What Type of Employee Monitoring System Do You Need?

What are the different types of employee monitoring tools?

Before you select the best employee monitoring system for your business, it’s important to understand the different monitoring options available. By narrowing down the specific features and tools your business requires, you can determine which monitoring system suits you best. Here’s an overview of the different types of workplace monitoring tools you can use to keep tabs on your team. 

Time tracking

Automated time and attendance systems accurately record the number of hours employees work. This helps prevent employee time theft, which has been reported to be four hours a week or more. Paper time sheets leave room for dishonesty and error, because people can write down times they didn’t work. More sophisticated biometric time-punching solutions protect your business against buddy punching, which is when an employee clocks in for another employee who isn’t at work.

Keystroke logging

Keystroke logging, also called keylogging, records the keystrokes your employees type on company devices and electronic communications. Essentially, you can track what your staff types and set alerts for certain language or phrases you’d like to be aware of. While keystroke logging can benefit some companies, others view it as an invasion of employee privacy.

When we spoke with Susan Fahey Desmond, a seasoned attorney with McGlinchey Stafford, she elaborated further on this potential invasion of privacy.

“The use of software to monitor [your employees’] every move can appear to be an invasion of privacy,” Desmond told us. “An employee who is working from home is more likely to feel that their privacy is being violated even if the employee is using employer-provided equipment. Employees frequently report increased anxiety when they know that an employer is using monitoring software.”

As a result, it’s important to consider invasive features like keystroke logging very carefully before you implement them. 

GPS tracking

If your business is in the delivery industry or provides company cars to workers, GPS tracking is ideal for checking your drivers’ locations. It’s also a time-saver — instead of calling or texting your employees about their whereabouts, you can check their status through the tracking program. 

Video surveillance

This tool observes employees to ensure they’re working productively. Video surveillance can also protect your business against theft and vandalism, especially during nonbusiness hours.

Website browsing trackers

With website tracking tools, you can see employees’ browser histories, including the sites employees visit and how long they spend on each site.  

Application monitoring

You can track everything your employees do on downloaded applications and software programmed into company devices, as well as access saved documents and data within those programs.

Email tracking

Email tracking lets you see the messages your employees receive and send. Software that creates daily backups also gives you access to every employee’s deleted or archived messages.

Social media tracking

This monitoring tool allows you to view information shared on social media accounts. You can also see what instant messages are being sent back and forth on these channels. Some employee monitoring software translates this data into graphs or other visuals so you know how much time employees spend on social media sites.

Key cards

Key cards make it easy to see when employees enter the building or various locations within the workplace. If key cards are used to access locations and devices, it becomes easy to see where employees are going and get an idea of what they are doing throughout the day.

With radio-frequency identification (RFID), key cards can do significantly more. RFID technology allows the key cards to interact with monitoring equipment in several ways. It becomes possible to see where employees are at all times during the workday, thus allowing you to keep up with attendance and workflow. You can also use key cards to access computer terminals or other essential equipment to see what tools your employees are using. 

Network monitoring

As the name indicates, network monitoring keeps track of traffic through your company’s computer networks. This allows you to monitor basic metrics with ease. Each employee has to use a specific login ID with any device on the network, so you can see when and where they are connected.

Beyond the basics, network monitoring allows you to track employee behavior in unique and important ways. Digital security relies more on employee behavior than any of your advanced security systems do. Your network monitoring system allows you to identify and flag risky behavior as soon as it emerges. In this way, your employee monitoring system spots behavior that puts the whole company at risk.

You can also use network monitoring to get a feel for productivity. Not all improper network behavior is risky. By keeping tabs on the network, you can see how often employees use their computers for tasks that are unrelated to work. Network monitoring rolls attendance, behavior monitoring, cybersecurity and productivity tracking into one monitoring system.

Project management apps

One way to track employees’ progress on individual assignments or tasks is via project management software. Although project management apps aren’t considered employee monitoring solutions per se, they can help you achieve the same goal.

You can break down tasks for each team member and follow their workflow without requesting updates. You’ll see summaries of employees’ progress, which helps you manage your team without pouring hours into reminder emails or briefings. 

Project management software’s scheduling and task management features let employees know your expectations. It’s a great hands-off approach that allows you to examine your team members’ work ethic and activity without having to communicate with them directly.

Why do businesses monitor their employees? 

Although you shouldn’t use employee monitoring software to spy on your workers, employee monitoring can be helpful for keeping track of employees’ activity, maintaining company security and identifying any weak points for improvement.

“[Employers] can monitor an employee’s activities throughout the day, giving them valuable information about an employee’s production or even whether the employee is adhering to company policies,” Desmond said. 

Your business and its future viability rely on the quality of the work your employees produce. As a business owner, you are responsible for ensuring that operations run smoothly so you can deliver quality goods and services to your customers on time.

Implementing a workplace monitoring system is not only about catching wayward employees; it ensures that your staff is aware of your expectations and that you’re paying attention to the activity within your company.

Although companies can have many reasons for using monitoring software, it’s important for those reasons to be business-specific. This is not only a good business practice but can also help you on the legal front. 

“I advise companies that while employee monitoring software is legal, its use must be carefully balanced against privacy rights and legal risks,” said Justin Schnitzer, managing partner at the Law Office of Justin Schnitzer. “Key features should focus on legitimate business needs, like productivity tracking and cybersecurity, rather than intrusive surveillance.” 

What are the benefits of using employee monitoring tools?

Employee monitoring can have several advantages, as long as you do it strategically and with specific goals in mind. Here are some common monitoring benefits for business owners.

Improved employee productivity

Employees work more efficiently when they know they are being monitored, which, in turn, increases company profits. When employees are aware that their employer is watching their activity, they are more mindful of their behavior and the work they produce. This is why simply implementing and discussing the use of monitoring software with your employees can enhance productivity. 

Additionally, employee monitoring software can provide you with a wealth of information about how employees use company devices and what they do throughout the workday. This data can help to identify who is doing well and who might be falling behind. When armed with data about an underperformer, you can quickly address the situation or create a performance improvement plan to get them back on track.

Similarly, workforce metrics can help identify who might be working too much. Employee burnout is a huge productivity killer, so you want to address employees who are overworked as well. Encouraging employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance can improve productivity.

Data security

One of the main reasons employers choose to implement employee monitoring software is its sheer power in providing data security. Protecting sensitive data is critical. For example, company data — such as private business files, account login details and customer records — is sensitive information that you can’t afford to lose in the hands of the wrong people. Employee monitoring tools help you review employee interactions with this data so you can ensure it is not being misused.

In addition to tracking what information employees are accessing and sharing, monitoring software can help secure your business through features such as content filtering and blocking, which allow you to control what employees can access in the first place.  

Legal protection

Although this is a benefit you will probably hope to never need, monitoring software can serve as legal protection for your business. For example, let’s say you were forced to terminate an employee after discovering they were performing malicious activity on a company device. As a result, they became disgruntled and sought litigation against you, claiming discrimination. Having employee monitoring data to support your claims could protect your business.

“From a legal perspective, monitoring can help companies document employee actions, which might protect them in case of disputes or accusations of misconduct,” said Paul Koenigsberg, managing partner at Koenigsberg & Associates. “However, businesses must balance these objectives with employees’ right to privacy, making it essential to stay within legal limits to avoid potential claims of invasion of privacy.”

To avoid crossing legal boundaries, Koenigsberg suggested that employers stick to monitoring essential data, respect off-hours privacy and avoid personal areas, like non-work-related phone calls or personal emails. It’s also recommended that you implement transparent monitoring policies that employees are aware of and consent to. 

“By setting clear, fair policies and training managers on respectful monitoring, companies can protect their legal interests without risking privacy violations, keeping the workplace both productive and legally compliant,” Koenigsberg said.

Optimized workflows

You can use the insights you gain from workplace surveillance to make better decisions for your company and identify errors or changes you need to make.

For example, you may learn that certain assignments do better with fewer employees or that some team members are more useful on some projects than others. You may also find out which employees are unmotivated.

You can leverage this information to not only check whether employees are working but also further assess their overall performance. By evaluating this type of data, you can spot errors or issues before they become harmful to your business and, in turn, make good choices for your company.

Simone Johnson contributed to this article.