What is Employee Monitoring? A Detailed Guide to Best Employee Monitoring Practices and Tools for 2024

In this article, we are going to present you a comprehensive guide into the realm of employee monitoring. You’ll learn about employee monitoring software, its benefits for company success, some potential pitfalls, and common mistakes. We’re also going to discuss our top 5 picks for employee monitoring tools to choose from in  2024.

With remote work being steadily on the rise, managers try to maintain productivity levels while companies continue to navigate the new frameworks. With this shift, our need for monitoring employee activity during working hours skyrocketed. What’s more, the way employees spend their time at work can have a direct impact on business performance, profitability, and office morale.

The practice of employee monitoring is increasingly popular among businesses of all sizes, since it provides employers with a comprehensive overview of employee activity, helping them make informed decisions about team performance, productivity, and workload distribution. Monitoring employee computer activity is crucial to ensuring effective time management and maintaining a professional and safe work environment.

Organizations that struggle with keeping tabs on attendance and productivity of their employees can really benefit from investing in good-quality employee monitoring software.

In today’s article, we’ll explore the concept of employee monitoring, from its benefits and potential pitfalls to the legal and ethical side of the question. We’ll also give you advice on how to choose an employee monitoring solution and highlight some of the most popular tracking tools.

What Is Employee Monitoring?

Employee monitoring refers to the practice of employers logging and tracking employee activity in the workplace that includes collecting data on employees’ work-related time and attendance, computer usage, communications, internet usage, location, and more.

Organizations choose different monitoring methods based on their business requirements and use cases. Most employee monitoring approaches gauge productivity levels and assess employee behavior during working hours. These insights help employers get a better understanding of team dynamics, peer conversations, and existing business processes.

Employee monitoring aids in preventing security breaches, identifying inefficiencies or productivity issues, and workplace misconduct, and ensuring compliance with legal and industry regulations. It also helps employers understand how employees are utilizing their time and company resources and, consequently, improve resource allocation and planning. Even more, employee monitoring is great for employees as well, as it enables them to be more accountable for their productivity and efficiency.

How Can You Monitor Employees?

What exactly does employee monitoring and activity tracking include? Employee monitoring takes various forms, each designed to suit different working environments and organizational objectives. Let’s take a look at five most popular types of employee monitoring.

• Time tracking

  Time tracking can justly be considered among the most widespread employee monitoring types as it provides a comprehensive picture of an employee’s workday.

  Time tracking tools monitor how employees spend their time at work, from clock-in and clock-out times to breaks and idle time. This is incredibly helpful for project management, payroll, and productivity analysis.

• Computer activity monitoring

  Computer and internet monitoring can help identify productivity issues, protect against harmful online activities, and ensure compliance with company policies.

  Computer activity monitoring tools track computer usage, encompassing everything from application usage to website browsing history and generating detailed reports on visited websites, time spent on each site, downloads, and online searches. Some advanced versions can even capture keystrokes or take screenshots.

• Communication monitoring

  Almost every business uses email to communicate both internally and externally. So it’s no wonder email is the most commonly tracked tool to help companies identify potential issues and secure important data.

  Monitoring emails and instant messages can help prevent data breaches, reduce phishing risks, and ensure compliance with regulations. Some monitoring software allows managers to flag specific keywords, which helps catch potential issues early.

  There are two main reasons to monitor employee communications:

  • Data security

    Monitoring employee emails is helpful for businesses that are wary of data leaks. It also helps block suspicious emails from third parties to further enhance data protection.

  • Conflict resolution

    Reviewing sent and received emails and instant messages can help resolve conflicts between employees or between workers and their managers. This aspect of employee monitoring is especially beneficial for large remote teams.

• Keylogging

  Keylogging, or keystroke logging, is the recording of keystrokes on an employee’s computer and converting that data into a readable file. This type of employee monitoring can pose quite a risk as it can lead to password leaks.

  Moreover, employees could be unaware of the fact that their keyboard movements are being tracked, and that can cause confusion and anxiety when discovered.

• File tracking

  Time tracking is one of the most widespread employee monitoring types. It collects data on when employees clock in, clock out, and take breaks. Time tracking software provides an overview of how much the employee has worked during the day and reports the information on timesheets.

  Some digital monitoring solutions provide come equipped with the feature to track files that are sent and received on work devices. The range of files tracked encompasses pretty much everything from file transfers within and outside of the organization and conversions to USB recordings and hardware access.

What Are the Benefits of Employee Monitoring?

Now that you’ve got acquainted with the most common types of employee monitoring, let’s focus on why companies decide to track their employees in the first place. Here are some of the most recognized benefits of employee monitoring.

1. Increased employee productivity

   One of the biggest advantages of employee monitoring is that it increases productivity. Tracking employees’ activity, managers can see how much time workers spend on different tasks and figure out what’s slowing them down, spotting distractions and inefficiencies at work.

   What’s more, when employees know they’re being monitored, they tend to stay more focused and perform better, thus completing their tasks more efficiently.

   As an example, among other things monitoring can reveal the websites employees visit most often and help identify time-wasting activities. This information can then be used to create new strategies, offer relevant training, or provide better tools to improve work processes, further boosting productivity.

2. Enhanced data security

   With cyber threats being on the rise, now more than ever businesses require protection of their sensitive data. Employee monitoring helps improve data security, ensuring that sensitive information remains within the company and is only accessed by authorized staff.

   By keeping track of what employees do, managers can spot and prevent unusual behaviors, such as unauthorized access to confidential files or attempts to transfer data without permission. With such a proactive approach, businesses can lower the risk of cyberattacks and maintain the trust of their clients.

3. Improved resource management

   Employee monitoring helps businesses manage their resources, both human and technological, more effectively. Managers can spot areas that require improvement by keeping track of how teams use their time, tools, and software.

   With the help of monitoring, businesses can make better use of their technology, having noticed which resources are being used too much and which ones are being underutilized. This leads to smarter resource allocation, increased efficiency, and lower operational costs over time.

4. Better work allocation

   Building upon the previous point, managers can also experience difficulties with estimating the amount of time it would take their team to complete a task.

   When there’s no clear data on the exact amount of time an individual or a team dedicate to work-related activities, work allocation becomes based on guesstimates, and that’s rarely accurate.

   For example, if some workers are overwhelmed with tasks while others have an excessive amount of free time, monitoring can actually help with balancing employee workload by providing managers with detailed insights into the team’s bandwidth. And this makes the entire company more productive, since better people’s bandwidth utilization helps increase profitability. Even more, equal and balanced distribution of work creates a feeling of fairness and transparency that improves overall employee satisfaction.

5. Accurate performance evaluation

   The practice of performance evaluations plays a crucial role in helping employees grow in their careers. However, without the right information they can be tough to carry out well. Employee monitoring can equip managers with detailed insights into how their team members spend time at work, including which tasks they complete at what speed and how productive they are overall. This data helps managers deliver fair and accurate performance reviews.

   Moreover, employee monitoring tools track KPIs and other metrics, making it easier to give constructive, targeted feedback. It fosters a culture of continuous improvement, where employees recognize their strengths and areas for growth.

6. Better estimated profitability

   If companies don’t know what projects their employees are spending their time on, it becomes pretty much impossible to calculate correctly how profitable each project or account is. As a result, the amount of time spent on projects in proportion to the amount of revenue those projects generate can be quite disproportionate. In contrast, when companies believe certain projects to be less profitable than they actually are, they might dedicate fewer employees to them, underinvesting in these projects, which will negatively affect project quality and lead to client churn.

   Using a monitoring solution allows companies to track and analyze employees’ time usage easily with subsequent generation of automatic timesheets. As a result, it becomes easier to estimate the profitability of each project more accurately and dedicate sufficient resources.

7. Improved employee engagement

   Employee monitoring tools help with higher employee engagement levels due to their significant role in equal allocation of work, manual activities automation, and increase of transparency.

   It may come as a surprise, but monitoring can actually help with minimizing excessive pressure managers might put on employees. As long as employees meet their deliverables and maintain quality standards, managers don’t have to go to the extremes of micromanaging, where they constantly bombard employees with questions or dig through the reports to check if work hours are spent on unproductive activities.

8. Compliance with industry regulations

   Certain industries, such as finance, healthcare, and legal sectors, have strict rules regarding data processing and employee behavior standards, which are referred to as compliance regulations. Employee monitoring can play a crucial role in helping businesses follow these regulations.

   By implementing monitoring software, managers can track employee behavior down to the way they interact with partners or talk to clients, ensuring that their actions align with the required standards. This can help companies to stay compliant, avoiding potential legal issues and expensive fines, and build trust with clients and stakeholders, showing that they prioritize security and integrity.

What Are the Main Challenges and Concerns of Employee Monitoring?

Obviously, while the benefits of employee monitoring overweigh any potential concerns, we should still mention that when it’s used for dishonest purposes, monitoring of employees can negatively affect the organizational climate. Below is the compilation of some major issues that can arise when monitoring employees.

1. Privacy issues

   One of the biggest challenges with monitoring employees is the potential invasion of their privacy. Monitoring apps can track a wide range of activities, from emails and internet scrolling to keystrokes and even location data. Knowing that their every move is being constantly tracked, employees might start feeling a sense of resentment, believing their personal space is being violated.

   To address these privacy concerns, employers need to communicate openly about the monitoring that will take place, explaining why it’s necessary and how the collected data will be used.

2. Decreased trust and morale

   Another significant concern of employee monitoring is its impact on employee trust and morale. Employees may take monitoring as a sign that their employer doesn’t trust them to manage their own time and tasks, which will lead to decreased job satisfaction, resulting in lower productivity (ironically enough, this way the very purpose of implementing monitoring tools will be defeated).

   To mitigate this risk, employers should present monitoring as a tool to support employee growth and improvement, not as a punitive measure. Another way to maintain a positive work environment and boost employee morale would be to foster clear communication on how monitoring benefits both the employees and the organization.

3. Legal risks and compliance

   There are also important legal risks associated with employee monitoring. Different states have different regulations regarding how employers can monitor their employees, particularly concerning data collection and privacy rights.

   For example, many jurisdictions require employers to inform their employees when they are being monitored. Companies that fail to comply with these laws may face severe consequences in the form of lawsuits, fines, and damaged reputation. We’ve previously covered specifics of US monitoring laws in more detail.

   To navigate this legal maze, we advise that businesses consult legal professionals to ensure they are following local and national laws. In order to minimize legal risks, it is also essential to establish clear policies regarding data collection, usage, and storage.

4. Potential misuse of employee data

   Finally, employee monitoring generates large amounts of data, from performance metrics to personal details. Employers have a responsibility to ensure that monitoring software is secure and that the collected data is used ethically. Sensitive information could be misused, whether on purpose or through human error, in ways that would lead to unfair decisions regarding promotions, salary increases, or terminations.

   Implementing strict data protection protocols, such as encryption, access controls, and regular audits, can help ensure that confidential personal information is handled appropriately.

What Are the Legal Considerations for Employee Monitoring?

Before you decide it’s time to introduce employee monitoring in your company, it’s important to understand the legal boundaries that come with it. And unless you have a legal expert in your team, it would be wise to consult a lawyer to learn more about the specific laws and regulations applicable specifically to your organization and jurisdiction.

By addressing all the potential legal considerations, businesses can implement employee monitoring software effectively at the same time protecting the rights of their employees and avoiding legal issues.

1. Employee consent

   When it comes to using employee monitoring software, it is crucial for employers to be open and honest about it. Employees should be informed upfront that their activities at work will be monitored, and they need to comprehend exactly how it will be done. In many places, laws require that employers get explicit consent from employees before they start any monitoring. We recommend you review the legal requirements regarding consent and ensure that your employees are properly informed about the monitoring activities and their rights. You can achieve this by including clear policies in employment contracts or employee handbooks. Document and maintain records of employee consent when necessary.

2. Privacy rights

   While you as an employer have the right to keep an eye on work-related activities of your employees, it’s equally important for you to respect their privacy. Monitoring activities should primarily focus on business tasks, and intruding into personal matters, such as private messages or social media use, is to be avoided. In certain areas, there are laws that place restrictions on how much personal information can be collected, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe.

3. Confidentiality

   You also need to treat the data collected from employee monitoring with great care. This means securely storing the information and allowing access only to authorized individuals. You should clearly define who is authorized to have access to monitoring data and how it will be used. The data is to be used solely for the intended purposes, such as performance evaluation, security investigations, or compliance monitoring.

4. Data security and usage

   Any misuse or mishandling of the data collected through monitoring could lead to serious legal problems. You need to implement measures to protect employee data and safeguard it by utilizing secure storage and access controls. You are also to adhere to applicable data protection laws, such as encryption, anonymization, and data retention requirements.

What Are the Ethical Aspects of Employee Monitoring?

In addition to legal considerations, you should also take into account the ethical aspects of employee monitoring. The practice of monitoring workers has come under scrutiny in recent years, so it’s important for you to be aware of potential ethical, moral, and legal concerns as well.

Having said that, we want to emphasize that ethical employee monitoring is possible. What’s more, when carried out ethically, it’s a great tool that helps promote collaboration, improve interpersonal communication, and mitigate any doubts employees may have regarding the practice. Regardless of the type of monitoring, the first and foremost use case of any monitoring method you choose must be to support employees and improve productivity.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the points you should consider.

1. Transparency

   Clearly communicate to employees that monitoring may be conducted in the workplace. Provide detailed information about the purpose, methods, and scope of monitoring.

2. Purpose limitation and data retention

   Use monitoring data solely for the intended purposes, such as performance evaluation, security investigations, or compliance monitoring. Avoid retaining monitoring data longer than necessary and establish clear guidelines for data retention and disposal.

3. Fairness and non-discrimination

   Ensure that monitoring practices are applied consistently and fairly to all employees. Avoid using monitoring data for discriminatory purposes or treating employees unfairly based on the information collected.

4. Employee involvement and feedback

   Involve employees in the development of monitoring policies and seek their feedback. Consider their perspectives and concerns to ensure that monitoring practices are balanced and respectful of their rights.

How to Introduce Monitoring to Employees?

Once you decide it’s time to implement an employee monitoring solution, it’s incredibly important to follow a structured process that will help you gain employees’ trust and make them view the practice of monitoring as a positive development.

We’ve compiled a few best practices for you to implement employee monitoring in a way that enhances productivity and fosters a positive workplace culture.

1. Create a clear employee monitoring policy and add it to the employment contract

   It’s best to start by setting clear goals why you want to monitor employees. Do you want to boost productivity, ensure compliance with regulations, or enhance data security? When you have your objectives defined, it will help you choose the appropriate monitoring software for your specific needs and explain its purpose to your team. This clarity helps prevent misunderstandings about the need for monitoring.

   To further aid with smooth launching of the monitoring solution, you should create a workplace monitoring policy, which is essentially a set of guidelines and rules that outline how employee monitoring will be conducted. Moreover, in some states, such as New York and California, an employee monitoring policy is actually obligatory.

   And since it’s more often than not required to have employees’ consent prior to monitoring, it should be made part of their employment contract, where it should be stipulated that all activity monitoring will be done in accordance with the guidelines and methods mentioned in the monitoring policy.

2. Communicate transparently with employees and explain the objectives and benefits

   It is crucial to be open and honest about monitoring. Explain to your employees what data will be collected, how it will be used, and the benefits of monitoring. Besides, employees are more likely to accept the novelty and trust the process when they understand that monitoring is meant to support them and the organization.

   And while employees might sign the consent to be monitored, it doesn’t automatically mean they’ll be comfortable with it, so it’s best to explain clearly how everyone will gain from this initiative.

   Here are some key monitoring benefits to employees that you should highlight:

   • More autonomy. Managers will check up on employees far less often, instead basing decisions on their actual output and reducing the pressure of micromanagement.
   • Improved productivity. Monitoring solution will show employees exactly where their time is being wasted during the workday, which will help them modify their work habits and become more productive.
   • Respect for privacy. Make sure your employees understand that you’re not tracking their personal time.
   • More transparency. Reports generated by the software will clearly indicate what tasks people work on and for how long, thus reducing the risk of unjust assessments and biases.
   • More accountability. Monitoring tools will help with identifying the employees who don’t contribute enough to the team for them to be coached, or if necessary, replaced.  
   • More recognition. Monitoring software will also indicate people who are working overtime and even identify those who hang around extra hours but spend most of their time in the breakrooms. This way, recognition will be given more fairly.
   • Automated reports. No one will have to fill up a timesheet ever again! Employees will be able to reduce the amount of time they waste on routine administrative tasks, since they won’t need to manually fill up timesheets anymore.

3. Gather feedback

   Feedback plays a vital role in the success of employee monitoring.

   Involving people in the decision-making process drives the adoption of the software. Just by showing that you listen to their viewpoints and ideas, you make them more comfortable with being monitored, and their trust in the company strengthens.

   Moreover, they will be able to give you genuine insights about how to improve the product and make it more effective, since they will be actually using the tool in practice.

4. Regularly review monitoring practices

   It’s important to regularly check to ensure your monitoring practices are still effective and your software is actually helping you achieve your goals. You should make adjustments based on employee feedback and changes in business needs, thus ensuring that your monitoring remains relevant and useful.

5. Provide training and support

   To get the most out of your monitoring tool, offer training to your team, showing them how to use the software more effectively. Encourage an environment where employees feel comfortable seeking help or clarification about the monitoring tools.

6. Ensure legal compliance

   Always make sure your monitoring adheres to local laws and regulations. Being compliant both protects your organization from legal issues and hefty fines and reassures your employees that their rights are respected.

How to Monitor Remote Employees?

Can employers monitor remote employee activity? The answer is plain as day – you sure can!

In fact, certain monitoring solutions offer a comprehensive suite of tools needed for remote work, including the features that allow tracking team productivity and comparing it on various aspects of the nature of employees’ work. These features include real-time monitoring, attendance tracking, activity levels and productivity trends monitoring, as well as alerts and notifications on violations.

Monitoring software can also include advanced security features like user behavior analytics and data loss prevention suite. These capabilities enable efficient and privacy-conscious monitoring of both remote and in-office employees, which makes them an excellent choice for optimizing productivity of remote employees in diverse work scenarios.

Can Employees Find Out about Monitoring?

Most employee monitoring software developers understand that people tend to behave differently when they know they are being monitored. Therefore, monitoring solutions can typically be set to stealth mode, in which employees can’t detect monitoring of their behavior and its recording.

But what about the cases when you employ freelancers who work on their personal devices? Some monitoring solutions come with a mode that can be activated only when the user clocks in to track time for your project, and it’s turned off for the rest of the time. This means that freelancers can use their personal devices without fear of their privacy being invaded while you can still monitor their activity when they are on the clock for your company.

How to Choose the Best Employee Monitoring Software?

The most widely used way to monitor employees without a doubt is employee monitoring software. After all, it can justly be considered the most direct and least invasive method, suitable for both in-office and remote teams.

At the same time, choosing the best monitoring solution might seem like a daunting task, with the market being overflowed by all the different options.

And while having a clear understanding of the exact reasons why you need employee monitoring software along with the list of employee activities you plan to monitor can help you narrow down the options significantly, there is still a number of critical factors to consider if you want to find the best fit for your needs and budget.

Step 1: Define your business needs

Before opting for any software, you must clearly understand what your actual business requirements are. When it comes to monitoring employees, every company has its own particular needs.

So first things first, start by identifying the areas you want to monitor, such as time tracking, internet and application usage, or remote work monitoring.

Here are a few questions to consider:

• What specific metrics do you want to monitor, such as tracking work hours, application usage, or internet browsing history?
• Is your team working remotely or in-office?
• Will basic time tracking feature suffice, or do you need advanced features, such as keystroke logging or screen video recording?

Step 2: Check for required software features

Once you have your business needs identified, the next step for you to do is to look at the features different solutions offer.

Here are some key features to consider:

• Time tracking: It helps with accurate recording of employees’ work hours. To reduce manual entries and errors, look for software that tracks time automatically.
• Activity monitoring: It helps with tracking the apps and websites employees visit during work hours. Understanding how employees spend their time can help you spot productivity trends and areas for improvement.
• Reporting and analytics: Choose software that provides detailed reports on employee productivity and time so you can analyze trends and make better data-driven decisions.
• Screen recording: This feature records employees’ screens while they work. And sure, while it can be intrusive, it can also give insights into work habits of employees.

Step 3: Ensure legal compliance

When you start using employee monitoring software, it’s crucial to adhere to rules and regulations. As we’ve mentioned a bit earlier, different jurisdictions have different legal framework on privacy and monitoring employees.

Here are some points to focus on:

• Know the law: Check the laws in your area regarding employee monitoring.
• Be transparent: Let your team know what you are monitoring and why.
• Establish clear policies: Write down clear rules about what you’re monitoring, how you’ll use the data, and where you’ll store it.
• Limit access to data: Only allow authorized personnel to see the monitoring data.

Step 4: Evaluate usability

The solution you choose needs to be user-friendly and have the following options available:

• User-friendly dashboard: A well-designed dashboard makes it easy for managers to access key metrics and reports without extensive training.
• Customization options: Software that allows customization can help tailor the monitoring process to fit your specific business needs and employee roles.
• Training and support: Ensure that the vendor provides adequate training and support resources. This is especially important for onboarding new employees or managers who will be using the software regularly.

Step 5: Verify integration capabilities

To ensure that your monitoring choice fits into your existing work patterns, look for the solution that seamlessly integrates with the following tools:

• Project management platforms: Such an integration can help provide a holistic review of productivity.
• HR resources: Such an integration can streamline payroll processes and ensure that time tracking aligns with employee compensation.
• Communication apps: Such an integration can enhance collaboration while monitoring engagement levels.

Step 6: Compare costs and customer support

Finally, while the price shouldn’t be the one and only thing you focus on, you should still keep your budget in mind and look for software that gives you good value for the features it offers.

• Pricing plans: Think about what features your business needs and pick a pricing plan that works for you.
• Customer support: Make sure software developers provide quick and helpful customer support.

By paying attention to all the points we’ve mentioned in this section, you can find the right software to monitor employees, increase productivity, and ensure compliance with legal rules.

Top 5 Tools for Employee Monitoring in 2024

1. Kickidler

Kickidler is a powerful and automatic employee tracking software that works in the background, never interfering with your work. It offers powerful features for productivity measurement, attendance tracking, and workflow management that, when combined, boost performance for teams and individuals alike.

The software also measures employee productivity based on the usage of apps that admins designate as productive or unproductive. It tracks time every person on your team spent working, as well as provides a breakdown of exactly how much time was spent on each project or task. It also allows managers to review screen video recordings to see what their employees are working on at any given moment of time, thus minimizing the risk of them slacking off.

Key Features

• Real-time employee monitoring
• Screen video recording
• Time tracking
• Reports & analytics on time and productivity
• Self-monitoring interface for employees
• Data loss prevention (DLP) suite

Pros

• Comprehensive insights help identify employee workload issues
• It’s easy to streamlines operations by pinpointing inefficient processes for improvement

Cons

• Some employees may feel uneasy about continuous monitoring, which might negatively impact morale
• The extensive amount of data can be overwhelming for untrained managers

2. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is a robust app for tracking employees’ time and productivity, with the option to turn the data into convenient timesheets. Managers can then review the timesheets, approve or ask for specifications, as well as manage employee absences. Additionally, the software offers GPS timesheets with employee location data that can be especially useful for companies with remote teams or workers in several locations.

This tool helps fight work-related inefficiencies with streamlined time tracking and team and project management. It accurately tracks time across devices, allowing employers to monitor work happening in real time across multiple devices.

Key Features

•  Time tracking
•  Task management
•  Team scheduling
•  Online timesheets
•  Payroll

Pros

• Project-related information from reports on employee time, workload, budgets, and more is readily available
• Employees can be compensated directly from the software based on hours worked and pay rates

Cons

• It can be tricky at first to make adjustments to the pre-set reporting parameters
• The solution might be considered a bit simplistic for large enterprises

3. ActivTrak

ActivTrak is a flexible employee monitoring app that can be easily integrated into any workflow. It allows you to create projects and log tasks within them in real time. The software enables seamless remote work and has extensive data sourcing abilities to keep track of time and activity logs.

Key Features

• Real-time monitoring
• Activity dashboard
• Remote workforce management
• Behavioral risk analysis
• Mobile access

Pros

• The software is cloud-base, which simplifies the issue of data storage
• Employees can be compensated directly from the software based on hours worked and pay rates

Cons

• There’s no option to track an employee's productivity on different devices, which makes consolidation of information harder than it needs to be
• 24/7 support is only available through the more expensive Signature pricing plan

4. Time Doctor

Time Doctor is a nice tool for workforce performance analysis and productivity boosting through real-time employee monitoring. It provides helpful insights that improve visibility and simplify workflows for remote and hybrid teams, cutting costs while keeping the organization compliant. Managers can easily monitor employee activity and spot any issues, ensuring a focused work environment without being intrusive.

Key Features

• Interactive time tracking options
• Real-time dashboards
• Stealth time tracking mode
• Project and task management
• Team productivity ratings
• Work-life balance metrics
• Keeps remote teams accountable without intruding on their focus.
• Provides comprehensive insights that help identify employee workload issues.
• Streamlines operations by pinpointing inefficient processes for improvement.

Cons

• Some employees may feel uneasy about continuous monitoring, impacting morale.
• The extensive data can be overwhelming for managers without proper training.
• Initial setup may require significant time and effort for customization.
• Some users might find the interface less intuitive compared to competitors.

Pros

• Customizable software solution easily aligns with your organization’s unique processes
• Quick implementation ensures minimal disruption and swift data migration.

Cons

• Remote teams are kept accountable without intruding on their focus
• The adaptability may require initial training for the users who are less tech-savvy
• Some advanced features might feel overwhelming for small businesses.

5. iMonitorSoft EAM

iMonitorSoft EAM is a multifunctional centralized solution designed for monitoring employee activity. With features like automatic backups and encryption, it keeps sensitive data safe and secure, aiding in maintaining a secure work environment. The software automatically tracks any potential employee-related risks or inappropriate behavior, such as copying, deleting or sending important documents. It uses smart rules and real-time alerts to aid in preventing data loss.

Key Features

• Insider threat detection
• Data security encryption
• Employee activity monitoring
• Employee investigations
• Intelligent employee management
• Scheduled productivity reports

Pros

• The software effectively prevents data loss by monitoring employees’ actions.
• EAM’s real-time alerts help swiftly identify potential employee fraud.
• It offers seamless integration across various operating systems.

Cons

• Some users may find the setup process complicated without adequate guidance.
• The software’s extensive features may overwhelm smaller organizations.

How to Enhance Team Productivity with Kickidler Employee Monitoring Software?

Although the requirements of each company could very well differ, there still are certain features that are essential for comprehensive monitoring. Here are a few key features to look for in your employee monitoring system:

• Online & offline activity monitoring
• Normal activity profiling
• Behavior analysis and comparison
• Activity alerts
• Desktop screen captures
• Screen recording
• File tracking
• Monitoring of app and website usage
• Blocking of apps and websites
• Blocking or restricting downloads
• Reports on any chosen data recorded
• Scheduling of reports and events
• Cross system compatibility
• Cross application monitoring
• Centralized management of services
• Long term logs of all activities
• Flexible plans and options

Luckily, Kickidler combines all of the aforementioned features, which makes it a cutting-edge well-balanced comprehensive digital solution for companies of any size.

Here are just a few things Kickidler can help you with (and this list is certainly not exhaustive):

Time tracking

Unfortunately, employees tend to mess up their timecards rather often. No matter if it happens due to human error, laziness, or actual fraudulent intentions, timesheet fraud is costly. And while business owners would like to trust their employees to track their work hours honestly, falsified time cards are an expense that shouldn’t be ignored.

Kickidler leaves no room for interpretation, since it tracks all aspects of your employees’ digital activity along with their clock-in, clock-out and actual activity time.

Employee monitoring is an easy way to protect company time and money by preventing workers from inaccurately reporting their work time, or wasting time while they’re on the clock.

When it comes to finding a solution that provides flexible and customizable features at an affordable price, Kickidler definitely stands out. No matter what your company needs are, you’ll likely benefit from using Kickidler’s diverse offering of employee monitoring products and services.

Productivity tracking

Employee productivity is one of the most impactful factors that determine the success of any business. An employee who spends the day watching videos, scrolling the feed or checking personal email is using company time for recreational activities. Low productivity leads to a loss in production or sales, which in turn translates into a loss of revenue.

Kickidler allows managers to see what it is their employees actually do during the workday on their digital devices. Employee productivity tracking allows the employer to have a better understanding of each employee’s work habits and daily contributions.

Managers can view employee activities like idle periods, browsing history, app use and more or even go a step further and utilize the screen video recording feature. Computer monitoring can provide everything you need to see whether employees are reaching their full potential.

Activity tracking

Are you worried that your employees aren’t spending their time wisely during work hours?

Technology can in fact be a huge distraction that could topple your company’s bottom line. Prioritizing data security and employee responsibility will help to protect the company’s reputation, trustworthiness, and overall success.

Moreover, employee monitoring has been proven to increase productivity in the workplace and company earning potentials. Monitoring tools accomplish this by keeping employees accountable and promoting a focused, on-task workplace. Reducing distractions also helps workers refocus their energy and use their time more wisely.

Integrating employee tracking software into your organization’s business processes also helps ensure everyone is aware of company policies, as well as the repercussions for breaking them.

Data analysis

Another important aspect of employee monitoring is accessing user activity data and reviewing reports on productivity. That doesn’t mean it should be a complicated process. Kickidler’s reporting features give managers a detailed visual breakdown as well as real-time alerts on any occurring violations.

Reports on time provide a comprehensive overview of activities employees are engaged in at their computers. Productivity reports highlight exactly how long employees spend on productive and unproductive activities, including episodes of idle time.

Kickidler’s data analysis feature provides a reliable account of all employee activities. This helps simplify conflict resolution or reward processes, since the reports provide concrete proof of employee actions.

Enforcing accountability

Employee monitoring is an effective way to foster employee responsibility and accountability. Knowing that their actions could be reviewed at all times helps deter most workers away from inappropriate behavior.

Contrary to common belief, employee monitoring can actually improve office morale, provided it isn’t too restrictive and workers understand its benefits.

Kickidler offers a free trial that allows users to test for themselves the best employee monitoring service currently available on the market.

Protecting sensitive data

Every company has sensitive data that various employees have access to in order to conduct daily work, which is completely fine as long as all these people remain employed. we all understand that when employees leave, they often find new employment in the same industry. As managers, you need to consider the potential damage done to your business if should these employees take proprietary data with them – which is, unfortunately, the case often. More importantly, you also must be able to know if it happened so that you can take the necessary legal precautions before the damage is done.

Kickidler takes monitoring to another level of employer’s protection. As an add-on, Kickidler offers DLP (data loss prevention) functionality that companies can use to proactively block employees from infiltrating sensitive assets via email, cloud storage or external devices.

Insider threat detection and behavior monitoring make it easy to nip high-risk activities in the bud. This, paired with web filtering, make it much more difficult for employees to share or access information via unauthorized platforms. Kickidler software helps keep data secure when sending or storing information.