How to Create an Employee Monitoring Policy (Even for a Remote Team)

Employee monitoring is popular among businesses of all sizes. From startups to multinational corporations, many companies want to use the data to improve their business operations. With employee monitoring, companies can measure, optimize, and improve the productivity of their employees, while at the same time ensure that they are not slacking off. If done right, employee monitoring could be beneficial both to the employee and to the company.

While laws in most countries do not prohibit companies from monitoring employees and collecting data about them, it has to be relevant and appropriate. You should have a justified reason to monitor your employees. At the same time, your employees expect a certain level of privacy in the workplace which is why you should inform them about how and why you are planning on monitoring their activity.

If you want to ensure that remote work monitoring is implemented correctly and lawfully in your company, you need to create and carry out an employee monitoring policy. But how do you find the right balance between protecting your company and not intruding on the private lives of your employees?

Here are a few recommendations to help you create an employee monitoring policy for your company, no matter if your employees work from the office or remotely.

The Intention of the Policy

To create an effective employee monitoring policy, you first need to make sure your employees know what you are trying to accomplish with the employee monitoring policy. To ensure your employees clearly understand your goals, you should keep your policy as clear and as simple as possible.

Define the Eligibility for Employee Monitoring

Next, you should specify who of your employees the policy applies to and why it is essential that you use an employee PC monitoring software to keep track of your team’s work. Telling everyone that you plan on using an employee PC monitoring software will help clear out any potential confusion about the way you will monitor your employees.

Set Expectations

Employees may feel that the employee monitoring policy will negatively affect them and the way they work. You should detail your expectations for monitoring each of your employees. They need to know how productive do you expect them to be as well as what you are looking to achieve by tracing their activities.

Use of Equipment

The policy should also include specifics about how you expect your teams to use the employee PC monitoring software, VPNs, or any other related tools. If you are working with remote employees, you may need to state how your employees should use company property during and after work hours. If your remote employees are working on their equipment, you should also explain how they should carry out work-related duties on their equipment.

Outline Data Collection Standards

Make sure that you clearly explain how the employee PC monitoring software will collect the data, what data it will collect, and what is the purpose of the collected data. Also, make sure you state the measures you will take to protect the employee data such as who has access to the data and to what extent.

Productivity Assessment

Explain how t software will measure and evaluate the productivity and the performance of employees. Make sure you list exactly what metrics the employee computer monitoring software collects, including clocking in and out, attendance, breaks, time spent on tasks and projects, and the difference between active and idle time. Also, make sure that all your employees know how to use the software, how to track their time, and ensure that everyone records time properly.

Define Compliance

Finally, do not forget to state that employees are required to review all the documentation you have provided and they must sign an employee monitoring consent form. Before starting the process, you need to ensure that all your employees are compliant with all monitoring policies and handbooks.

Final Thoughts

Employee monitoring can have great benefits both for employees and the company. But for employee monitoring to be positively accepted by your employees, you need to ensure that all your employees clearly understand how you plan on monitoring their activity at work and what you are looking to achieve with it. A policy that defines that intention, eligibility, expectations, assessments, standards, security, compliance, as well as methods of monitoring is a great starting point.