There is a sudden surge in the population working remotely in recent times. To get the most from your workforce, you must monitor their time spent on various activities. The best way to do so is with the help of employee monitoring software. When work from home has become the new normal, tracking employees for their performance and maximum productivity is a key challenge.
With workers beginning to work from any remote location, it is crucial to keep a tab on employees to maximize employee productivity. Let us look at the best employee monitoring software for both small and large businesses for both Windows and Mac PC to help you watch employee activities.
What is Employee Monitoring Software?
To better understand in detail, employee monitoring is a rapidly adopted practice by companies to monitor employee work management, time utilization, performance, and productivity. This is done using various digital tools. It is a broad term that involves almost all activities like behavior assessment, attendance tracking, security enforcement, complete surveillance, task proof, and many more.
Employee Monitoring Software lets companies keep track of their employees by monitoring their website and application usage, and other activities without any privacy breach. The software works in an invisible mode and records comprehensive data automatically.
The recorded data presented in the form of a graph and chart displays employee attendance, internet usage, productivity level in addition to capturing screenshots and keystrokes.
Why use Employee Monitoring Software?
There are various reasons for companies to adopt monitoring systems with every purpose relevant to the particular business. The most important reasons to decide on are:
- Prevent confidential data to be stolen by insiders.
- Appropriate work hour management by employees
- Avoid revenue loss caused by employee negligence.
- Monitor employees’ working remotely.
How does Employee Monitoring Software Work?
Today, employee monitors go way beyond just marking attendance. The Admin can monitor every activity of a user, that too in a stealth mode, and keep a report of the performance too. The best employee monitors tracks almost every activity of an employee such as,
- Screen usage
- Key-logging
- Web and Apps Usage
- Chat monitoring
- Time tracking and many more.
Most of the monitoring work can be split across teams, and departments to focus more on key areas for improvement.
Is it Legal to Monitor an Employee Computer?
Before deploying the employee monitoring software, it is better to first understand the state laws for the collection of such employee data. Transparent information and open communication lines are the keys to the successful employment of such tools.
It is also recommended that companies have the Acceptable Use Policy which forbids some websites and applications to run on employee devices as it may compromise the network security.
How to Choose the Best Employee Monitoring Software?
Several vendors are offering world-class software. One needs to understand their company requirements and choose a monitoring system as per their needs. The software must meet these criteria to be useful for the company,
- Easy to use
- Less lead time for implementation and usage
- Good support model for the software
- Software must be up all time with 24/7 technical support
Employee monitoring systems must be implemented carefully to avoid any privacy breaches. It is better to address all the legal parts about it before rolling it for employees.
Features to look out for before choosing an employee monitoring software
Eventually, workforce monitoring is mainly used for improving productivity and saving time. Hence, there are few features to ponder before implementing any monitoring software.
Dashboard
The software must provide an intelligence-based dashboard with detailed sections to understand productivity, discover unproductive areas, apps and sites accessed, etc.
Internet Monitoring
The Internet is the most essential part of any work and proper utilization yields appropriate results. Internet tracking should capture URLs, applications, emails, etc. The basic idea is to check how the internet is being used for productive tasks and the areas of improvement to make it more efficient.
Keystroke Logging
This records every key pressed by employees in real-time. The keystroke monitoring is very sensitive and may invade employee privacy and other personal information such as bank details, health records, and many such data.
Generate Reports
Employee activity reports are crucial to conclude productivity and insight on every task in the form of graphs and charts. It gives details on top websites used and stores web history for any future reference.
Cloud-Based
The new software is mostly cloud-based where all information will be stored in a cloud that can be accessed anytime from any location.
IP Whitelisting
This is a unique feature that is not provided by all vendors. Few IP addresses are listed safe and added for whitelisting. This IP can be used only on a priority basis when shared by the Admin. In this way, any risk of data loss and breach can be eliminated.
After Sales Support
This is another vital element to keep in mind before purchasing any tracking software. Few vendors charge separately for support post-sales. So, it has to be ensured that buyers get robust 24/7 technical support even after purchasing the tool.
Keeping in mind all the above points, here are the best employee monitoring solutions for Windows and Mac, for 2021.
1. EmpMonitor
EmpMonitor lets you track and access employee activities instantly. It works in stealth mode that helps boost productivity, data security, generate graphical reports, and many more features. Auto screenshots and keystrokes are other specialties of EmpMonitor.
It assists in making organizations more productive, secure, and compliant. You can create a free account to experience its mind-blowing features.
EmpMonitor Employee Monitoring and Productivity Management Software offers organizations to become more productive, compliant, and secure. Though there are numerous advantages of utilizing this software, here are a few to list.
∗ Time Management
∗ User Management
∗ Real-time Insights
∗ Manage Attendance
∗ Auto Screenshots
∗ Keystroke Capture
∗ Stealth Mode
EmpMonitor basic pricing starts at $5/month/user and you can get started with a free demo. There is also all-time technical support where you can reach them via call, mail, or messenger.
2.InterGuard
InterGuard helps track and search recorded data to view screenshots and activity logs of employees. It offers features such as insider threat detection, employee investigation, and productivity monitoring.
User Behavior Analytics(UBA) helps identify any sort of disturbance in manpower. Another unique feature of InterGuard is that data can be accessed even when it is not connected to the internet.
InterGuard offers a 7-day free trial. Annual and monthly plans are available for cloud software where pricing starts at $9/month/user that offers both licensing.
3.ActivTrak
ActivTrak is a cloud-based user analytics generator that helps gain employee productivity insights. It can be easily installed on user devices to track activity and day-to-day performance.
Privacy and security are ensured with the help of data transfer encryption. Standard and affordable employee monitoring comes with an Advanced plan and Premium plan specially designed for advanced monitoring and workforce insights.
Pricing starts at $7.20/month/user. Premium Plan comes with a risk-free 14 day free trial and price quote for Enterprise plans required by large organizations. The company offers 24/7 support, multilingual support, and product demonstration.
4.Veriato
Veriato provides on-premises and cloud-based solutions for employee monitoring. It delivers precise active working hours, productivity reports, and data loss prevention. It also analyzes emails, chats, file downloads, etc.
It offers 3 monitoring plans, Cerebral, Vision, and Investigator. Plans vary as per target size, host type, and required features. Pricing varies according to plans and quotes can be obtained by contacting Veriato representatives. There is also a free trial available.
5.SentryPC
SentryPC displays the computer usage of an employee. It can block access to several sites, messengers, and game sites. The tool’s special features include time management, content filtering, and activity monitoring. It is even cloud-based with Mac and Windows compatibility. It produces detailed logs, alerts, charts, and much more.
6. Teramind
This is an extremely secure software compatible with Mac, Windows, Windows Server, VDI, Citrix, VMware Horizon, and terminal servers.
It offers user monitoring affairs that let you track employee behavior, file transfers, email activity, website and application usage, keystrokes, webchats, printer jobs, and many more. There is also an option to customize settings to record screens when violations occur.
Teramind allows focusing on specific people by creating tracking profiles for employees, departments, and groups that you wish to target. It also provides plenty of reports, policy management functions, and real-time data.
This monitoring software is available in 3 plans, each with its unique tracking features. The plan you need depends on your team size and the level of protection you want for your team. Pricing starts at $12/month/user on a subscription basis.
If you wish to test the software before purchasing then you can try Teramind’s free live demo. You can even reach out to helpful customer support via email, phone, and live chat.
7.Hubstaff
This is another great monitoring platform with the ability to track employee progress in real-time without any disturbance. Employees can even set a timer for their task where the timer stops automatically when the employee stops working.
Hubstaff is compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Chrome, and Android devices. It assigns a “true” or “false” value to the activity indicating productivity.
Hubstaff has a free plan and three affordable paid plans for all types of business needs. You can test the software with its 14-day free trial and 60-day money-back guarantee. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any point in time. The basic plan starts at $7/user/month.
8.WorkPuls
Workpuls is a workforce productivity and analytics software with the sole purpose of improving efficiency, productivity, and benchmark performance of employees. The real-time visibility and relevant insights are provided by this tool and companies of all types can optimize their teams remotely.
The basic plan starts at $4.80/month/user with a higher grade of paid plans as per your needs. It also offers monthly and annual time tracking plans and automatic time mapping plans. There is also a seven-day free trial period to check out its features.
9.DeskTime
DeskTime is a user-friendly, lightweight employee monitoring software for Windows and Mac that helps track employees in real-time. It is a well-established and popular tool across the globe.
The software covers various features from attendance to leaves, app and website usage, and many more. It provides screenshots of employee activities and activity rate trackers to help track time spent on each project. It is also compatible with both desktop and mobile apps. It also provides firewalls, encryption, and tier 3 servers to protect employee activity and company data.
There is a 14-day free trial to judge its features for yourself and complete employee monitoring tools, a Pro Plan is starting at $95/month.
10.Time Doctor
Time Doctor mainly tracks applications and websites employee uses. Real-time screenshots are taken to track what an employee is working on. Another interesting feature is that employees get reminders to work on their specific tasks if they are found spending time on any unnecessary job.
It is also a cloud-based tool integrated with any project management software. Time Doctor provides a 30-day free trial and its pricing starts at $5/month/user.
11.WorkScape
WorkScape is a real-time functional productivity tracking software with some ultimate features like GPS tracking, time tracking, screenshot monitoring, etc. It can monitor some important requirements like last activity uses, application usage, and customized for productive and non-productive tasks.
It offers a 14 day free trial with pricing starting at $8/month/room.
Final Words
Today, employee monitoring software is one of the most popular and powerful tools used by companies globally. The main intention of using such software is to protect sensitive data about companies, safeguard it from corporate frauds, phishing, and insider data threats. They provide detailed analytics of users accessing websites, applications, and represent employee productivity in the form of detailed graphs and charts.
Employee Monitoring Software helps optimize employee performance, sharing insights on productive and non-productive hours. With this detailed analysis, employees can work on their performance and work towards personal and professional benefits.
