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The best way to monitor my employees ' work

Hunter_Gold

Member
Is there any good software for monitoring employees out there? I'm looking to track the active/idle time, internet, and software usage of five users. And maybe something for easy communication. No need for screenshots, videos, or voice recordings.
 
If not videos, screenshots or recordings - what exactly are you wanting to monitor?

Also keep in mind such solutions have a significant negative effect on staff morale and make them feel like they’re being ‘watched’. Your desired outcome of presumably more efficient employees may backfire.
 
If not videos, screenshots or recordings - what exactly are you wanting to monitor?

Also keep in mind such solutions have a significant negative effect on staff morale and make them feel like they’re being ‘watched’. Your desired outcome of presumably more efficient employees may backfire.
Just software using, if it is possible.
 
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Monitoring staff when outside of the workplace, as well as outside of normal working hours, requires some careful legal consideration under the GDPR / Data Protection laws (it's generally wise to do as little monitoring as possible to keep safe from the law).

I should think that monitoring the actual work / work software rather than the person may be acceptable up to a point, but if they're using their own personal device (laptop, car, mobile etc.) to do that then it can fall into a legally difficult area. You must also be transparent with your staff about all of this.


I suspect a bespoke remote working VPN, which keeps the files and / or software (or some of it) on your office servers, may be a better way to go. But obviously setting those up can be a bit tricky and costly, depending upon your experience and needs. Likewise if you supply a company laptop to staff then that also helps.
 
Is there any good software for monitoring employees out there? I'm looking to track the active/idle time, internet, and software usage of five users. And maybe something for easy communication. No need for screenshots, videos, or voice recordings.
As good as your intentions are, I suspect they may backfire. If you don't trust your staff to do their duties efficiently then perhaps you need to replace them? I'm sure you don't need reminding that the candidate pool out there is huge at present given the current circumstances.
 
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This is a terrible idea! If you can't trust your staff get different staff. It's only 5 people, you probably know everything there is to know about them! The occasional conversation will tell you more than snooping through their activity logs! Added to which it's probably illegal and definitely unethical!
 
Honestly, I would scrap the idea of monitoring and just look at the work they produce. Are they meeting deadlines to a good quality? If so, great. If not, speak to them about that.

The number of hours they spend in application xyz is honestly meaningless as long as they meet business requirements.
 
Honestly, I would scrap the idea of monitoring and just look at the work they produce. Are they meeting deadlines to a good quality? If so, great. If not, speak to them about that.

The number of hours they spend in application xyz is honestly meaningless as long as they meet business requirements.

+1 especially in the era of home working. My work day is all over the place and has been for the entire 8 years I've been working from home 100%. My productivity is usually a long way from 100% 9-5 however apart from sleep and time off I'm never offline and work whenever required pretty much.

If they're doing shift work as long as customers are happy there is nothing wrong.

Whatever as they're producing what they need to, when they need to, there is nothing wrong.
 
The number of hours they spend in application xyz is honestly meaningless as long as they meet business requirements.
I wouldn't go that far, because even if they've finished the task(s) for the day, what if a client walks in and sees the employees dawdling away on BookFace or dating websites during working hours? Doesn't look very professional does it?
 
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I wouldn't go that far, because even if they've finished the task(s) for the day, what if a client walks in and sees the employees dawdling away on BookFace or dating websites during working hours? Doesn't look very professional does it?

The solution is not software: it is to have a policy which all employees read and agree to (e.g. it might include "you may not use Facebook on office computers during normal working hours")

A policy means that everyone knows up front what is and isn't allowed. If they violate the policy, then you deal with it as you would with any other matter of discipline.
 
I naturally thought this behaviour was illegal in some respect, I recall Barclays being under fire for having similar practices in place and they since removed it.

Thinking about it, if you can’t trust your staff to work productively in your absence, why allow them to work from home or hire them anyway?
 
How can you not know what your employees are doing?
In my line of work, we get assigned Jira tickets and you work on them, comment on the ticket / close the ticket. This provides a measure of productivity.

Surely people working at home must have something to show for it? They must have to actually produce something. Why not have 1 to 1 meetings with them where they show you what they've done.

If my employer monitored everything I do on my computer then they would cease to be my employer because I wouldn't work for someone who did that. I browse reddit and this lovely site and several others at work, but I get my work done and I can prove it with my Jira tickets.

Monitoring staff who work at workstations is counterproductive in my opinion and breeds an air of mistrust with the workers. If they're not pulling their weight then it should be up to management to pull them up about it instead of spying on them.
 
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