How To Monitor Employees Working From Home
Monitoring employees who work from home is a great way to achieve quality and productivity goals and motivate your remote workforce to stay on track. But with so many ethical and legal issues surrounding employee monitoring, it can be a challenge to effectively track remote employees without breaching the confines of morality and legality. So, how should you go about it?
The best way to monitor employees working from home is using PC monitoring software to track and document activities like task completion and how employees utilize their time. You can also monitor remote employees using project management, time tracking, and self-reporting systems.
The rest of this article will cover the various ways you can effectively monitor your employees working from home without stepping on anyone’s toes. Let’s dive right in.
1. Track All Activity With PC Monitoring Software
Since the pandemic, more companies have had to pivot by allowing employees to work from home in a bid to maintain workflow. However, this has raised one major concern: do employees utilize their time appropriately when working from home?
Companies have always utilized various systems to track employee productivity and ensure data security on-site. However, tracking employees working from home is much more difficult than doing it on-site, and that’s where PC monitoring comes in handy.
How Can PC Monitoring Software Help?
PC monitoring software like Wolfeye Remote Screen gives insight into employees’ workday habits. It lets you know if they’re being productive or spending time on websites and apps they shouldn’t be using during working hours by monitoring things like:
- Web browser activity. The software collects search engine data, browser histories, and links clicked. This lets you track how each employee utilizes their time online and what websites they’re viewing.
- Social media viewing. Employees wasting the company’s time on social media websites and apps is a huge issue. It cuts into workflow productivity and company profit. PC monitoring can keep track of employees using social media and the time spent on it.
- Task and program activity. Tracking the time habits of employees working on tasks and accessing programs can help you see their productivity during working hours. It can also help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of specific employees on certain tasks, designated apps, or programs. Additionally, it provides reports so you can identify which programs are beneficial for the overall productivity of your staff.
- Email and messaging content. This monitoring software lets you view instant messaging and emails sent and received, including any attachments shared. This feature can be crucial for sensitive data, such as financial or other confidential information. It’ll help you identify malicious emails and leaks of sensitive information and track employee productivity.
Such comprehensive monitoring increases productivity through a phenomenon known as the Hawthorne effect. When employees know their activity is being monitored, they will likely be on their best behavior, which increases productivity.
Your business needs to keep track of not only data from projects, profits, and losses but also the productivity and workflow of each employee. A monitoring system can provide an overall view to help identify what’s working and what’s not. It also helps identify who’s productive and who’s lagging behind the rest of the team.
For more about how employee monitoring software can help you and your business, check out our other article, “How Does Computer Monitoring Software Work?”
2. Utilize Project Management Software
Project management software is an excellent tool that visualizes project progress. It also keeps track of relevant tasks delegated to individual employees, including those working from home.
Project management software provides several advantages for companies with remote employees. It helps with things like:
- Project planning and organization.
- Real-time tracking.
- Projection of risks and budget costs.
- Centralizing workflow and data.
- Setting goals and milestone rewards.
Collectively, these benefits improve communication, goal clarity, and productivity among team members.
Effective communication, in particular, is essential for any workplace looking to keep track of project workflow. Things like status changes, progress, and task assignments need to be communicated effectively and timely.
Project management software is designed to streamline communication through centralization. When all the comments, plans, suggestions, and decisions are documented in one platform, it’s easier for individuals, teams, and departments to collaborate towards a common goal. The net effect is boosted morale, better work quality, and a higher project success rate.
In addition to streamlining communication, project management software allows you to watch over the productivity and time management of your employees working from home. This is facilitated by built-in time-tracking tools that allow remote employees to log the time spent on specific tasks.
Popular examples of project management tools are Asana, Trello, and ClickUp.
3. Use Time Tracking Software for Remote Workers
Time tracking software will allow you to track how your employees use their time throughout the workday. Some software provides manual start and stops timers for beginning and ending tasks, while others have automatic monitoring features.
Time-tracking tools provide structure for employees. This helps make them more self-aware of time management and motivates them to utilize their time effectively.
Time-tracking tools are also beneficial for employers. They help them track productivity by monitoring performance merits like attendance, time spent on specific tasks, and length and frequency of breaks.
4. Implement a Self-Reporting System
Initiate a self-reporting system that requires employees working from home to send a report of their daily productivity. To enforce it, hold them accountable for their workflow and communication with teammates and supervisors.
This strategy will keep your employees engaged in completing tasks. It’s also a great way to communicate questions and concerns and keep essential staff members up to date on their progress.
Additionally, self-reported information can give insight into what projects, resources, or programs are working, what you can do to help your remote workforce streamline their workflow, and what’s holding some individuals back.
The only problem with monitoring remote employees through a self-reporting system is that it relies too much on trust.
You have to trust your employees to provide accurate reports. This is easier said than done with larger teams because some individuals may lie or provide a biased assessment of their workload and responsibilities. Fortunately, you can address this loophole by pairing a self-reporting system with other monitoring methods discussed above.
Final Thoughts
It can be challenging for both the company and employees to adjust from on-site workflow to remote positions. To ensure productivity and time management aren’t issues with those working from home, consider one of the remote monitoring solutions discussed above.
Remember that you don’t necessarily have to stick to one solution. As long as you have the time and infrastructure, you can combine several solutions for effective remote monitoring.