Let’s immediately start off with a little known fact about employee monitoring systems: they’ve been around since the 19th century. In 1888, a company that later evolved to become a tech giant we now know as IBM has started to implement first timesheets that were used to track how much time exactly the employees spend at work.
Fast forward some 130 years, and we’re now dealing with the computer software that does a little more than this time-tracking and monitoring who came and left when.
No More Punching the Clock?
A lot of things have dramatically changed over the course of that period of almost a century and a half. Back in the 1880s and the following decades, the employers were mostly content knowing the fact that their employees are at least spending their time working the shifts they’re supposed to. But slacking and procrastinating has been in our nature probably since the dawn of time, so people have adapted rather quickly to this. That’s when ’punching the clock’ became the (only) ’way out’ from the usual job routine.
With the latest tech trends, this habit has become a relic of the past. Now employees have an opportunity to monitor their workers all across the board. It doesn’t matter whether they’re surfing the web, using the apps, reading and writing e-mails, talking on the phone, or texting – there’s always a good chance and a possibility to know what exactly the employees are doing and at what time.
Monitoring Internet and App Usage
In today’s day and age, most of the jobs get done through computers, especially through the internet and different apps. It’s no wonder the companies have found the way to turn this into their advantage.
You can now monitor the activity of your employees all the time – no matter if they’re just browsing the web casually or using apps that keep them from getting the job done the right way.
Tracking E-mails
Many people don’t know that employees can also track their e-mails at work. This can be a rather risky thing to do, so make sure you’re not breaking any laws in your country if you decide to do this. E-mail tracking has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially due to the fact that employees have found ways to put off their work by pretending they’re being busy reading or writing e-mails. Sometimes they use this as a way to correspond to people that aren’t in any way connected to their job activities.
With staff tracking software, this problem can also become a thing of the past very quickly. Once you realize who are the people you can count on to get the job done, everything becomes much easier. The decision-making process of who to hire and who to fire also gets less complicated. With concrete evidence about the workers’ activities, you don’t have to worry about whether you’ve made a correct assessment in regards to someone’s level of effort.
Recording Computer Screens
If you realize that going through your employees’ e-mails is something that the law in your country doesn’t condone, there are other ways to make the most out of the monitoring software.
For instance, computer screen recordings are sometimes allowed, especially if you own the equipment. This computer screen activity can also tell you a lot about your workers – who are slacking too much, and who’s working their tail off for the betterment of the company.
Listening To the Conversation Over the Phone
This one can be a bit tricky since you’re not supposed to listen to your employee’s conversation when they’re off work. This is really important even though the employees might be using the company’s phones.
It’s something that most definitely can be done with the employee monitoring software, but you should keep in mind that this can potentially be a rather risky move.
Video and Audio Surveillance
Video and audio surveillance is fairly common these days and it’s been utilized by most firms.
By installing cameras and microphones all around the place you’re not only monitoring the customers and people who come in and out, but you can also see what your employees are doing at any given time.
Tracking the Vehicles Using GPS
In case you employ workers that aren’t connected to just one base but travel frequently as a part of their regular job routine, you should be aware that you can also monitor and track them via GPS.
Keep in mind that you should also probably tell your employees that they’re being monitored. If they’re not aware of this fact, they can end-up suing you and damaging the company in the long run.
Conclusion
Whatever you decide to do with your employee monitoring system, the first thing we’d advise you to do is check if this complies with the law, and various other rules and regulations.
Employee monitoring systems can be an awesome tool to increase the profit of your company by knowing exactly what everyone’s been up to and when. On top of this, you can also make your employees feel a lot of safer with this software and its possibilities: if their job includes an element of risk, it’s always better if they know in advance that the help can be quickly on the way, no matter what happens.
