With remote working becoming such a common thing for many organizations nowadays, it is only reasonable for employers to track their remote employee’s productivity. Every employer needs to know whether their staff is working or if they are just wasting time.
For some firms, we can say that they have been forced to transition to working remotely due to the unprecedented circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. So, it’s only fair to say that working remotely is no longer for the chosen few.
Most of the tools are created to monitor the software and keep track of the activities of the remote workforce. Some of it helps you know how much time an employee spends on a specific task, app, or site.
With the right tools in place, it will be easy for employers to assess the productivity levels of their employees. As an employer, you want something that will let you know if your employees are working.
Are they procrastinating their deliverables? How are they keeping productive? How do I know that they are staying productive? Regardless of whether it’s a startup or a big company, there’s always a suitable tool.
Importance of a Remote Employee Tracking Tool
Having a monitoring tool for your business is both beneficial to the company as well as the staff members. Some of these benefits include the following:
- It will enhance employee accountability when it comes to their daily output. Employees will be motivated to work harder and produce better results.
- There’s less worry when it comes to billing and payment, especially for freelancers and independent contractors.
- It helps build trust between both parties because, as an employer, you know the work you’re paying for will be completed effectively and on time.
- There is an ease in project monitoring. You will be able to determine the part of the project that requires specific resources or any additional time.
- Remote employee tracking also ensures effective project management. You also get to save on time and resources since micromanaging won’t be necessary.
How to Select the Right Monitoring Tools for my Business?
When selecting a suitable tool, it is advisable to choose one that will be beneficial to your business in terms of helping you enhance your employees’ productivity. Below are some of the things that can help you select the best tool:
- Determine why your business needs a remote employee tracking software or tool. Do you want to monitor your employees’ productivity, performance, or perhaps increase billing? The reasons might vary depending on your type of business.
- Once you identify a reason, look for a tool that will suit your needs accordingly.
- After establishing the right tool for your business, you should explain it to your employees. Make them understand the purpose and benefit of the tool towards their productivity and accountability in the workplace.
- Check-in after a certain period, say one month or two weeks to get feedback from your team members, and also assess the benefit of the tool.
Tools for Monitoring Remote Employee Productivity
With a wide variety of options available when it comes to productivity monitoring tools, it’s only right to select one that will be more effective with your business.
Of course, when we say tools for tracking your employees’ productivity, it doesn’t mean that you should turn into a stalker or invade your employees’ privacy.
Is invasion of privacy an issue when it comes to tracking employees’ productivity? Well, when you’re on company equipment, there’s not much to be said on privacy rights. Your boss is probably monitoring every activity during your working hours.
In the US, most employees have very few privacy rights when one is working on company equipment. Therefore, employers need to settle for a suitable software or monitoring technique when tracking remote employees—especially those not using company equipment.
Some of the tools and techniques that employers can utilize to engage and monitor their employees remotely include the following:
1. Time Doctor
Time Doctor is one of the tracking tools that enable employers to track the productivity and individual performance of each employee. You also get to follow the time spent on each project and receive reports via email.
Not only do you get to monitor your employees, but you can also use the software for project management. Time Doctor is also simple to use. Employees don’t have to worry about any privacy invasion because they can delete screenshots that contain any sensitive information.
One downside associated with the app is that the chrome extension is limited, making the desktop app more suitable. The app is also best suited for companies and not freelancers.
2. Toggl
Toggl is easy to use and also has features suited for efficient task management and time tracking for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Toggl can also be integrated into various tools across different industries and has keyboard tracking to monitor employees’ activity.
On the downside, the distraction management capabilities are limited because the app does not show the sites where the employees are spending most of their time.
3. RescueTime
RescueTime tracks time spent on a particular site during your work hours. You get to specify your productivity goals and receive detailed reports concerning time usage, thus helping you know how to improve your employees’ productivity.
Being a platform that runs in the background, you can block the sites that you perceive as destructive and also integrate it with different tools.
One disadvantage of this app is that it cannot be operated offline. Also, you can’t track time spent on a specific task or project since it only tells time spent on a particular site or tool.
4. Hubstaff
Hubstaff provides for URL and app monitoring, making it easy for you to track the sites visited by your employees daily. Just like some of the other tools we’ve looked at, you also get time tracking and screen capture features.
Your team also gets to monitor their productivity across other platforms since the tool can easily be integrated with other apps.
Although the tool is free for teams of up to five people, it is rather costly for larger organizations.
5. Teramind
Teramind has several features ranging from hardware and software tracking, user activity monitoring to endpoint security.
With the ability to analyze user behavior, you can monitor an unlimited number of users and also detect any malicious activities.
A disadvantage of the software is that it is costly and also, the many features can be overwhelming to some.
Conclusion
There are plenty of monitoring tools that you can use on your business, but you also have to consider the most suitable one. This ranges from options like Hivedesk, Timely, Slack, IDoneThis, ActivTrak, to Everhour, among others.
With this guide, you’ll be able to determine the best tool for your business. Also, employee productivity won’t be something you have to worry about because, with the right tool, your staff will be more accountable for their daily tasks.
Other than that, we can’t forget that some of the tools like Slack or Zoom, enhance collaboration between clients and co-workers. This ensures the smooth running of the business thanks to the effective communication on these platforms.
Last but not least, you need to keep in mind that the wrong approach towards employee monitoring can have an intense impact on morale.
