How to Monitor Employee Computer Usage
Learn more about how to ethically and efficiently monitor employee computer activities. Read about the importance of legal compliance and transparency, and detailed steps for setting up and using a monitoring software such as Insightful.
Are you satisfied with the amount of insight you have into how your employees use company resources? Would you like to be able to collect more relevant and reliable data?
Regardless of its size, your company is as productive as each of its employees. Their daily activities determine your productivity, client satisfaction, and profit.
To drive your company to success, you need an unobtrusive and time-efficient control.
As computers are the main work tools for many industries, you will probably aim to track these devices. Several supervision techniques that do not involve monitoring software are available. But there is a better answer to the question of - “How to monitor employee computer usage?”
What to Consider When Planning to Monitor Employee Computer Activity
Before setting out to monitor employee computer usage, there are several points to consider:
💡 Legal Compliance: The US law allows employee monitoring, including tracking employee computers. Some states, though, require that you inform your employees of all the monitoring practices in your organization. These are Delaware, Texas, New York, and Connecticut.
It’s also important that you ensure your monitoring tools don’t infringe upon employee privacy. Moreover, implement robust data security measures to safeguard collected information and comply with relevant laws.
💡Ethical Questions: Even if your state laws don’t demand that you reveal all your employee monitoring practices, you should consider still doing it. This way you will improve communication and trust within your team.
💡Practicality: It may seem easier and more budget-friendly to rely on manual computer scans and checkups. Still, this means people will be on standby while their computers are analyzed. On top of that, you won’t have access to the full set of data you need to improve your operations. A much better solution is implementing monitoring software such as Insightful.
How to Monitor Employee Computer Activity?
Supervision Automation With Insightful
Not sure how to monitor employee activity on computer devices? Wondering what monitoring software implementation looks like?
Here is a concise step-by-step guide on how to automate computer monitoring with Insightful software:
1. Set Up the Software
Begin by installing Insightful software agents on employee devices to track their activity unobtrusively.
These agents will run in the background, capturing data such as websites visited, application usage, and keyboard and mouse use. The data they collect will then be further analyzed.
You can choose to monitor in Stealth or Visible mode. But, before you start your first day of monitoring, there is another step.
2. Customize the Monitoring Parameters
Depending on the position, different resources are considered more or less useful.
To streamline data collection, select productive, neutral, and unproductive apps and websites for each role. You can also set how much of the monitoring data you want to share with your employees. Share only their basic productivity data via the Insightful dashboard or add time spent on each resource, screenshots of their screens, etc.
In addition, choose how much break time they are allowed per day, and whether they can add the time spent on AFK activities manually.
3. Collect Reports
Open the dashboard and activity logs to review the collected data. These tools allow managers to generate reports on internet and application usage, productivity levels, and active vs. idle time. This way they can identify productivity trends and areas for improvement.
Insightful’s time tracking feature also allows accurate payroll. Besides, it helps managers give a correct assessment of the necessary time for project completion for potential clients.
The time spent on paid tools can provide insight into how useful these tools are. If they are underutilized, the company can cut costs by canceling the subscription for the teammates who do not need them.
4. Use Advanced Monitoring Features
Insightful offers real-time monitoring through on-demand screenshots.
For improved security, set up security alerts for unauthorized or risky activities. This way your team will be able to act swiftly and prevent data loss.
This software also has a specialized feature for early detection of employee burnout. It collects specific and minute information, analyzes it, and lets you know when an employee is near burnout. You can provide timely support, assistance, training, or time off for recuperation to boost employee satisfaction, loyalty, and, in the long run, productivity.
If you don’t have a monitoring system at all, adopting one might seem complicated. You might also fear that your employees will feel you are violating their privacy.
Even if you have a monitoring system in place, your team may be distrustful of the new software and your goals.
The key to preventing any issues is communication. Transparently discuss the features, purpose, and benefits of the new tool. Answer questions your employees might have about the data you will be collecting. This way you will reassure them and foster a culture of accountability, productivity, and trust. Contact Insightful now to have one of the experienced agents answer all your questions and tailor an offer that fits your team’s line and style of work!