What important features of employee tracking software must contain? The closure of most offices as driven by the Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of working from home. According to a recent study by Pew Research Center, 71% of workers in the United States now work from home and more than half say given a choice, they would continue working from home.
To adapt to these changes, more companies and organizations are finding it necessary to install software tools that monitor employees on work devices to track their performance.
In this article, we will explore six important features that your employee monitoring tool should have for maximum efficiency. Let’s dive in!
6 Must-have features of employee tracking software
Apps and websites visited
This is easily the most important feature of a decent employee monitoring tool. Your preferred program should be able to detect all internet activities on a monitored device, including identifying the different apps and websites visited by employees.
All collected data should then be easily retrievable as is or as a daily report. This way, you can see what everyone is doing on their work computers at any given time.
Ultimately, you can account for the organization’s time. Furthermore, you can easily determine which software is visited more frequently and make important decisions using this information.
Worth noting here is if your employees use personal computers for work, ensure you track them only during work hours to avoid interfering with their personal data.
Apps and website categorization
Other than identifying the different apps and websites visited by employees, a good employee monitoring tool further categorizes these apps and websites into productive, unproductive or neutral.
If they are used for work, they are productive. If they are used for leisure or entertainment, they are unproductive. This makes the monitoring process more simplified because, with a single glance, you can see if a particular employee frequents productive or unproductive sites.
Most times, productive sites are colored green while unproductive ones are colored red. This feature then uses this data to come up with individual productivity reports which make employee evaluation even simpler.
Productivity statistics and trends
An ideal employee monitoring software will provide you with statistics on the productivity levels of different employees at any given time. Moreover, it gives you the trends of your employees’ productivity. For example, if an employee was not productive last week but is productive this week, a good tool will show this productivity improvement.
This feature is incredibly useful when it comes to performance reviews and evaluations. It enables managers to know employees using the organization’s resources well and those who are misusing them. Moreover, it helps you know which employee you can rely on for those urgent assignments.
Time tracking
Time tracking is one of the most basic features of any good employee monitoring tool. As an employer, you want to know how much time your employees are spending on certain apps and different tasks.
Depending on the average time spent on common tasks, it is possible to estimate how much time will be taken on future projects. In turn, you can easily set reasonable deadlines and timelines for different projects.
Time tracking also helps you identify the most efficient workers so you can appreciate and reward them accordingly. It also helps you identify employees who take longer on tasks and come up with ways to make them work better.
Finally, this feature enables you to determine what apps and sites your employees are spending more time on and make informed decisions going forward.
Attendance tracking
Employee attendance is a crucial part of any organization or business that cares about good results. An ideal employee monitoring tool should have automatic logging of clock-ins and clock-outs based on the first and last computer activities.
It should then generate clear reports showing the total number of hours worked and overtime. Attendance tracking is very useful when calculating payroll as it saves you a lot of time and money.
Screenshot capturing
An ideal employee monitoring tool takes screenshots on monitored devices automatically or at random intervals. For example, if you want to know what your employee is working on, you can take random screenshots throughout the day and see how they are progressing.
Also, if your employees are handling sensitive documents and you are worried they might misuse them, you can take screenshots to ensure they are not sharing them with other unauthorized parties.
A word of caution here is that you should only take screenshots of work-related issues and not your employees’ private data. The latter may be considered a breach of privacy and could land you in big trouble.
Conclusion
Implementing employee monitoring software is probably the most effective way to boost productivity and consequently improve your company’s results. But you need to do it correctly if you are to reap the fruits.
While at it, be sure to engage your employees and let them know that they are being monitored for the benefit of both them and the company. If you are planning or already have an employee monitoring tool, must check the above-discussed features of employee tracking software are available in your software.
Good luck in your search for a suitable monitor for your company!
Belayet Hossain is a Senior Tech Expert and Certified AI Marketing Strategist. Holding an MSc in CSE (Russia) and over a decade of experience since 2011, he combines traditional systems engineering with modern AI insights. Specializing in Vibe Coding and Intelligent Marketing, Belayet provides forward-thinking analysis on software, digital trends, and SEO, helping readers navigate the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Connect with Belayet Hossain on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or read my complete biography.