you get paid for minutes worked, not just minutes at work, is a great incentive to stop procrastinating.
Check out SearchInform Program Controller.
Legality
Still and all, employee monitoring software always gives rise to legal issues. In case you choose to deploy an employee monitoring software, you are to check the compliance with local laws. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it will help you avoid legal issues and allow your employees to get maximum benefit from the system. For instance if we take a look at the USA experience, the federal government has no restrictions on employee Internet monitoring, but some states have put protections in place.
To cut a long story short we hope you are as excited about employee monitoring system as we are.
This software
• helps to boost the level of employee productivity,
• spurs competitiveness,
• saves money,
• protects sensitive data
• helps to make objective decisions on staff
