Boost Teams Performance with Employee Monitoring Software

Capture every change in your team’s productivity with easy-to-grasp visualizations of its spikes and drops to find out the reasons behind them and engineer custom solutions that increase employee engagement-levels and boost their performance. From productivity bars showing how engaged in work an employee is to heat maps reflecting his activity patterns, Controlio is replete with data and visual tools, making performance analysis a breeze.

Maintain records of employees’ actual working hours and compare them to their schedules without manual timesheets or extra equipment. Controlio registers the start and end times of each working session, shows how many employees were working on any chosen date, and delivers data on breaks during labor time regardless of your staff’s location.

Detect underworking and overworking staff by comparing workloads and actual work hours across employees and departments. Apart from valuable statistics that will serve as the basis for preventing burnout and social loafing, Controlio provides tools for implementing employee-friendly changes, such as configuring flexible work schedules or setting up automated messages that remind employees to take breaks when appropriate.

Keep your finger on the pulse by assessing employee activity in real time, and give timely guidance to mitigate productivity loss, and deflect malicious behavior. The Online Sessions report clearly shows which activity each employee is interacting with while granting optional access to the live stream of his screen.

Spot which computer-based activities consume your employees’ work hours the most and learn whether or not these activities correspond to their job duties. Having visibility into which apps and websites are being used by your staff will help identify work discipline violations, useless tools clogging your inventory, and even gaps in security enabling you to develop appropriate measures and put an end to the waste of time and resources.

Detect employee misconduct, protect sensitive data, and remove productivity obstacles by setting up alerts notifying supervisors of workplace morale violations. Controlio allows you to construct flexible rules for the entire company, various departments, or individual employees providing you with alerts on accessing distracting websites/applications , excessive idle time, the use of portable media, and other actions.

Protect your data assets from malicious insiders, reduce workplace misconduct risks, and neutralize productivity killers with the help of Controlio’s intelligent blocking features. You can block potentially harmful, inappropriate, and distractive websites, social media apps, and nonwork messengers or forbid inserting USB flash drives based on employees’ roles and work schedules.

Get compelling proof of work or exhaustive evidence of labor misconduct by enabling screen recording for specific employees or teams. With Controlio’s highly customizable monitoring profiles, Which allow you to activate screen recording when employees engage in prespecified applications/websites or violate a behavior rule, you can resolve labor disputes and pursue insider threat investigations without being intrusive and violating employee privacy.

Get the most out of data-packed reports by directing relevant information to the right hands at the right time. You decide which pieces of data to include, how often the reports are generated, who they are addressed to, and what is the preferable document format, while Controlio ensures accurate data collection and fail-safe delivery via email.

The question is why a company that wants to be successful wouldn’t use employee monitoring software, given the vast benefits it delivers. Here are just some facts proven with figures to outline goals you can achieve with this smart tool at hand.

Reduced time waste

Based on a survey by Digital.com, a software review site aimed at small businesses, 60% of companies with remote workers on board use monitoring software to track employee activity, with a major portion of the respondents wishing to understand how the employees are spending their time. And the monitoring showed that they do it for a very good reason since 3 in 4 employees turned out to browse social media and non-work websites during work hours while 52% of the workers managed to work a second job. Half of the employees under monitoring spend 3+ hours per day on non-work activities, which is almost half of a typical 8-hour workday they are paid for.

You may think that such time waste is observed only in remote or hybrid workplaces, but you are totally wrong. While the amount of time lost daily in offices ranges from 30 minutes to 3-4 hours, the Internet and social media remain top distractions, along with gossip, cell phones, and pointless meetings. These minutes and hours convert into big money losses not only because you splurge on your employees doing nothing but also due to a high client attrition rate caused by missed deadlines, poor quality of work, and other dire consequences of low productivity.

On the bright side, Digital.com reports that 81% of companies that implemented monitoring software saw an increase in productivity. Some of this can be attributed to the Big Brother Is Watching effect, but employee monitoring goes beyond just declaring accountability. It gives you a lot of ways to find inefficiencies and even provides tools to fix them immediately, such as Controlio’s distraction blocking feature.

Effective software asset management

Wouldn’t you be shocked to learn that US and UK businesses lose about $34 billion per year due to underutilized software? That’s the result of a study conducted by 1E, an IT software and services company with a focus on DEX, which quizzed 149 organizations in 16 industries. Just imagine that an average business from this list can save nearly $250 per user by pinpointing underutilized software and reducing the volume of new license purchases.

Apart from reducing costs, you should keep in mind safety improvement, as employee monitoring apps are capable of detecting Shadow IT — software used on company-issued devices without the knowledge and approval of the corporate IT department. A study from IBM Security showed that 1 in 3 employees working in large companies uses their corporate credentials to access third-party applications that were not explicitly approved. Such security gaps result in non-compliance, sensitive data exfiltration, and intellectual property litigation, which won’t help your company thrive and grow.

But a good employee monitoring app will! For example, Controlio delivers the whole web & app usage in your company sliced and diced, not only showing all digital tools used on your in-office and remote devices but also ranging them conveniently by the frequency of use.

Healthier working environment

Here is an interesting fact for you to consider: one-third of employees using social media at work do this for taking a mental break, according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center. And we know that regular breaks are good, as they stimulate new ideas, relieve stress, reduce mistakes, and, generally, make workers more engaged and productive. Statistics collected by McKinsey Global Institute confirm this fact, showing that social media sites can improve employee productivity by 20-25%. What is more, Evolv, a big data firm, analyzed 39,000 hourly workers and found that visiting social networking sites on a weekly basis improves employee retention.

So, what’s the point? Employee monitoring software allows you to dig deeper into employee behavior and look beyond inefficiencies and security issues. For example, data collected by Controlio products will reveal peak activity hours, overtime, or unbalanced workloads, based on which you can prevent burnout, adjust work schedules, and find other ways for building a healthier work environment. Speaking about social media, flexible Controlio’s settings will allow your staffers to visit them during established breaks and even alert you about employees working without pauses. And happy employees will stay with you longer, do their work better, and contribute to growing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The full list depends on the features of specific software, but the most common pack includes:

Web and app usage

Learning what websites your staffers visit and what applications they use during a working day helps in several ways. First, you will better understand how your licenses and subscriptions pay off by separating the most frequently used tools from worthless solutions. Second, you can check whether the web and app usage complies with tasks assigned to your staffers. Besides revealing workplace distractions, the time spent on websites and apps shows where your employees get stuck due to a lack of training or necessary tools. And finally, web & app monitoring is effective for detecting security threats, be it visiting a data-grabbing website or unauthorized access to a program containing sensitive info.

Screen capture

The screen-capturing opportunities of tracking software range from simple screenshots to full-scale live streaming. Controlio products, for example, can take a shot of computer screens every five minutes when a user is active, record full MPEG-4 video pieces, and stream screen recordings in real time. These captures are useful in many ways:

• to provide a quick glance at tasks in progress
• to deliver proof of work
• to investigate security incidents
• to detect productivity obstacles

Please note that screen capturing is an optional feature in Controlio products.

Time and attendance

Usually, employee monitoring software records total, active, and idle times spent by users performing various computer activities based on their interaction with the mouse and keyboard. These data serve to evaluate employee engagement, track breaks, spot workplace absence and distractions, or calculate billable hours spent in work apps. Some solutions offer manual clock in/out, while others automatically record the start and end of working sessions. Controlio products provide even two options: the logon/logoff time of user sessions and the start/end of their computer activities.

File tracking

Employee monitoring software can keep records of all actions performed with files, showing who manipulated a document, what operation type was carried out, and when it was done. These records also cover printing jobs and file downloads to USB flash drives. The information helps to find lost documents, reveal unauthorized access to and manipulations with protected data, detect data leaks, resolve labor disputes, and conduct security investigations.

Please note that file tracking is an optional feature in Controlio products.

Keylogging

This feature allows recording words and phrases typed by a user on a computer under monitoring, including documents, instant messengers, and search bars. While keylogging poses a risk of capturing personal data, such as passwords or credit card details, it is still legal and can be justified if handled properly. You can use it to prevent serious issues like data breaches or improper employee behavior, with all possible measures taken to avoid intrusion upon your employees’ privacy. To this end, Controlio offers this feature as optional and provides tools to limit the data collection to only at-risk users while excluding apps and websites where personal data can be submitted.

Email monitoring

Employee monitoring software can intercept emails sent via popular web services and show the sender, recipient, email client used, date and time, subject, and even attachments. This information can be used to assess email processing from the productivity point of view or identify security threats associated with emails, such as phishing and data loss. Email logs are also helpful in settling labor disputes, for example, related to workplace harassment. Nevertheless, since email monitoring can conflict with privacy protection, it must be used with caution, and that’s why this feature is not enabled by default in Controlio’s software and should be configured separately.

Some employee monitoring solutions go beyond this list and cover location tracking, video surveillance, and even behavioral data collection, so the opportunities are almost endless.

Let’s be honest: although many industries reap the benefits of employee monitoring and this software is equally suitable for small businesses and large enterprises, this doesn’t mean your company needs exactly this solution. You may have other tools in place covering most areas of concern or be lucky enough to have a crew working like a dream.

However, employee monitoring implementation is definitely worth the effort if the following points are true for your company:

• You spend a fortune on licenses and subscriptions but don’t know what tech stack your staffers really use.
• Your employees report a lack of effective digital tools while their computers are stuffed with all kinds of programs.
• Some pieces of information get lost and some tasks have to be re-done because your teams use mismatching apps.
• You don’t keep track of work time although at least some of your projects are paid on an hourly basis.
• You keep track of work time, but your workers have to fill out timesheets and activity logs manually.
• You are not sure that working hours are submitted correctly because you have no means providing hard evidence.
• You have to struggle with time and task allocation since you never know for sure who is doing what.
• You lose clients and profits due to missed deadlines and budget overruns, which are common things in your company.
• You often see your staffers slacking off — having coffee breaks, doing online shopping, or browsing the news.
• Your company suffers from high employee turnover because of frequent work avalanches, multitasking, overtime, and burnout.
• You have no KPIs to evaluate your staffers and ensure fair acknowledgment or a transparent penalty system.
• Your team members are unhappy with your company’s culture, reporting bullying, harassment, and other improper behaviors.
• You feel that your crew could perform better but have no idea what exactly prevents you from achieving the best possible results.
• Your company works in an industry that requires strong data protection, and you need another security layer for compliance.
• You think your company’s assets and data are not protected from cyber-attacks and insider threats.

These are only 15 reasons for you to deploy employee monitoring, but fixing even a couple of the issues can make a big difference in your business development.

Actually, we cannot think of a work model or industry where employee monitoring software will fail to produce results if implemented correctly. Let’s run through the specifics of various teams to see how employee monitoring aligns with them:

Office workers

Offices are full of distractions damaging to productivity, but breathing down your staffers’ necks is not the best tactic. Apart from promoting employee disengagement and creating a hostile work environment, micromanagement, in fact, doesn’t help to increase performance. It takes away both managers’ and employees’ time, complicates and lengthens work processes, and makes you miss the big picture in favor of smaller issues.

Employee monitoring software allows you to manage big and small offices without creating even more distractions since you can keep track of the workflows through the app and step in only when you spot some signs of disaster. Namely, Controlio’s software shows employees’ computer activity in real-time with optional screen recording for you to always stay informed.

Remote workforce

Obviously, employers tend to worry about the efficiency of their remote workers much more than about in-house teams. They cannot oversee this kind of workforce directly and are afraid of losing control of work processes. It is especially true for dispersed teams working on different parts of one task, which must be pieced together before deadlines.

On the other hand, working remotely requires plenty of self-management and commitment from an employee, which are easier to foster with due accountability. Besides, remote workers often suffer from feeling disconnected, so all the parties are sure to win when having a digital tool bridging the gap and ensuring a transparent environment with clear rules and metrics. In this regard, Controlio offers its self-monitoring feature, which provides workers with access to their own productivity data.

Enterprises

With thousands of employees working at different times, in various departments, and across scattered branch offices, it can be tricky to track performance or implement effective Software Asset Management, even if looking over the workers’ shoulders. That’s where an aggregated view comes in handy, showing current trends, delivering easy-to-grasp visualizations, providing reliable comparison data, offering unbiased leaderboards, and much more.

Further, large companies are often more vulnerable to insider threats and cyber-attacks, despite complex security systems and detailed corporate policies. It is difficult to keep a close watch on such a big number of people and detect risky behaviors before they result in data breaches or disclosure of corporate secrets. In this scenario, Controlio can equip you with powerful user and entity behavior analytics, which promotes a proactive approach to dealing with security issues.

SMBs

Small and medium-sized businesses seem to have fewer headaches with overcrowded offices and app overuse, but they rarely have significant start-up budgets and rainy-day funds, which makes them also less resilient to crises. They just cannot afford low productivity and cannot splurge on bloated IT teams and extra expenses associated with software deployment either.

Cloud-based employee monitoring software like Controlio by Controlio gives them a balanced solution — cost-effective, feature-rich, scalable, and highly protected. SMBs can reveal productivity bottlenecks, optimize their workforce and digital inventory, maintain automated time and attendance logging, ensure compatibility with security regulations, and protect their sensitive data using a single tool, with no maintenance hassle.

Specific industries

According to the above-mentioned survey by Digital.com, there are industries more prone to adopting employee monitoring software, such as advertising and marketing (83%), computer and information technology (77%), construction (71%), business and finance (60%), manufacturing (60%), and personal care services (52%). This correlation can be explained by the fact that clients are often billed on an hourly basis in these fields, which makes employers support their calculations with time and attendance logging implemented in the software. Moreover, employees in construction, advertising and marketing, business and finance, and IT spend 5 or more hours per day on non-work activities against an average of 3 hours.

At the same time, the study by 1E reveals that companies working in aviation, education, manufacturing, services, energy, and engineering are more vulnerable to money loss because of an underutilized tech stack. And we can think of healthcare, finance, and insurance as areas where data protection requirements create an obvious need for the security features of employee monitoring apps, such as HIPAA-compliant Controlio products.

So, it’s safe to say that small and big teams working in various industries rely on employee monitoring, which is proved by Controlio’s 3K+ customers worldwide.

1. What type of workforce do you have?

Some employee monitoring solutions are designed for remote teams exclusively, offering no or poor on-premise versions. But if you have a full-scale IT infrastructure in place and want to boost the productivity of your office staff, you may benefit from deploying an on-prem product.

On the other hand, your branch offices and WFH employees are not likely to use the same OS, and hiring freelancers makes the range of gadgets utilized for work even more variable. And as you don’t really want to face compatibility issues all along the way, you need to match your workforce diversity with the cross-platform opportunities of employee monitoring software.

If your business relies on mobile teams, such as delivery or cleaning services, you are sure to prioritize mobile gadgets over laptops, which requires solutions built for iOS and Android, preferably, with GPS location tracking included in the pack. But when your workforce is mostly stationary and you need the possibility to keep track of it when on the go, you can do with dashboards available via your mobile browser.

That’s just what Controlio offers — both on-prem and cloud-based solutions compatible with Windows/macOS devices and accessible via a web dashboard.

2. What are your goals?

Surely, we all like paying less for getting more features, but you can end up splurging on a product that does not tackle your tasks at all. Besides, many developers offer a range of packages with different features (and pricing, of course), and you will be able to get the best value for money if having a clear idea of how these features match specific goals. Here is a helpful list for your reference, with examples of their implementation:

• Reduced time theft and more accurate payroll management — automated and manual time tracking options. At the very least, you need a solution that records the start/end time of working sessions and the time spent in work-related apps, which is completely covered by Controlio.
• Unbiased productivity measurement — automatically generated KPIs. Controlio calculates the Productivity Score metric by figuring in the time spent performing work-related and non-work activities, which are distinguished based on five productivity levels.
• Removal of distractions — URL filtering and app blocking. Controlio offers the possibility to compile lists of prohibited websites and apps for different users and teams and block access to them totally or as you specify it.
• Productivity improvement — a wide range of productivity reports. Since productivity can be hampered in many ways, Controlio products build a 360-degree view of workflows by delivering reports on all computer-based activities, time distribution, best and worst performers, employees’ high and low activity hours, and more.
• Effective software asset management — web and app usage reports. Controlio captures all apps and websites used on your work computers and shows how frequently and by whom they are utilized.
• Getting insight into employee engagement — reports on active time spent performing tasks. Controlio reveals whether your team members really interact with their computers during working hours and delivers the Activity Ratio metric to gauge their engagement.
• Emergency response to security incidents — various alerts and blocking features. Controlio blocks a range of risky actions, such as inserting removable media devices or launching non-approved applications, and sends immediate alerts on suspicious user activity.
• Checking tasks in progress — real-time monitoring. Controlio displays users who are currently online, their window titles, activity charts for the last hour, and live streams from their computer screens (optional).
• Insider threat detection — user and endpoint behavior analytics. Controlio can collect an abundance of data, such as keywords or operations with documents (optional), to differentiate between normal behaviors/events and suspicious anomalies.
• Fast and thorough security investigations — immutable audit trails. Controlio maintains reliable audit logs containing records of all user actions in the system and adds screen recordings (optional) to provide a strong body of evidence.

Although that’s not all the goals you can achieve with proper employee monitoring software, this list will help you understand which features are the most important for you.

3. What are other parameters worth paying for?

Even a feature-rich piece of software can result in a frustrating experience if you fail to consider other vital aspects:

• Scalability
  Since the number of your worker can change over time, you need a scalable solution, which will grow with your team adding no headaches to your IT department. Cloud-based apps are the most flexible in this regard, but Controlio products cover all bases and allow you to opt for a virtual machine with nested virtualization as an alternative to basic data storage and processing in industry-leading cloud infrastructure like AWS. Moreover, most Controlio’s versions come with an unlimited number of remote consoles to easily accommodate all people granted proper access.
• Customization
  You won’t get accurate results and enjoy working with a tool if it cannot be adapted to the specifics of your business. Of course, custom-made solutions can meet your purposes in the best possible way, but the price tag will be truly hefty. So, you will get optimal value for money with a highly customizable piece of software, such as Controlio. It allows you to create multiple monitoring profiles tailored to specific purposes or job duties, set up various schedules, finetune web & app categories and productivity levels, group users to mimic your company structure, and more.
• Security
  You don’t want your company’s productivity data to be intercepted by hackers or misused by your own staffers, the more so that some of the logs can contain your customer information as well. That’s why you need a secure solution with all the data properly encrypted when traveling online, two-factor authentication, controlled access to the dashboard, highly protected data storage, and audit logs tracking privileged users. Controlio ensures all these security measures for your peace of mind.
• Support
  No matter how proficient your IT team is, there is always a chance that you will need a word of advice from software developers. And since you will likely need it fast, 24/7 support paired with a choice of communication channels is a must. Controlio’s help desk is available around-the-clock via live chat, and it also provides free support via phone and email. Besides, you can find many answers in the FAQ section or easily accessible knowledge base.
• Compliance
  It will be tricky to implement employee monitoring in some fields without fixing compliance issues. If your company needs to obey the GDPR, FISMA, HIPAA, or other regulations on cyber security, data processing, and privacy protection, you should check whether an employee monitoring app of your choice gives you such possibilities. For example, Controlio has a purpose-built GDPR mode for companies working with EU-based manpower, informs users of the monitoring as required by the CCPA, and provides flexible settings to meet HIPAA and similar regulations.

What’s the price?

Actually, some monitoring apps are available for free, although with reduced functionality and other limitations. While the free versions can work fine for really small teams, you will have to dip into your pocket if wishing to unlock the true potential of this software type. And since it comes in a wide array of features and pricing plans, you need to know what to look for when comparing the prices:

• Pricing model
  Most vendors offer the ‘per user per month’ model, which can be costly for fast-growing companies and large enterprises with thousands of employees. If it is your case, it’s better to opt for an enterprise-level solution with a volume discount, such as Controlio’s products with the discount offered for 100+ licenses. Also, make sure to consider services billed annually rather than monthly, as you can save a good deal of money with annual plans.
• Installation costs
  When choosing between on-prem and cloud-based solutions, you should evaluate your existing IT infrastructure, as adding extra servers for local data storage is sure to affect the whole budget. Besides, a simple installation procedure will require just a couple of your IT specialist’ paid hours, while complicated deployment will cost more time and money. Controlio products are easy to install and set up, so you will be able to cut down your expenses even when deploying them on your servers.
• Training costs
  If your team can use an app straight away after the installation, you can give it another score for cost-efficiency. A steep learning curve steals working hours you are expected to use more efficiently, and each new onboarding will turn into a bottleneck you are supposed to eliminate. With Controlio’s user-friendly interfaces, consistent designs, and simple-to-follow tutorials, you are ready to go with little to no training.

Now you know all the basics of choosing a solution that will best suit your company’s goals and fit your budget.

In fact, not only employers but also employees can benefit from the implementation of workforce monitoring since the tool works both ways if handled properly. However, if your staffers have a prejudice against it, you can arrive at increased stress and decreased morale and motivation, which doesn’t help to improve productivity and lead the company to success. So, you do need to put some effort into convincing your team that you are not going to spy on them and that their privacy rights are respected. Here is your checklist for introducing employee monitoring to your crew in the right way.

Be transparent

Although many employee monitoring apps, and Controlio is among them, can run in stealth mode, it doesn’t mean you should use this possibility without urgent necessity. On the contrary, the best way to go is by informing your staffers about your intention and explaining the reasons and goals behind the software implementation. You need to convey a persuasive message that you make this move not because you mistrust your team but because you need to address specific challenges hindering your company’s efficiency or posing a risk to its security. You should also discuss privacy concerns and show that you will take all possible measures to prevent an intrusion upon their privacy.

Explain benefits

Your crew will be more likely to accept the new rules of the game if they see the benefits they can reap from the monitoring implementation. The whole list will depend on the software of your choice, but the most common advantages include:

• no tedious manual time logging and reporting
• faster and more accurate payments
• automatically delivered proof of work
• fair recognition of top performers
• more balanced workloads
• implementation of WFH and hybrid work models
• customized work schedules
• no annoying micromanagement
• fewer workplace distractions
• better tech stack at their disposal
• more space for personal growth and faster career advancement based on their own productivity insights

A study published by the International Society for Performance Improvement proves that shifting the focus toward positive outcomes received by employees can enhance performance without producing negative effects.

Take a test drive

A picture is worth a thousand words, so your arguments will look more convincing if you engage your crew in the buying process. Since many vendors offer trial versions of their products (Controlio has both a live demo and a free 14-day trial), you can invite your staffers to test drive several options at no expense. This will help your team better understand how everything works, and this will help you choose the best solution with a user-friendly interface, good performance, and fast learning curve. The adoption of software will go much smoother if it is pre-approved by your team.

Write a policy

Having a written employee monitoring policy will not only remove risks of legal issues but will also facilitate the onboarding process in your company. For the policy to work as intended, it must tick all the boxes:

• be written in plain language;
• explain all the aspects of the monitoring (when it takes place, what data is collected, where and for how long it is stored, how it is used, who can access it, and so on);
• contain relevant legal provisions;
• specify the company’s officials responsible for providing clarification and receiving feedback;
• include procedures triggered in case of policy violations;
• be published before the software deployment;
• be read and signed by all your workers.

Please note that you can enable special warnings in Controlio products to remind your employees of the monitoring and direct them to your policy or officials in charge of its implementation.

Manage adoption

Some executives make a big mistake by stopping here and letting chips fall where they may. All difficulties and inconveniences your team may face while adopting the software will backfire on their productivity and satisfaction if left unattended. You can mitigate these risks by doing a couple of simple things:

• Provide training
  Not all your employees are equally tech-savvy, so some of them can have issues with adopting even the most user-friendly app. Organize fun and engaging training sessions for your staffers to remove the resistance toward the new software and save working hours otherwise spent inefficiently.
• Encourage feedback
  Although the software can be already vetted by your team, there can still be various frictions associated with the app customization to your company’s specifics or the use of data collected by the software. Don’t hesitate to ask your new and existing staffers about their experience and possible improvements, as open communication establishes trust and strengthens the company culture.
• Express gratitude
  Even if some of your team members remain critical of employee monitoring, you can make them more enthusiastic by expressing gratitude for the effort they put into the software adoption. Besides, you can derive actionable ideas from negative feedback too, so it’s another reason to offer thanks.