If you’re a business owner or an attendance tracking software, you must be aware of employee monitoring. In fact, employee monitoring has been around for quite some time now. Every small and large-scale business is using different employee monitoring methods to keep a check on their employees.
With the passage of time, employee monitoring tools have also evolved. Thanks to advanced technology, companies can now use different employee monitoring methods to track their employees. Some install employee monitoring software on the employees’ computer devices whereas others install the best spy app for Android or iPhone when they need to spy on their employees’ smartphones.
Using these employee monitoring tools, employers can monitor their employees effectively and find out what they are up to. Employee monitoring offers several benefits to a company. It increases employee productivity, employee engagement, and reduces the risk of data breaches in a company.
In this post, we are going to explore the most popular and common types of employee monitoring tools that a company can use in today’s age. Let’s take a look at them.
Most Popular Types of Employee Monitoring Tools
Companies use employee monitoring tools to gather information about employee performance, computer, and internet use as well as their location. By using employee monitoring tools, employers can know what their employees are doing and how they are spending their time during working hours.
For example, if an employee is busy watching an online movie on his computer instead of finishing his assignment, he can be easily identified with the help of employee monitoring software. With the help of employee monitoring tools, employers can easily detect lazy employees and slackers. Also, they can identify employees who work hard and only focus on their office tasks during working hours.
If you are concerned about your employees wasting too much time at work or you suspect that some of your employees are sharing the company’s confidential data with outsiders, you should definitely consider getting deployed employee monitoring software or any other form of employee surveillance that can make your monitoring easier.
Below, we have mentioned some most common methods of employee monitoring that you can use to track your employees.
Video Surveillance (CCTV Cameras)
Video surveillance or the use of CCTV cameras in the workplace is one of the most popular types of employee monitoring. Video monitoring is usually used for security reasons than for actually keeping an eye on employees’ activities. Some studies have shown that most companies are using video monitoring tools or CCTV cameras to prevent the business from theft, violence, or vandalism.
There are very few companies that use CCTV cameras to monitor employee’s location, real-time activities, as well as their productivity as in most industries it is not virtually possible.
Some countries have made video surveillance mandatory because it provides health and safety to the overall office environment. In those countries, all employers need to install CCTV cameras in the workplace for health and safety reasons. By having video surveillance in the workplace, you can keep a check on your employees all the time and see if they are not misbehaving with others, stealing something from the office property, or creating violence.
Keycards
The majority of companies are using keycards to keep a check on their employees. Every employee is issued a keycard of their own and with the help of this keycard, they can easily move around the office building.
Each keycard consists of a chip. As soon as the keycard is swiped at the door, the system automatically recognizes whether or not the employee has access to that area of the office building. If they do have access, the door will be opened for them. If they don’t, then the door won’t open and they won’t be able to pass through.
With the help of keycards, employers can know at what time each employee comes to work and in which part of the office building they are present at the moment. Employers can track the attendance and punctuality of their employees by using keycards. Also, in case of some suspicious activity in the office building, you can always open the logs and see which employee was present in that area of the building.
Alternatively, if your employees are working from home or keycards are out of your budget, you can consider an attendance tracking software and use it as a keycard replacement.
Network Monitoring
Employers also use network monitoring to track the traffic that passes through the company’s network system. Most companies use a router or a firewall that scans all the email addresses and content that is being used on the company’s network.
By using network monitoring tools, employers can detect infected devices, computers, smartphones, malicious data, and any suspicious network activity. You can also find out who is trying to access certain files on the network. In addition to that, you can also find out who is trying to download or edit documents available on the network.
Internet and Social Media Monitoring
Some employee monitoring tools help you monitor your employee’s internet and social media use during office hours. By installing iPhone or Android spy software on your employee’s smartphone, you can see what they are doing on the internet and social media.
It is true that the use of the internet and social media is essential for every business so you cannot think of banning sites or social media apps to prevent your employees from accessing them. For example, if you are running a marketing agency, you would require your employees to access social media sites. Hence, you cannot think of blocking them.
Thankfully, we do have a bunch of employee monitoring tools that can monitor your employee’s web and social media activity. You can find out what sites or apps they are accessing, what sort of content they are viewing, and how much time they are spending on the internet.
Email Monitoring
All emails exchanged through a company’s email account cannot be considered private. Many companies use email hosting services and they also have admin access to them that allows all emails to be tracked.
When employers are monitoring the employee emails, they can also filter the spam emails before they reach the employee’s inbox. By doing this, companies can reduce the bandwidth and also decrease security risks. However, employers must know that not all spam emails are spam in reality. That is why it is recommended to filter the spam emails frequently to make sure any important email from a client does not end up in the spam folder by accident.
