What is Employee Monitoring Software? Types, Benefits & Disadvantages

With the best employee monitoring software, you can automate tracking employee productivity during working hours.

Monitoring and tracking employees’ tasks, whether in the office or the field, is necessary. Because it lets you judge their performance quality and productivity better.

Tools like field employee tracking software provide an in-depth view of employee activities. It helps look into the work status, progress, employees’ whereabouts, and challenges that workforce might be facing and solve them quickly.

In this blog, we discuss what employee monitoring software is. What’s the need to monitor your workforce? What are the types of employee monitoring? And what are some of the best ways to do it? 

What is Employee Monitoring Software?

Employee monitoring is an important practice for companies using digital tools and software to monitor and manage employees. Employee management can include tracking their tasks, performance, and progress.

The business will use software for employee monitoring to measure productivity, track attendance, and record proof of work completed and hours taken. This is done to ensure that no unethical practice or behavior takes place.

Types of Employee Monitoring

There are various methods of employee monitoring, and the approach often varies between field staff and in-office employees.

We bet you didn’t know! According to Captera reports, employee tracking has allowed 34% of employers to help their employees work more efficiently.

For On-field Employees

On the field, employee tracking is usually done through real-time GPS-based technology. Here are some of the ways:

1. Time Tracking

Tracking working hours or the hours taken to complete tasks ensures proper utilization of business hours. Companies prefer using field employee tracking software to get accuracy and better visibility in tracking their field staff which often lacks manual tracking.

This software informs all parties (be it your managers, admin, or HR teams) of how time and human resources are being used.

For instance, managers can monitor the time employees spend traveling between client sites, as well as the time required to complete tasks at each location. This helps determine the employees’ capacity, potential, and bandwidth.

2. Location Tracking or GPS Monitoring

It is important to use geospatial technology to track the field workforce. Traditional methods fail, like calling them to obtain location updates.

Field employee tracking software provides real-time tracking of field technicians. You gain not only location data but also insights into their movements, work status, and site visits. This helps reduce the idle time of field employees.

Companies with field service teams, such as HVAC technicians, use this data to estimate arrival times and communicate that information to clients.

3. Attendance and Leave Data Tracking

The prime importance of employee monitoring software is tracking attendance and leave data for field employees. With GPS-enabled field employee tracking software, businesses can improve employee attendance and productivity. The system allows logging based on employee location and work hours.

This eliminates manual entries, reducing errors and time theft. Further on, leave management is simplified as employees can apply for leave directly through the app, and managers can approve or reject requests in real-time.

The system also provides insights into field employees’ absenteeism trends and ensures compliance with company policies. Ultimately, it enhances productivity and accountability while offering a transparent record of employee time management.

4. Alerts

Advanced software and tools notify managers if field employees deviate from assigned tasks, cross geofence boundaries, remain idle, or fail to visit designated client locations. Managers will also get alerts whenever productivity drops and customers are unsatisfied.

With this level of monitoring through alerts, it helps managers take prompt action.

5. Project and Task Timeline

Tracking tasks and their task timelines for field employees and technicians provides real-time visibility into their activities, improving employee monitoring. Managers can see when tasks are assigned, started, and completed, ensuring accountability and efficient time management.

This helps prevent delays, identify bottlenecks, and ensure employees stick to schedules. It also enables tracking employee performance, productivity, and location, giving a comprehensive overview of field operations. 

6. Expense Tracking

Expense tracking is another way of monitoring employees. Field staff naturally incur expenses like fuel costs, food bills, purchasing tools or equipment, and stationery costs.

Expense management in employee monitoring software provides a clear spending record of technicians during work-related tasks. Managers can review submitted expenses to ensure they align with company policies and project budgets.

The advantage of field employee monitoring software is that it helps prevent fraudulent claims and ensures that resources are used responsibly. Real-time expense tracking also offers insights into travel, accommodation, and fuel costs, enabling managers to monitor the efficiency of routes or task assignments.

For In-office Employees

In-office employee monitoring is often done digitally in multiple forms. 

1. Monitoring Computer Activities

Monitoring computer activities is a common employee monitoring practice. Admins monitor how employees use the computers and laptops provided by the companies.

Companies in it, track or monitor the websites visited by their employees and how long they have been on them.

This way, managers can determine whether employees were using the time to work or were distracted by non-work-related activities. 

2. Internet and App Usage

We bet you didn’t know.

A survey by Salary.com revealed that 69% of men and 62% of women admit to surfing the internet for personal reasons during work hours.

Monitoring internet and app usage allows you to see the URLS your teams visit while working, which is vital for onboarding new employees and addressing potential productivity concerns.

For example, many employees spend a lot of time browsing shopping sites and checking emails. This results in delayed task completion and hinders timely communication with their colleagues.

3. Screen Video and Capture

Managers want to track work in progress without costly rework or frustration. Screen capture technology helps by providing snapshots of team members’ screens, ensuring their focus is on the right tasks.

While some tools simply capture device activity, reducing the need for constant updates, others use more invasive methods like random webcam images or continuous video.

This crosses the line from productivity tracking to privacy concerns. Striking a balance between effective monitoring and respecting employee privacy is crucial for maintaining trust and efficiency.

4. Keylogging

Keylogging tools record every keystroke on a computer in a readable file, helping users stay focused on work-related tasks.

However, software for employee monitoring might not be as good as it sounds. It does have some disadvantages. Like the person reviewing the tool’s data being able to read any passwords the employees are entering.

Secondly, employees are clueless when the keylogger tool records their keystrokes. This lack of transparency makes workers nervous and anxious all the time.

5. Email

Studies consistently show that people spend around 23% of their work time on email, with some estimates suggesting that individuals check their email about 36 times per hour.

Email monitoring helps track employee communication, ensure compliance with company policies, prevent data leaks, and identify potential security risks.

It provides insights into productivity by analyzing email volume and response times. Helping managers ensure employees focus on work-related tasks while maintaining data security.

6. Phone and Voicemail

Recording staff interactions with customers, users, prospects, or suppliers is beneficial for several reasons.

Suppose you compare the customer service data and discover that two agents receive better ratings than the rest. You can determine their performance by listening to their phone interactions from the previous month.

You can then request that the other members of your team follow suit. Meanwhile, you can listen to some random calls and trace them for client feedback, be it good or bad. The departments that use this technique the most frequently are customer service and sales teams.

7. Time Tracking and File Tracking

Time is precious for in-office employees as well. Tracking employees’ time is beneficial, especially in ROWE. You can see the time they spend completing tasks from when they clock in until they clock out.

A step ahead of monitoring is file tracking. This includes tracking file transfers and conversations over Skype or Zoom meetings, as well as recording USB and printer access and use. For example, managers can see which employees edited which files, when, and how.

How Does Employee Monitoring Software Work? The Components Part!

Best employee monitoring software works through certain components. These components automate the tracking and monitoring of the on-field and in-office employees.  If you are wondering how to continue reading:

1. Executive App

Field employees have a special executive app that tracks their location, work hours, and task status in real time. Thus highlighting the importance of employee monitoring. The app allows field employees to upload photos, signatures, or documents directly as task completion proofs.

2. Automated Check-In and Check-Out

The software uses geofencing to ensure field employees stay within job sites. And in-office employees are tracked through attendance logging and automated time tracking. It helps managers monitor hours worked and eliminate manual tracking. 

3. Task Management

The app allows field employees to update task statuses, upload photos, and provide proof of work completion. In-office employees’ productivity is tracked through app usage, keystrokes, and screen activity.

4. Location Tracking with History

GPS-enabled field employee tracking software ensures that the remote workforce is on-site and moving according to plan. For in-office employees, time spent at the desk can be monitored through login/logout times.

5. Automated Reminders

The app can send reminders for upcoming tasks and meetings, break times, or important updates, helping employees stay on track.

6. Reports and Insights

The software provides detailed reports on employee performance through tasks assigned vs completed reports. Reports on time spent on tasks and location history, allowing managers to identify productivity and efficiency.

7. Dashboards

Managers can access a real-time dashboard displaying employees’ locations, task statuses, and attendance records.

What are the Benefits of Employee Monitoring Software?

Here are some of the employee monitoring benefits you can leverage with the software: 

1. Greater Efficiency, Productivity, and Engagement

In a recent HBR survey, 65% of executives said meetings keep them from completing their own work. 71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient. Your team likely feels the same way.

Employee monitoring tools make it easier to manage productivity, which is the bedrock of every company. These tools allow you to gather valuable insights about workplace efficiency and adjust your strategy to maximize productivity of field employees.

For example, the software lets you monitor the time range of employees working or being most productive. This clarity allows you to delegate priority or important tasks well.

2. Effective Employee and Operation Management

Employee monitoring is very important for effective management. It helps managers gain insight into how employees spend their work hours, allowing for identifying inefficiencies and areas that need improvement.

This information helps allocate work and resources better, ensuring that teams are productive and deadlines are timely met. Employee tracking can also highlight employees’ skills and areas where they need more training or help. Therefore, it contributes to establishing a more structured and well-managed environment, leading to higher productivity and better overall performance.

3. Boost in Financial Growth

Employee monitoring tools can uncover hidden potential within a team. Companies can identify unutilized or underutilized resources or skills by monitoring work patterns and productivity. With this insight, managers can reallocate work much more efficiently so that everyone is involved and will give their best.

A fully committed team works more productively, is more innovative, and is more motivated. This can result in discovering new income streams and improving product quality, ultimately contributing to the business’s financial growth.

4. Proper Utilization of Employee Potential and Resources

Employee monitoring software can uncover hidden potential within a team. By monitoring work patterns and productivity, companies can identify unutilized or underutilized resources or skills in their workforce.

With this insight, managers can reallocate work much more efficiently so that everyone is involved and will give their best. A fully committed team works more productively and tends to be more innovative and motivated. This is vital for preventing employee burnout.

5. Security and Safety of Employees

Employee tracking helps ensure the security and safety of employees and the organization. Many software applications have an SOS button that field employees can press to send a help signal.

Furthermore, by monitoring employee activities, companies can prevent unauthorized access to confidential information and safeguard themselves from data breaches.

Additionally, for remote or field workers, GPS tracking can be vital in ensuring employee safety in case of emergencies. Many software have an SOS button that the field employees can press to send a help signal.

What are the Disadvantages of Employee Monitoring Software?

There are many advantages to field employee monitoring software, but also some disadvantages. When you decide to implement employee monitoring in any form, you will face some friction and resistance. 

1. Privacy Invasion

Employee monitoring tools can lead to discomfort and distrust if it feel invasive. However, companies can protect their interests and respect employee privacy by focusing solely on work-related activities and avoiding personal surveillance. Start tracking only after when the employees give their consent to do so. Like TrackoField does it.

2. Trust Issues

Extensive surveillance may indicate that the employer and employee don’t trust each other. To avoid this, monitoring data should be handled positively, emphasizing improvement and encouragement instead of punishment. 

3. Increase in Stress Levels

Continuous monitoring can lead to high levels of tension and anxiety among employees in a high-pressure setting. Offering assistance, praising hard work, and setting realistic goals help lower monitoring tension.

4. Legal Concerns

When going for full-fledged employee monitoring software, it’s important to consider legal implications. This includes knowing laws regulating privacy, employment, and data protection. Employers should consider questions such as:

• What level of monitoring is legally permitted?
• How can employees’ consent be obtained?
• Are there limitations on the types of data that can be collected?

These issues can be resolved by choosing software that ensures employee consent and limits employer tracking.

Here is your guide to choosing the best employee monitoring software.

How to Choose The Best Employee Monitoring Software

Before investing in employee tracking software, here are some crucial factors to consider. 

1. Flexible Features for Flexible Teams

Choosing software that suits the type of team you manage is important. If your team works in the office, remote work features like screenshots or activity levels may be less critical since you can directly observe productivity.

However, employee GPS tracking software ensures seamless monitoring without constant check-ins for employees frequently on the move.

Additionally, suppose your team includes a blended workforce, so the software should be flexible enough to track both environments.

2. Look at integration capabilities

Before you sign on any dotted lines, look at the potential system’s integrations.

For example, if you use TrackoField to monitor employees, you can integrate it with 200+ apps and softwares. Be it for accounting or lead management.

3. Customization level offered

It’s best to go for software for employee monitoring software that has custom reports for workforce analysis. A list of alerts and notifications to choose from so that no occurrence is missed. And flexible features that allow you to monitor a blended workforce.

4. Availability of support team

The software for employee monitoring might require a technical expert. Look for providers who offer round-the-clock product support through a specialised team. This is important as they will help you with the onboarding process, acing technical challenges, or any other concerns. 

5. Learning curve

Like most new tools, most users will have a bit of a learning curve at the beginning. Some training may be necessary on all of the features. You may take some time to realize your software’s full potential.

6. Scalability of the system

Scalability is the software’s capability to grow with your business. It needs to be able to handle high volumes, surges in activities, and increasing numbers of seats or users.

It should also process and store massive amounts of data quickly and reliably, regardless of the number of members on your team.

How is TrackoField Saving the Day?

TrackoField, a field employee monitoring software, can be useful when your workforce consists of both field and in-office employees. Here is how:

1. Real-time location tracking

TrackoField’s real-time tracking ensures you know exactly where your field employees are at all times. With GPS-enabled monitoring, managers can track employee movement, track the route traveled, detect idling, and know the halts and distance traveled for accurate reimbursement.

This is beneficial for gaining visibility, streamlining field operations, and knowing task status.

2. Attendance management

The attendance management module revolutionizes how businesses monitor field employees. It captures precise clock-ins, clock-outs, and location-based attendance, ensuring accountability from anywhere.

Employees can mark attendance via mobile, simplifying the process on the go. Integrating attendance with task management reduces manual errors, enhances productivity, and saves time.

3. Leave Management

Employees can remotely apply for any type of leave, whether half-day or full-day. Managers are notified, and they can approve or override requests remotely.

Managers use dashboards to track each field staff member’s leave status and trends and plan tasks and days accordingly.

4. Performance reports

By analyzing metrics like tasks assigned versus completed, you gain valuable insights into efficiency and workload management. These reports highlight individual and team performance, identify bottlenecks, and track progress over time.

These disabled reports capture all the analytics required to measure the productivity and efficiency of the field employees. This makes it very easy to make the right decisions.

TrackoField’s reports specialize in capturing every metric and displaying them in digestible forms, such as charts and graphs.

5. Executive app

Exclusive to TrackoField, it comes with an executive app for field employees. It assists employees in getting complete information about their assigned tasks, the location of their tasks, and more.

It has options like custom forms and fields to record essential data and surveys. The app even has a chatbox feature so that the workforce can communicate with their in-office team for doubts and attach shared files and media, which is achievable. Helping you stay paperless and all digital.

Additionally, the app uploads reimbursement claims, collects OTPs, and places sales orders.

6. Expense management

Expense management in TrackoField enhances the monitoring of field employee activities by providing real-time visibility into spending patterns and project costs.

With automated expense tracking, managers can assess resource allocation, ensure budget adherence, and identify discrepancies. Ultimately, this boosts accountability and optimizes financial performance across field operations. So, you stay informed and in control!

7. Order management

This built-in tool comes in handy when your sales executives place client orders remotely. The order is billed digitally, and managers are notified of each order billed by the MR sales rep.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How can I monitor my employees remotely?

  You can monitor employees remotely using tools like time-tracking apps, project management software, and screen capture technology. These tools track activity levels, task progress, and device usage. GPS tracking helps monitor field employees, while communication platforms ensure team collaboration and accountability, maintaining productivity across remote teams.

• Is employee monitoring software legal?

  Employee monitoring software is generally legal if used transparently and for legitimate business purposes. Employers must inform employees about the monitoring to comply with privacy laws and regulations.

• How can employee monitoring software benefit your organization

  Employee monitoring software benefits organizations by enhancing productivity, ensuring compliance with company policies, and improving time management. It provides insights into employee performance, tracks task progress, and prevents data breaches.

• What types of employee activity can you monitor?

  You can monitor various employee activities, including time spent on tasks, app and website usage, email communication, and screen activity. GPS tracking can monitor the location for field workers, while keystroke logging and mouse activity gauge engagement. Tools also track file access, downloads, and project progress for productivity insights.

• Is employee monitoring software right for your business?

  Employee monitoring software can benefit businesses seeking to boost productivity, ensure compliance, and track remote or field teams. However, balancing oversight with employee privacy and considering transparency is essential to maintain trust and a positive work environment.