Workpuls Teramind ActivTrak Hubstaff DeskTime Time Doctor RescueTime Kickidler Veriato Work Examiner
OVERVIEW
Price $6/user/month $6/user/month $7.20/user/month $7/user/month $7/user/month $9.99/user/month $6/user/month $9.99/user/month $150/licence/year $60/licence (lifetime)
Free trial 7 days 7 days No 14 days 14 days 14 days 30 days 7 days Yes 30 days
Ease of use Very easy Difficult Very easy Easy Easy Very easy Very easy Very easy Very difficult Easy
TRACKING METHODS
Unlimited (tracker working 24/7)
Fixed (defined working hours)
Automatic (when computer is connected to a specified network)
Manual (start/stop)
Project based (track time only on projects)
GENERAL MONITORING FEATURES
Stealth mode
App and website usage
Real-time monitoring
Offline time tracking
Attendance
Activity levels
Keylogger
Geolocation
Remote desktop control
Website/activity blocking
SCREENSHOTS AND RECORDING
Screenshots
Screenshots on demand
Screen recording
PRODUCTIVITY FEATURES
Productivity trends
Websites and apps labeling
Category labeling
Productivity alerts
ADVANCED SECURITY FEATURES
User behavior analytics
Data loss prevention
Advanced file and web monitoring
REPORTING
Productivity reports
Team reports
Timelines
Email reports
Access management
PLATFORMS
Web
Mac desktop app
Windows desktop app
Linux desktop app
Mobile app iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android Android
Browser extension Chrome Chrome Chrome
Other Citrix, VMware Chrome OS
OTHER
Support Phone, email, online Phone, email, online Phone, email, online Email, online Phone, email, online, in-person Online Phone, email, online Email, online, Viber, Whatsapp Phone, email, online, support ticket Phone, email, online
Knowledge base
Video tutorials
Integrations comming soon
API
Deployment cloud, on-premise cloud, on-premise, AWS, Azure cloud cloud cloud cloud cloud on-premise cloud, on-premise on-premise
Kronos Humanity Timeclockplus Tsheets Wheniwork Deputy Replicon Jibble EbilityTimeTracker OnTheClock BeeBole
OVERVIEW
Price(per month)Available upon requestFrom $2 per userAvailable upon requestFrom $6.40 per user+$16Free for up to 75 usersFrom $2.50 per userBasic plan:$30 for 5 users+$5 per additional userFrom $1.50 per employeeFrom $4 per user+$8From $2.20 per user$5.99 per user per month
Free trial30 days14 daysYes14 days14 days14 days30 days30 days,no credit card required
Ease of useDifficultEasyDifficultVery easyEasyEasyDifficultVery easyEasyEasyEasy
FEATURES
Timecard management
Scheduling
Shift Trading
Timesheets
Break time management
Real-time tracking
PTO Management
Payroll
Invoicing
Client billing
GPS tracking
Clock out reminders
Alerts
Manual time
PUNCH-IN METHODS
Web app
Mobile app
Time clock device
Time clock kiosk
Facial recognition
Fingerprint scanning
Geofencing
Group punch-in
REPORTING
Visual reports
Email reports
Time rounding
MANAGEMENT
Permissions
Manager approvals
Add time for others
Integrations
PLATFORMS
Web
Android app
iOS app
Mac desktop app
Windows desktop app
Linux desktop app
OTHER
SupportPhone and onlinePhone and onlinePhone,chat and onlinePhone and chatEmail and onlineChat and phonePhone,email,chat and onlinePhone and onlinePhone,email,chat and onlinePhone and onlineOnline chat and video support in English,French,and Spanish
Knowledge base
Video tutorials
Community forum
API
“We like to give people the freedom to work where they want, safe in the knowledge that they have the drive and expertise to perform excellently, whether they [are] at their desk or in their kitchen. Yours truly has never worked out of an office, and never will.” – Richard Branson, Founder and Chairman of Virgin

Introducing remote work as an option won’t necessarily reduce your team’s productivity. The trick is to know how to check if employees are working from home effectively, and yet resist the temptation of disruptive micromanagement.

Here are some fundamental methods for monitoring remote employees.

Reasons for Monitoring Remote Employees

The overall workload management and, consequently, company success depends on the performance of every employee. Check out some more reasons to track employees working remotely:

  • Equal Distribution of Work: A manager should observe the distribution of work and its changes. This allows them to react on time and ensure that no one is overwhelmed or lacking tasks, and that work is completed efficiently.

  • Prevention of Burnout & Enhanced Morale: Monitoring helps you identify employees at risk of burnout by allowing you to see all the tasks people take on and finish. If productivity starts dwindling, you can immediately redistribute workloads and help maintain job satisfaction.

  • Identification of Inefficient Practices: Employee tracking highlights inefficiencies in work processes. If workload imbalances are frequent, they might indicate issues with the task allocation process and suggest that your workflow systems need improving.

Methods for Monitoring Remote Employees

Monitoring remote workers should rely heavily on hard data. Numbers of clocked-in hours and finished tasks should be important factors in estimations of a remote employee's dedication.

At the same time, employers need to consider the clues that can’t be expressed mathematically. An employee’s attitude towards new tasks, overall work enthusiasm, and the level of stress should be taken into consideration as well.

Objective Approaches

Objective evaluation of a worker’s commitment can easily be carried out based on the data collected via sophisticated digital tools. Here are the essential monitoring approaches that rely on concrete data:

Use of Project Management Tools

PM tools provide visibility into who is doing what. They also show how many tasks are completed, how many are in progress, and how much time each of them took. Their flaw is that they might not capture activities that are not tied to a specific project.

Recommended apps:

     ⚡Jira—Popular tool that is highly customizable but supports only Agile methodology

     ⚡ClickUp—Fits remote teams of different sizes and offers a wide variety of functions

Implementation of Remote Monitoring Software

Advanced employee monitoring software can track screen activity, keystrokes, and time spent on different applications, among other details. With detailed logs and calculations of productive and unproductive time, employers can get a reliable picture of a worker’s dedication.

Recommended apps:

     ⚡Insightful—Robust tool for tracking time and activities, calculating productivity, and taking screenshots

     ⚡Kickidler—Specialized tool for video surveillance of employee screens

Subjective Approaches

Subjective evaluation of an employee’s workload and efficiency is based on the attitude the employee shows during meetings. Their daily reports should also be considered. Below are the two elementary subjective strategies for assessing an employee’s engagement:

Relying on Observational Insights

Pay attention to behavioral changes. An employee who seems constantly stressed or is working late regularly might be overloaded. Alternatively, someone who often spends time on the company’s messaging apps is probably lacking responsibilities and tasks.

Requiring Self-Reporting

Try asking employees to report their daily activities and share comments about their workload. This can provide insights into their perceptions of their responsibilities and their ability to handle them. Sometimes this kind of input can be as valuable as objective data.

Strategies to Help Employees Manage Their Workload

Solely monitoring your employees isn’t the best way to elevate your team’s productivity. Show them that the monitoring has immediate positive impacts on their everyday work by implementing these strategies:

     💡Managerial Oversight & Reporting: In parallel with self-reporting, ask managers to actively monitor and report on team workloads. This not only helps in      maintaining balance but also empowers managers to address issues proactively.

     💡Recognition of Efforts: Implementing software like Insightful can facilitate both informal and formal feedback. It helps boost morale and motivation by      acknowledging hard work and sharing advice on process improvement.

Conclusion

Your remote teams have huge potential: they can probably be even more productive than they were in the office.

You can support your team in realizing its full potential by implementing the right monitoring tools and strategies as well as helping each employee benefit from the insights you gather.

This is a fail-proof recipe for mutual growth and the assurance of your remote employees’ dedication.

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Employee Monitoring

How to Check if Employees Are Working from Home Diligently: WFH Monitoring Strategies

Written by
Vanja Savic Petrovic
Published on
April 17, 2024
“We like to give people the freedom to work where they want, safe in the knowledge that they have the drive and expertise to perform excellently, whether they [are] at their desk or in their kitchen. Yours truly has never worked out of an office, and never will.” – Richard Branson, Founder and Chairman of Virgin

Introducing remote work as an option won’t necessarily reduce your team’s productivity. The trick is to know how to check if employees are working from home effectively, and yet resist the temptation of disruptive micromanagement.

Here are some fundamental methods for monitoring remote employees.

Reasons for Monitoring Remote Employees

The overall workload management and, consequently, company success depends on the performance of every employee. Check out some more reasons to track employees working remotely:

  • Equal Distribution of Work: A manager should observe the distribution of work and its changes. This allows them to react on time and ensure that no one is overwhelmed or lacking tasks, and that work is completed efficiently.

  • Prevention of Burnout & Enhanced Morale: Monitoring helps you identify employees at risk of burnout by allowing you to see all the tasks people take on and finish. If productivity starts dwindling, you can immediately redistribute workloads and help maintain job satisfaction.

  • Identification of Inefficient Practices: Employee tracking highlights inefficiencies in work processes. If workload imbalances are frequent, they might indicate issues with the task allocation process and suggest that your workflow systems need improving.

Methods for Monitoring Remote Employees

Monitoring remote workers should rely heavily on hard data. Numbers of clocked-in hours and finished tasks should be important factors in estimations of a remote employee's dedication.

At the same time, employers need to consider the clues that can’t be expressed mathematically. An employee’s attitude towards new tasks, overall work enthusiasm, and the level of stress should be taken into consideration as well.

Objective Approaches

Objective evaluation of a worker’s commitment can easily be carried out based on the data collected via sophisticated digital tools. Here are the essential monitoring approaches that rely on concrete data:

Use of Project Management Tools

PM tools provide visibility into who is doing what. They also show how many tasks are completed, how many are in progress, and how much time each of them took. Their flaw is that they might not capture activities that are not tied to a specific project.

Recommended apps:

     ⚡Jira—Popular tool that is highly customizable but supports only Agile methodology

     ⚡ClickUp—Fits remote teams of different sizes and offers a wide variety of functions

Implementation of Remote Monitoring Software

Advanced employee monitoring software can track screen activity, keystrokes, and time spent on different applications, among other details. With detailed logs and calculations of productive and unproductive time, employers can get a reliable picture of a worker’s dedication.

Recommended apps:

     ⚡Insightful—Robust tool for tracking time and activities, calculating productivity, and taking screenshots

     ⚡Kickidler—Specialized tool for video surveillance of employee screens

Subjective Approaches

Subjective evaluation of an employee’s workload and efficiency is based on the attitude the employee shows during meetings. Their daily reports should also be considered. Below are the two elementary subjective strategies for assessing an employee’s engagement:

Relying on Observational Insights

Pay attention to behavioral changes. An employee who seems constantly stressed or is working late regularly might be overloaded. Alternatively, someone who often spends time on the company’s messaging apps is probably lacking responsibilities and tasks.

Requiring Self-Reporting

Try asking employees to report their daily activities and share comments about their workload. This can provide insights into their perceptions of their responsibilities and their ability to handle them. Sometimes this kind of input can be as valuable as objective data.

Strategies to Help Employees Manage Their Workload

Solely monitoring your employees isn’t the best way to elevate your team’s productivity. Show them that the monitoring has immediate positive impacts on their everyday work by implementing these strategies:

     💡Managerial Oversight & Reporting: In parallel with self-reporting, ask managers to actively monitor and report on team workloads. This not only helps in      maintaining balance but also empowers managers to address issues proactively.

     💡Recognition of Efforts: Implementing software like Insightful can facilitate both informal and formal feedback. It helps boost morale and motivation by      acknowledging hard work and sharing advice on process improvement.

Conclusion

Your remote teams have huge potential: they can probably be even more productive than they were in the office.

You can support your team in realizing its full potential by implementing the right monitoring tools and strategies as well as helping each employee benefit from the insights you gather.

This is a fail-proof recipe for mutual growth and the assurance of your remote employees’ dedication.