Since working from home is becoming the new normal across workplaces and industries, employers are looking for ways to monitor remote employees using software. These tools have assumed significant importance as valuable resources in increasing efficiency, control, and effective coordination across the team working from home. In this blog, we will discuss the top 10 Remote Employee monitoring software, their potential benefits, and how to choose the right remote employee monitoring tool.
What is Remote Employee Monitoring Software?
Remote employee handling software is a method used and developed to measure and control the effectiveness of employees working for an organization from a distance. These solutions provide features like time tracking, activity tracking, screen capturing, and reporting features. These tools are useful for employers to understand how the employees spend their time and thus improve resource allocation and productivity as well as managing the teams.
Types of Monitoring Features
- Time Tracking: This has the advantage of enabling employers to monitor how long each of his employees spends at work or what he is doing for a given period. This is very vital in line with the management is areareal environments.
- Activity Monitoring: This monitors the Applications and Websites being accessed by employees, in order to understand employee productivity and look for signs of employee wastage of time. This is particularly important in software to monitor employees out of sight.
- Screen Capturing: Some programs allow the manager to schedule the system to capture the computer display of an employee at a given time.
- Keystroke Logging: This feature monitors the stroke of the keys of an employee, and gives a measure of the activity/inactivity and waking sleeping pattern of the employee, though it is an infringement on the employee‘s privacy rights.
- Reporting and Analytics: These tools give the managers facts relating to productivity trends which in turn can be used to make decisions from and in enhancing performance and workload levels.
Benefits of Remote Employee Monitoring Software
- Increased Productivity: With the help of tracking what and how employees spend their work time, the latter can be optimized and individual recommendations can be provided for the effective completion of important tasks. With the help of such insights, it is possible to increase the general performance to a great extent.
- Accountability: When using the monitoring software, the employees develop an ethic of responsibility since they know their activities are being tracked and evaluated. Such awareness can also contribute to the effort and performance of employees to meet their set deadlines.
- Improved Communication: Most of the employees’ monitoring and attendance tools have integrated communication channels to help members of the remote team work together and stay on track. Elements such as communication through chats, video meetings, and project progress make the team even more unified.
- Data-Driven Decisions: These tools allow the manager to make proper decisions regarding workload, the timing of a particular project and performance appraisal of its workforce. It leads to effective planning in resource management and allocating tasks in a way that we can align the team’s tasks with the objectives of the organization.
- Enhanced Security: With tools such as screen recording and activity logs, businesses can prevent data leakage and guarantee adherence to the companies’ rules and regulations as well as the requirements of the industries within which the companies operate. This is especially important for organizations that are likely to come across sensitive information.
- Employee Development: There is also a way through which the monitoring software can be used in identifying some of the activities that employees engage in that may require one to be trained further. From this perspective, organizations get an opportunity to identify areas that require employees’ skills enhancement and provide relevant development.
- Remote Work Compliance: Some monitoring devices aid an organization in ensuring that people working remotely follow organizational standards hence business can be in compliance with the laws governing the industry.
- Reduced Turnover Rates: The increase in accountability and employee engagement arising from monitoring software, can result in increased job satisfaction and, therewith, lower turnover rates; effectively removing time and cost that may have been spent by organisations on recruitment and training
Top 10 Remote Employee Monitoring Software
1. Time Doctor
Time Doctor is a time-tracking application that is designed for remote working environments. This way, it allows employers to track how the employee devotes his/her working hours to different tasks, using reports and analysis. These include for instance; real-time time tracking, screen captures, and distraction alerts which assist employees in staying on bands.
On this subject, Time Doctor reveals patterns in productivity thus helping managers understand the strengths and weaknesses of the system. These outcomes are particularly valuable for firms that seek to improve organizational governance and team effectiveness.
Key features
- Real-Time Time Tracking: This enables employees to record their working hours spent on different activities in real-time.
- Screen Captures: Taking screenshots once in a while of employee screens makes them more responsible, and produces transparency of work activities.
- Distraction Alerts: Reminders to the employees when they seem to be out of focus with work activities, can be useful.
- Detailed Reports: Produces reports that assist in analyzing productivity and time usage and assists managers in evaluating such performances.
- Integrations: Integrated with numerous project management and communication tools to enhance the flow of how work is conducted.
Best Used For Tracking productivity and time management for remote teams.
Website: timedoctor.com
Ratings: 4.5/5
2. Hubstaff
Hubstaff is what many individuals consider a complete tool for time tracking and managing projects of any size that involve remote employees. It has employees tracking through GPS, especially those who are on assignment, operational timesheets, and employee productivity tracking. Hubstaff also includes compatibility with various project management tools, meaning that it is easier to work with in one hub.
The mobile app enables the employee by providing the ability to log their hours on a mobile device while the manager receives a detailed report of activity to enable them to better manage resources and monitor productivity. The platform is versatile, and intuitive and has several features that make it especially useful for companies interested in enhancing their remote employees’ supervision.
Key features
- GPS Tracking: Can track the availability of remote and field employees and calculate, how many hours the employee spent in distinct areas.
- Time Tracking and Timesheets: Simple timesheets for punching in the number of hours on the project to support precise payroll computation.
- Productivity Monitoring: Monitors employee’s activity and prepares reports aimed at determining the level of work done by the employees.
- Project Management Integrations: Integrates with many project management applications, thus providing a control centre for tasks and people.
- Mobile App: Enables them to clock from their mobile devices which makes it convenient for employees who work remotely.
Best Used For: Comprehensive-time tracking and project management for remote employees.
Website: hubstaff.com
Ratings: 4.6/5
3. Toggl Track
Toggl Track is particularly popular and well-appreciated as a time-tracking application. It enables its users to enter their hours in a few clicks and offers efficiency reports that break out the general progress in hours over time. Toggl is compatible with many other project management solutions allowing several teams to log the time they spend on particular projects.
Tags are also available for more specific sorting of the information, as well as project categories to sort the work in the best way. If you work primarily in a remote fashion and are looking for a simple yet highly effective time management tool, Toggl Track will adequately suffice.
Key features
- Simple Time Entry: Able to record working hours without much stress.
- Efficiency Reports: Helps in producing and presenting reports, which highlight work progress in the past and/ or between different tasks.
- Tagging and Categorization: Users can assign certain tasks or notes to any category to simplify the work identification process and generate summary reports of workflow.
- Integrations: Integrated with many of the project management and collaboration tools to make work bureaucratic.
Best Used For: Simple and effective time tracking for teams and freelancers.
Website: toggl.com/track
Ratings: 4.7/5
4. ActivTrak
ActivTrak is focused on workplace employee characteristic tracking and workplace efficiency measurement. It displays information about their usage in real-time to provide information about the employees’ time-spending and possible interruptions. ActivTrak provides managers with graphics of productivity patterns, for them to identify problems that may need attention.
The software can produce performance reports that show how engaged employees are and the extent to which tasks are completed, helping organisations get a better handle on productivity issues in distributed teams. Having a clear vision based on data that supports the work environment results in the improvement of the execution process as well as supporting employee development.
Key features
- Real-Time Activity Monitoring: Analyse users’ behaviour and productivity instantly to give employers information regarding the employees.
- Productivity Analytics: Studies working routines and produces reports that reveal useful and wasteful behaviours.
- User Behavior Reports: Provides specific accounts of the employees and the time they devote to specific assignments.
- Alerts and Notifications: Alerts that allow a manager to be informed about time providing an opportunity to address potential problems, i.e., long idle time.
- Integration Capabilities: Interacts with many tools and solutions for the overall improvement of productivity management.
Best Used For Monitoring employee productivity and engagement.
Website: activtrak.com
Ratings: 4.4/5
5. Teramind
Teramind is a strong employee monitoring tool that offers great tracking features. Besides, they include screen capturing, keylogging, and sending the output to the organization as soon as some suspicious activity occurs. This ensures that with Teramind’s analytic tools, managers can be able to gauge the performance of the employees, check on their level of compliance as well and look for signs of security threats.
With its productivity tracking integrated into an opaque security framework, Teramind can best serve workplaces that value high efficiency, matched with stringent protection of their employees’ work and the company’s assets. They can also support features for reporting each individual and team and their productive outputs.
Key features
- Comprehensive Employee Monitoring: This involves window capturing, keylogging as well and monitoring of all activities for composite supervision.
- Real-Time Alerts: Alerts managers of certain activities or violations of policies thus improving security.
- Productivity Tracking: Measures efficiency and capacity and gives information on the usage of time.
- Data Security Features: Lists of the procedures for controlling and tracking data transfers and access to critical data.
- Detailed Reporting: Writes large documents that can be used effectively to assess workers’ productivity and determine the training needs.
Best Used For Comprehensive monitoring and security for sensitive data.
Website: Teramind.co
Ratings: 4.3/5
6. Kickidler
Kickidler is an employee monitoring tool that takes screenshots and logs the activity of individuals and teams working remotely. It gives detailed reports on productivity hence enabling the manager to assess the employees’ productivity in a broad perspective. Features of Kickidler are employee attendance tracking, timing and identification of time spent on jobs.
What is important about the above data is that visualization allows managers to understand the flow of workload and potentially spot bottlenecks. Kickidler also enforces responsibility since people receive information on what the team has achieved and what they have done towards realizing the set objectives.
Key features
- Screen Recording: Takes snap-shoots of employees’ monitors to give physical evidence of their working process.
- User Behavior Analysis: Monitors the time spent on different activities and domains to help with managing assessments regarding employees’ productivity.
- Attendance Monitoring: Maintains records of people’s presence and the time taken to complete assignments.
- Productivity Reports: Here give complete reports enabling the managers to evaluate the productivity standards in the team.
- Alerts for Policy Violations: Alerts managers to possible violations of organizational rules or regulations or types of behaviour that are unrelated to work.
Best Used For Detailed employee monitoring with a focus on on-screen activity.
Website: kickidler.com
Ratings: 4.2/5
7. Clockify
Clockify is a time-tracking solution that contains features for employee monitoring. Users can input time spent on certain activities and classify work to ensure optimum output. It is highly effective and can be easily utilised for the generation of reports that indicate how teams map out their time with various projects and activities.
For instance, Clockify may lack the same extent of monitoring as other dedicated tools, but its basic approach to tracking and training remote teams is highly appealing to organizations trying to strengthen their time management.
Key features
- Time Tracking: Bi-Functional basics for recording hours worked on assignments and endeavours.
- Reporting Features: Produces reports showing how time is spent which is helpful in scheduling tasks, as well as, invoicing.
- Task Categorization: Enables users to work with personal time sheets to create categories through which she or he can better organize and constantly monitor time usage.
- Team Collaboration: Promotes team utility, allowing managers to monitor and coordinate the work of several subordinates’ attendance.
- Free Version Available: Provides a highly capable free version that is sufficient for small groups or one person.
Best Used For: Simple time tracking for teams and freelancers.
Website: clockify.me
Ratings: 4.5/5
8. Workpuls
Workpuls is an application that integrates both time tracking and employee monitoring to show how remote employees spend their time and how they plan their tasks. It can monitor tasks and productivity and within the working process highlight trends that will assist managers in making decisions.
The Workpuls collects and generates reports of the employees and teams that are useful for an organization to determine specific failures or to enhance their activities. This tool is very beneficial to a manager in the sense that it helps them improve overall operational effectiveness and guarantees that the staff member works on his or her primary tasks.
Key features
- Time Tracking and Monitoring: Records time spent on the tasks, and offers information concerning working efficiency and amount of work performed.
- Employee Activity Reports: One produces reports that capture issues to do with employees’ performance and the time they spend at their stations.
- Real-Time Notifications: Serves to bring to the notice of the managers any changes in the level of productivity against the norm.
- Task Management Features: Assists in both the organization and assignment of work about the group.
- Integration with Other Tools: Not for oncology but collaborates with other software programs to help manage timeliness.
Best Used For Time tracking and productivity analysis for remote teams.
Website: workpuls.com
Ratings: 4.4/5
9. BambooHR
BambooHR is primarily a human resources management tool, but it comes with basic tools for tracking employee attendance and leave-management requests. It may not be as useful as other tools for monitoring engagement in real time, but it gives important data about engagement and performance trends over time.
When using BambooHR, human resources and time software are designed to work in synergy to create an all-encompassing perspective of an organization’s staff allowing for easier remote employee oversight and monitoring of overall health.
Key features
- HR Management Features: Has functionalities for maintaining records of employees and their performance, requests for leaves and appraisals.
- Attendance Tracking: Allows tracking of attendance of the employees and requests for time off all in one location.
- Employee Self-Service Portal: It gives the employees an opportunity to deal with their own information and their own requests and, therefore, increases engagement.
- Reporting and Analytics: Help to gain a better understanding of employees’ attitudes and overall performance of the workforce.
- Integration Options: Connects to numerous applications to support the HR and time tools.
Best Used For Comprehensive HR management and employee tracking.
Website: bamboohr.com
Ratings: 4.6/5
10. VeriClock
VeriClock is a business time tracking and attendance management software created specifically for working distributed workers or employees who are location independent. It has based functions like the GPS to track the time that one is clocking in or out, to enable the managers to know when and where the employees are clocking in or out.
With all the features of VeriClock being fully customizable, reporting helps the organization to capture and maintain records of employee’s hours worked to improve compliance and efficient payroll processing. It is convenient for employees to input their working hours and offers sufficient information to management to monitor employee productivity in various working conditions.
Key features
- GPS Tracking: Disposes employee tracking when using the clock-in and clock-out procedure in remote working.
- Customizable Reporting: Presents the following reporting options that can be used to meet specific organizational requirements and legal obligations.
- Mobile App: Allows employees to check in/out from their smartphones, which makes it appropriate for workers who are on the move.
- Time Tracking and Attendance: Serves well in tracking the total number of hours employees worked and general management of attendance.
- User-Friendly Interface: Organizational structure that everybody especially low-level employees and managers can understand and use to address their needs when using the software.
Best Used For Accurate time tracking and attendance management for remote workers.
Website: vericlock.com
Ratings: 4.3/5
How to Select the Right Monitoring Software
Choosing the right employee monitoring software involves several key considerations to ensure it aligns with your organization’s goals and culture:
- Identify Your Needs: Before assessing the applicability of various types of software, identify what options are critical to the functioning of the enterprise. It is important to decide if one needs time tracking, productivity analysis, project management features, or any of that.
- User-Friendliness: The software seems to need to have easy interfaces for managers and employees to be able to go through the software. However, due to the rapid evolution of learning technology, it is critical to point out that when the system’s interface is complex, the adoption will be met with opposition by the employees.
- Privacy and Compliance: Pay attention to how the data is collected and processed as well as the potential impact on the employee’s privacy. Seek for software that operates openly and meets the laws of the land on labour and data protection regulations like that of GDPR in Europe.
- Integration with Existing Tools: Make sure the software can share data with tools your team already employs, including project management and collaboration applications. This will assist in improving efficiency in operations because the work will be properly coordinated.
- Scalability: Concentrate on a system that can develop and expand as your organization evolves in terms of staff numbers, organizational structure and process. A scalable solution is one that we will not outgrow into requiring new software as the organization grows.
- Cost-Effectiveness: The price controls can be analyzed for a variety of tasks of different software variants. See if the software comes with a free trial or demo for the option to try out the software features, functions and usability of the software before purchasing the piece. There is a vast range of free remote employee monitoring applications and solutions for any demands that can be met online.
- Customer Support: Check how your prospective software vendor supports their customers. Some support can help solve problems in case when you have difficulties in using all the features of the program.
Conclusion
Selecting the right tool for employees’ remote monitoring is crucial for increasing performance, increasing responsibility, and maintaining good relations with employees when working remotely. Once you understand what these tools help towards and once you are carefully weighing your needs against the available options, you will be able to identify a solution that helps support the mission of the organization that you work for as well as the wellbeing of the employees you engage at work.
In conclusion, as the new age of telework remains relevant, organizations must find ways to get the right monitoring system which when implemented to achieve a healthy work environment for both the employer and the employee.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is it legal to use employee monitoring software?
Employee monitoring software is legal, but certain rules and regulations of the particular country must be followed in this process. There is a need for employers to provide employees with information on monitoring practices where needed and seek consent from the employee. Transparency is fundamental to relationships to ensure there is trust that will be maintained at all times.
Can monitoring software trespass on the rights of the employees?
Monitoring software can be used to gather virtually any type of information, but its use by employers has to be responsible. Effective policies and avoiding opacity can reduce the level of privacy violations. There is always the problem of balancing between keeping an eye and being intrusive.
What are the best attributes of monitoring software?
The functions that should be given attention are on the clock, productivity monitoring, screenshots, activity recording, and the generation of reports. Based on your organization’s requirements you’ll also want to focus on the communication features and compatibility with other platforms.
What can be done to gain the employees’ support in the monitoring software?
To effectively manage implementation, avoid opposition from employees, make it mandatory to explain to them the need for having the software, benefits related to using the software, for instance, promotion of productivity, and other nature. Training concerning such policies can also assist in increasing acceptance of such policies while privacy consideration will also aid in the acceptance process.
How much does it cost to invest in tools used to monitor remote employees?
Remote employee monitoring software is available at different prices depending on features, number of users, and the pricing model, one-time license, or subscription. A great many tools are offered as free trials or divided into tiers, and you will be able to find a tool that will suit the company’s budget.
