The best employee monitoring software have reasonable pricing and use screenshots, keystroke capture, and web use monitoring to track and create custom reports of employee productivity. They also have robust security and privacy features and are easy to use.
We examined 30 productivity, time tracking, and security monitoring software, looking for monitoring tools that balance giving you the best information and not being too invasive or distracting. We narrowed it down to these seven:
- Teramind: Best overall employee monitoring software, especially for threat protection
- ActivTrak: Best for productivity monitoring and staff coaching
- Kickidler: Best for video monitoring
- Hubstaff Desk: Best for time tracking with employee monitoring
- InterGuard: Best for remote employee monitoring and protecting computer devices
- Controlio: Best for budget-conscious businesses needing advanced monitoring tools
- Veriato: Best for larger businesses wanting AI analysis of employee behaviors
Top Employee Monitoring Software Compared
All the employee tracking system on our list allow users to monitor time and general computer activity. These solutions can capture computer screenshots while your employees are clocked in and offer tools for managers to track work progress online. Below are some of the key features and pricing details.
Free Plan | Monthly Pricing | Plan Requirements | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ✕ | $15–$35+ per user | At least five users | ✓ (with 25% off) |
 | ✓ (for up to three users) | $10–$17+ per user | At least five users Annual plans only | ✓ |
 | ✓ (for one user) | ✕ | ✓ (discounted pricing) | |
 | ✓ (for one user) | $7–$12+ per user | ✕ | ✕ |
 | ✕ | $25 per user | At least five users | ✓ (save 52%) |
 | ✕ | Starts at $7.99 per user | At least five users | ✓ (discounted pricing) |
 | ✕ | At least five users | ✓ (save 52%) | |
Project Tracking | Video Capture | Keystroke Tracking | Software Integrations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limited | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | Limited |
| ✓ | ✕ | Activity only | ✓ |
| ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | Limited |
| ✕ | Video of screenshots | ✓ | ✕ |
Teramind: Best Overall Employee Monitoring Software
Pros
- Includes activity blocking
- Monitors file transfers for saving or printing
- Interactive productivity reporting
- Rules editing; rules templates
Cons
- Does not lock out/wipe lost laptops
- No checklists of project management tools
- No paid time off (PTO) or break scheduling considered
What We Like:
Teramind took the lead for the best employee monitoring system because of its wide range of functions—from custom report building to activity monitoring. It’s also our top pick for preventing insider threats. The software may take a little time to set up with the rules, and the reports are extensive—but the interface looks clean and intuitive. It checked off nearly every feature we looked for, except for some time-tracking and project-management capabilities. If those particular features are more important than security monitoring features, check Hubstaff out.
Teramind scored 4.44 out of 5 in our evaluation, with perfect marks in reporting and user popularity and the highest score (with Controlio) for security features. However, its lack of a free plan and slightly expensive monthly fees (due mainly to its five-user minimum requirement) cost it several points.
Free trial: Seven days
Plan requirements: Has a five-user minimum
Discounts: 25% off if you commit to an annual plan (yearly fee is paid as a lump sum and upfront)
Plans:
- Starter: $15 per user monthly
- Limited user activity monitoring, limited behavior rules, customizable dashboard
- UAM: $30 per user monthly
- Starter + complete user activity monitoring, unlimited activity and behavior rules, OCR* engine, prepackaged productivity rules, and SEIM** integration
- DLP: $35 per user monthly
- UAM + content-based behavior rules, redaction of sensitive content from monitoring, sensitive content detection, malicious activity blocking, and 200 prepackaged DLP rules
- Enterprise: Custom-priced
- DLP + in-app field parsing, enhanced security, multi-region and large-scale deployments, premium support, professional services and customization, and government-level Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure cloud storage
*OCR (Optical Character Recognition): Recognizes text in scanned documents and images
**SEIM (Security Information and Event Management): Advanced threat detection, compliance, and security incident management through collection and analysis
Teramind offers built-in reports and deep-dive capability to let you get a complete picture of the productivity or security threats to your business. (Source: Teramind)
- Monitor online activity: Teramind offers the most in-depth monitoring of online activity, covering multiple search engines and social websites, email, and instant message (IM) activity for 11 of the most common chat programs. You can prevent inappropriate language and watch for security violations but also set it to not monitor personal messages. Finally, you can monitor video conferencing and VoIP calls on different platforms.
- Alerts: Get immediate alerts for unproductive behavior or online activity violating your internet policies. Most of the employee tracker software on our list have alerts, but Teramind goes further with automated actions you set that can warn, block, or lock out a user if they violate the rules.
- Insider threat: If you only need productivity monitoring, then look at ActivTrak or Hubstaff. However, for threat protection, Teramind is among the best. Use it to block or redirect websites, prevent the installation of unauthorized applications (like a virus), and block file downloads, sensitive emails, unauthorized transfers, copy-and-paste, and the sharing of other sensitive content. You can also use it for legal or forensic evidence. It does not let you lock out a computer completely—look at Veriato, InterGuard, or Kickidler for that.
- Privacy: Teramind stands out, however, in that it offers data protection, such as blocking credit card information from being recorded. It also has a Revealed Agent tool that lets employees toggle their monitoring on or off, and works on user activity rather than machine. Hubstaff has more privacy control but does less monitoring.
- Rules: Teramind has 200 pre-made rules that you can customize—or you can create your own. None of the others on our list offer such a capability.
ActivTrak: Best for Productivity Monitoring & Coaching
Pros
- Free plan
- Tools for coaching employees as well as monitoring productivity
- Easy to use, offers phone support
- Project-level productivity analysis
Cons
- Can’t create custom reports
- No keystroke tracking and video captures (video captures are only for its legacy users)
- Can’t lock down lost computers
- No email, chat monitoring
What We Like:
Not everyone looks for top employee monitoring software because of a perceived security threat. Some want to use it to get the most out of their team by identifying distractions, burnout, or even times when an employee is simply less efficient—which is ActivTrak’s specialty.
Its features are focused on improving productivity. It even offers tools and features that help you coach your employees or enable them to self-monitor. You can track by individual or by project to find bottlenecks. For productivity monitoring, it blows the rest away.
ActivTrak earned 4.02 out of 5 on our list based on the strength of its pricing and popularity scores—both of which were perfect 5s. It lacks customized report creation and does not monitor keystrokes, chats, or emails. If you’re looking for a platform with more security functions, we recommend Teramind or InterGuard.
Free trial: 14 days
Plan requirements: Has a five-user minimum; annual plans only (yearly fee is paid as a lump sum and upfront)
Discounts: For nonprofit and educational organizations
Plans:
- Free: $0 for up to three users
- 30 days data history, activity dashboard, website blocking, automated classification of websites and app activity, and reports for top applications, websites, users, working hours, categories, and productivity
- Essentials: $10 per user monthly
- Free + six months data history, real-time reports, USB device and file transfer detection, productivity classifications, automated user management via Azure AD, remote install, and digital support with option to purchase additional support
- Professional: $17 user monthly
- Essentials + 12 months data history, remote vs in-office productivity analysis, team productivity and goal tracking, workload balance and burnout risk analysis, virtual coach recommendations, and Google Workspace/Salesforce integration
- Enterprise: Custom-priced
- Professional + 24 months data history, ActivConnect* add-on, all app integrations, impact analysis, and advanced support plus a dedicated technical account manager
Add-ons (for Essentials and Professional plan holders only):
- ActivConnect*: $3 per user monthly
- Export and query data to business intelligence (BI) tools for more analysis, BI starter templates, and app integrations
- Screen Details: $2 per user monthly
- Screenshots and screen views, web activity detailed title bars and URLs/subpages, and alarms for app terminations, pop-ups, and screenshots,
- Data history: $1 per user monthly (available in one-year increments up to three years)
ActivTrak lets you view productive work hours and app usage and send information to your employees for coaching and feedback. (Source: ActivTrak)
- Coaching: Unlike any of the employee productivity tracking software on our list, ActivTrak takes a coaching approach to staff monitoring. All its reports and tools are geared toward helping your employees or teams work more effectively by cutting down on distractions.
- Burnout reports: ActivTrak stands out with its burnout reports. These look at hours spent, either as a trend or a surge, and flag them if they are excessive. It can also look at focus time and flag those working past the optimum (20 minutes) without a break. The new capacity planning dashboard lets you compare activity during a set time period to compare employee work effort.
- Goals setting: ActivTrak lets you, your employees, or your team set specific goals and track productivity toward those goals in terms of time spent on productive activities—Hubstaff, by comparison, has checklist items.
- Privacy: ActivTrak offers role-based access, removal of non-business URLs in the Insights report, the ability to hide user activity in the Insights dashboards, and anonymized data when possible. It also works for transparency with personal insight reports that share what it finds with the employee themselves. It and Hubstaff probably have the most privacy control—but their focus is not security or threat detection.
- Risky behavior: ActivTrak lets you set alerts for unauthorized downloading of confidential files, and monitors website use. For the best security features, however, check out Teramind or InterGuard.
Kickidler: Best for Video Monitoring
Pros
- Free plan
- PTO and break tracking
- Video capture of live session viewing
- Advanced data misconduct detection including digital file prints, biometric data, and more
Cons
- No phone support (only chat)
- No email or chat monitoring
- No checklists or tools for project management
What We Like:
Whether you need real-time video monitoring to tackle efficiency issues or to catch a thief, we recommend Kickidler. It offers searchable recordings and real-time monitoring of multiple screens at once, whereas most on our list only offer screenshots and alarms (though it has these, too). Further, its Autokick tool enables employees to monitor themselves, helping to improve efficiency without a watchdog. Finally, it alone allows complete remote access for maintenance and troubleshooting.
Kickidler earned 3.92 out of 5 on our list. Because it offers a free plan and reasonably priced paid plans, it earned a perfect score on pricing. It lacks GPS tracking, project management tools, and custom report features, which brought its scores down in several categories, especially reporting. However, it has a perfect rating for popularity, with an excellent real-world average user score of 4.7 out of 5.
Free trial: Seven days (14 days if you provide a phone number during registration)
Plan requirements: None
Discounts: Lower monthly fees if you select a long-term license
Plans: Kickidler’s pricing is based on the license period selected, which can be one month, three months, six months, one year, three years, or perpetual. Note that the longer the period, the lower the fees.
- Free plan: $0 for one user
- Real-time monitoring, video recording, keylogger, and updates
- Time Tracking: $4.90 per computer for a one-month license ($2.75 per computer monthly for an annual license)
- Time tracking, time sheets, reports on web pages and apps, work dynamics, automatic notifications, self-monitoring interface, application programming interface (API), free tech support, and pre-configured list of 600 sites and apps
- Employee Monitoring: $9.99 per computer for a one-month license ($5.50 per computer monthly for an annual license)
- Time Tracking + visual monitoring, screen video recording, violation detection, keylogger, and remote access
- DLP: $19.99 per computer for a one-month license ($11 per computer monthly for an annual license)
- Time Tracking and Employee Monitoring + behavior deviation detection, printed document tracing, file transfer tracking and blocking, data misconduct detection, geolocation tracking, protection against photographing the screen, and smart audio conversation and keyboard behavior analysis
Add-ons:
- Concierge Setup: $15 base fee plus $1 per user
- Includes setup assistance and remote help from a tech support specialist during software installation
Kickidler records and replays all activities on the computer. (Source: Kickidler)
- Live screen monitoring: Like Controlio, Kickidler lets you monitor one or more screens live in real time. Its Quad splitter lets you see the desktops of all employees in a grid at once, plus, you can arrange screens in groups to monitor specific employees or departments with greater attention. This is the only work tracking software we reviewed that specifically mentions this capability.
- Searchable video recording: Rather than recording based on an alarm or taking screenshots at regular intervals, Kickidler can set up continuous video recording, which it indexes and stores. You can search the video for keywords, such as a website or program, and go to that playback. We think it’s the best for this level of video capture.
- Remote access: In addition to monitoring, you can use Kickidler for remote access to any computer. While others like InterGuard or Teramind use this for stopping unwanted activity, Kickidler makes it possible to use this feature for remote support or maintenance of computers as well.
- Autokick: Like Controlio, Kickidler’s Autokick tool lets employees police themselves. In addition to violation notifications, it allows employees to see analytics of their own productivity and can even let them set an alarm for idle time, games, and more.
Hubstaff Desk: Best Time Tracker With Employee Monitoring
Pros
- Free plan
- Includes time tracking and time sheet tools
- Tight privacy controls—some things you simply cannot do with this software
- Screenshots capability
Cons
- Very few security features
- Keystroke tracking for activity level only
- Need the highest plan for online website and app monitoring
What We Like:
Hubstaff Desk is a very popular time-tracking and project-management tool for small businesses. It’s simpler than others on our list, primarily focused on productivity. It has a free plan for one person and is reasonably priced while still providing some great tools for employee monitoring. For example, while ActivTrak lets managers use the software for coaching, Hubstaff Desk has a habit tracker so employees can coach themselves.
In our evaluation, Hubstaff Desk earned an overall rating of 3.89 out of 5. Pricing is excellent and user reviews are great (with an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5). Because its time tracking tools include PTO and breaks, it alone earned a perfect score for time and productivity tools. However, it scored the lowest in security monitoring—but Hubstaff itself says this is not a focus, and it puts user privacy at the forefront.
Free trial: 14 days
Plan requirements: Has a two-user minimum
Discounts: Get two months free if you commit to an annual plan (yearly fees are paid as a lump sum and upfront)
Plans:
- Free: $0 for one user
- Time tracking, time sheets, activity levels, clients and invoices, and limited screenshots, reports, payments, and support
- Starter: $7 per user monthly
- Free + activity tracking, limited app and URL tracking, clients and invoices, and email support
- Grow: $9 per user monthly
- Starter + tasks add-on, reports, idle timeout, project budgets, work breaks, expenses, email support, and one integration option
- Team: $12 per user monthly
- Grow + Insights* add-on, unlimited screenshots, unlimited app and URL tracking, auto discard idle time, payments and payroll, unlimited integrations, scheduling and time off tracking, client budgets, and timesheet approvals
- Enterprise: Custom-priced
- Team + VIP support, concierge setup, higher limits on the API, unlimited job sites, HIPAA compliance, SOC-2 Type II compliance, and Hubstaff corporate app
Add-ons:
- Tasks: Starts at $3 per user monthly
- Kanban view, timeline view, labels and attachments, start/due dates, and task comments
- Insights*: Starts at $2 per user monthly
- Categorized work time, smart notifications, focus and meeting time, suspicious activity detection, behavioral insights, and work time classification
- Data retention: Starts at $2 per user monthly
- Extend data retention to six years for time and activity data, calendar and limits, and finances
- Locations: Starts at $4 per user monthly
- Location tracking on mobile, work orders, and job sites with geofencing
- Corporate app: Starts at $3 per user monthly
- Track time and activity in the background on company-owned devices, add new members through account provisioning, and manage email notifications
Hubstaff can take screenshots in 10-minute blocks. (Source: Hubstaff)
- Privacy: Hubstaff is the least invasive of the apps on our list, as it does not record more than the most basic of information: time, apps, and movement of the mouse or keystrokes. Keystrokes themselves are never recorded. All features can be turned off. Employees have access to their own data and even screenshots. Of course, the flip side is it does not do security monitoring. For that, check out Teramind or InterGuard.
- Screenshots: Unlike the other employee monitoring software on our list, Hubstaff takes screenshots in 10-minute blocks (usually three to a block), unless you disable the feature. Screenshots also include activity-level ratings based on keystrokes and mouse movements.
- Location tracking: Hubstaff lets you track where your employees have been during work hours through the mobile app. It’s a great tool for those with mobile employees, such as delivery services. We did not find anything similar in the other apps on our list. You can customize this feature to respect employee privacy.
- Habit tracker: Hubstaff’s habit tracker lets employees monitor themselves, setting goals and noting websites and activities that apply to the goal. It then tracks activities toward the goal. It alone on our list offered this tool.
- Mobile App: Hubstaffi’s improved mobile app works for time tracking (with geofencing), GPS tracking, project and task creation, and reports.
InterGuard: Best for Remote Employee Monitoring & Protecting Company Devices
Pros
- Can lock out or erase data from lost or stolen laptops
- Store data on-premise or in the cloud
- Very strong activity-tracking tools
- Easy to use
Cons
- Expensive
- Not as many privacy tools as others on the list
- User feedback are mixed; very few reviews
What We Like:
InterGuard, which is owned by the same company as Veriato, ranks as the best remote employee monitoring software for productivity and security because it also protects against attacks. It can even lock down or wipe a device that has been lost or stolen. It’s a great choice if you have a mobile or remote workforce and are concerned about protecting intellectual property. One real-world user said it helped them catch an embezzler.
It earned an overall rating of 3.81 out of 5 in our evaluation, with pricing and popularity bringing the score down. It’s the most expensive on our list and had the lowest score from real-world users. Users cited problems with installing and keeping it running. It did, however, get excellent scores for time tracking, security monitoring, reporting, and ease of use.
Free trial: None
Plan requirements: Has a five-user minimum
Discounts: Save 52% if you commit to an annual plan (yearly fee is paid as a lump sum and upfront). Additional discounts are available for long-term plans of either two, three, or five years.
Plan: InterGuard only has one tier, which costs $25 per user monthly.
InterGuard has a feature that allows it to take a screenshot when it “sees” a set keyword. (Source: InterGuard)
- Lockdown: Too often, the information on a computer is more important than the hardware itself. InterGuard lets you remotely access lost, stolen, or compromised PCs and Macs and delete or retrieve files. It also has a geolocation tracking tool so you can locate the computer.
- Screenshot capability: InterGuard has the most screenshot versatility. Set screenshots by time interval or when specific applications are used. What really impressed us was the keyword capability. Give InterGuard words to look for, and it will automatically screenshot whenever they are mentioned. It’s a great investigation tool.
- Cellphone monitoring: While it lacks apps of its own, InterGuard does monitor cellphone applications. Others, like Hubstaff, only do this through their mobile apps, while Teramind can do this through specified apps.
- Legal investigations: If you need to collect the evidence for an internal or legal investigation, InterGuard can work in stealth mode for covert investigations and the gathering of evidence that is legally admissible in court.
- Productivity: InterGuard does not ignore productivity for security monitoring. In addition to tracking idle and active time, website use, and keystrokes, you can set productivity ratings for applications and activity and apply rules to certain groups. This helps you identify what websites are useful—for example, your marketing group may need Facebook, while the engineering team should be discouraged from using it during work hours.
Controlio: Best for Budget-conscious Businesses Needing Advanced Monitoring
Pros
- Cloud plan is inexpensive while offering a great range of features
- Keystrokes linked to video for easy review
- Can set warning messages
- Set times when monitoring is disabled
Cons
- Integrations by API only
- No remote lockdown for lost laptops
- No project management or GPS tools
What We Like:
Controlio is an inexpensive employee tracking software that offers a great range of features for staff monitoring, rivaling even Teramind and InterGuard. We especially like its alert and warning system because it can even notify the violator. While its starter plan is slightly pricier than Hubstaff ($7.99 vs $7 per user monthly), its security features are more robust. This makes it an ideal choice for budget-minded companies concerned with tracking worker productivity, preventing security breaches, and protecting intellectual property.
Controlio scored 3.78 out of 5 in our evaluation, primarily because it lacks a free plan, custom report creation, and some project management and GPS tools. However, it scored very well for security monitoring features and ease of use. It’s well regarded by users, with an average user review score of 4.9 (over multiple third-party user review sites), which was the highest of those on our list.
Free trial: 14 days
Plan requirements: Has a five-user minimum
Discounts: Lower fees if you commit to an annual plan (yearly fee is paid as a lump sum and upfront).
Plans: Controlio’s pricing is based on the software deployment option selected, which can be online, private cloud, or on-site.
- Cloud: $7.99 per user monthly
- Includes five–10,000 employees and six months of data storage
- On-Premises: Custom-priced
- Includes 10–10,000 employees and unlimited data storage
- Private Cloud: Custom-priced
- Includes 100–100,000 employees and unlimited storage
You can set several monitoring profiles to apply to different people or groups. (Source: Controlio)
- Privacy: When needed, Controlio does have a stealth mode, which means there are no extra icons on your employees’ computers to tell them they are being actively monitored. However, it also lets you set hours when monitoring is disabled and create multiple profiles and apply them to different users or situations.
- Live video: If you choose, you can have continuous video monitoring of activity, even in real time. This is handy if there is an alert to suspicious activity. Simply click the display icon to the left of the username, and you’ll see exactly what’s on the user’s screen at that moment. Kickidler also has live screen monitoring.
- Protect intellectual property and client confidentiality: Controlio can show you who accessed what files and whether they copied, created, printed, or deleted them. Actions are linked to the video of the event. Like Teramind, you can also set rules to block activities or devices like flash drives. Its monitoring is HIPPA-compliant, making it a good choice for healthcare businesses.
- Alerts and warnings: With Controlio, you can set up alerts for behaviors you want immediate notification on. This could be something like accessing a social media site or inserting a USB drive into a protected computer. What we liked even more was that you can send a warning to the user that they are violating a policy. Teramind also has this feature.
Veriato: Best AI-driven Employee Management Software for Larger Businesses
Pros
- AI-powered analysis of employee work behavior
- Can set tracking hours
- Email and chat tracking
- Highly customizable alert system
- Customizable reports
Cons
- Expensive
- No live phone support
- No live video capture (only captures videos of screenshots)
- No GPS tracking
What We Like:
InterGuard and Veriato may be owned by the same company (Awareness) and have a lot of similar features, but there are some tasks that Veriato does the best. It’s great for insider risk monitoring because of its AI-run behavioral and predictive analysis. It also has in-depth tools for email monitoring and network use, not only noting connections made by applications but also bandwidth. It can track and lock down lost or stolen computers and run in the background if needed.
It earned an overall rating of 3.71 out of 5 in our evaluation, with perfect marks in reporting and one of the highest scores for security monitoring. Its starter monthly fee is the same as InterGuard (as of this writing), but Veriato’s pricing gets lower as you add more employees. The low user review ratings and the lack of integrations, live phone support, GPS tracking, and project management tools reduced the scores of this excellent product.
Free trial: None
Plan requirements: Has a five-user minimum
Discounts: Save 52% if you commit to an annual plan (yearly fee is paid as a lump sum and upfront)
Plans:
- Vision: Starts at $25 per user monthly (pricing decreases as employee count increases)
- Comes with screenshots, real-time alerts, and user activity monitoring, blocking, and reporting
- Cerebral: Custom-priced
- Vision + plus custom dashboards and alerts for audits or investigations, AI-powered behavior analysis and risk scoring, on-premise deployment option, enterprise-level onboarding, and implementation support
Veriato’s insider risk detection management includes behavior analytics and user activity monitoring. (Source: Veriato)
- AI-based behavior analysis: Veriato is the only software on our list that doesn’t just flag behavior as it happens, but also uses behavior analysis to identify unusual or risky behavior. Risk factors and signals can be compiled into a risk score to help identify potential problems.
- Email analysis: In addition to looking for alert keywords in emails or chats, it can identify opinions expressed in an email text to determine sentiment. This can help you identify at-risk workers or use it to find corroborative evidence or motive if an employee is caught doing something against policy.
- Stealth mode: Like others on our list, you can place Veriato to run in the background with no indication to the user that they are being monitored. As such, it can be used for investigations and audits. However, background analytics is not readily available unless it triggers an alert, and you need to activate Activity Detail mode to see data and screenshots. This helps protect user privacy.
- Remote Lockdown: While we did not find an ability to wipe lost or stolen computers, Veriato’s Remote Lockdown lets you remotely retrieve files, delete files, locate stolen laptops, and lockdown the device so that the machine cannot be used temporarily.
Methodology: How We Evaluated Employee Monitoring Software
We considered 30 of the best employee monitoring software and selected a variety to meet different needs. For example, some, like Hubstaff, focus on time tracking, while others, like Teramind, offer security tools for businesses with intellectual property to protect. We also looked at price, ease of use, and additional functionality.
Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria:
20% of Overall Score
Here, we looked for a free option as well as affordable and transparent pricing.
25% of Overall Score
These are the basic employee monitoring tools and concern themselves with making sure an employee is doing assigned work during paid hours.
25% of Overall Score
These get into the deeper aspects of employee monitoring: email and chat tracking, identifying and stopping threats, and even erasing hard drives if a laptop is lost or stolen.
5% of Overall Score
As we often do, we look at the feedback from real-world users. Popularity considers review scores averaged over several reputable user review sites, particularly for SMBs.
10% of Overall Score
Reports are needed for tracking trends, and in the worst-case scenario, taking action against a bad employee. We consider types of reports and customizability.
15% of Overall Score
We looked at the user interface, learning curve, customer support, online guides, and dedicated help when compiling this score.
How to Choose Employee Monitoring Software
When it comes to selecting the best software to monitor employees, consider the following:
- Your goals: It’s important to understand your goals and the features you want in an employee monitoring system. For example, if you only want to track employee hours, then a time clock software may be a better fit. If you are concentrating on efficiency, then look for employee monitoring software that includes project and goal tracking. If you are concerned about embezzlement or intellectual property theft, then you’ll want something that runs in the background and looks for file transfers.
- The level of invasiveness: Determine whether you want live monitoring, alerts, or regular reports. If your team is remote, then you may want GPS or internet protocol (IP) address tracking and the ability to take control of the computer to lockout or delete files.
- Software pricing and your budget: Aside from affordability, check if the provider requires an annual contract or a minimum number of employees. Also, check your budget. You may need to upgrade to a software’s higher tiers if you want to access advanced features.
- Ease of use: The software should be simple to learn and use, for both your system administrator and employees.
- Customer support options: Having access to phone support is best, especially if you require technical assistance.
Employee Tracking Software Benefits
When used properly, work tracking software can help in several ways:
- Improve employee engagement and productivity: By tracking time spent on tasks, you can efficiently manage employees and see who is working up to standard and who may need some counseling or assistance. With self-tracking, like what Kickidler offers, you can even let employees monitor themselves.
- Reduce time spent on unauthorized sites or activities: By setting alarms or using screenshots of activity, you can see who is spending time on sites that may be dangerous (like those known to install viruses) or simply time-sucks like social media. Most screen monitoring software also lets you designate what sites are okay for specific groups.
- Reduce temptation: When employees know they are being monitored, they are less likely to give in to the temptation to use company computers for non-business use, like online games. This is especially important for remote employees.
- Use for employee feedback: The top employee monitoring software includes reports that give you hard data to use when setting goals or discussing problem areas during performance reviews.
- Uncover criminal activity or actions that go against company policy: If you suspect foul play, an employee tracking system can gather evidence that you can use for firing your employee or even filing criminal charges. Some have alarms to warn an employee if they are doing something unauthorized, thus preventing the problem.
When using any kind of software for monitoring employees, it’s important to know the laws in your state or country and whether you are required to inform employees that they are being tracked while working. This is especially important in the European Union, where GDPR laws may prohibit some kinds of monitoring.
Many employees consider it an intrusion, particularly if they work from home. Even from home, however, their work and the data it produces are yours. Nearly all the software we examined had tools for respecting privacy, but it’s up to you to use them and ensure your employees understand they may be monitored.
Another use for the best screen monitoring software is to collect evidence for legal action against an employee. If you need reports that are admissible in court, consider Teramind, Veriato, Kickidler, or InterGuard.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, employers are allowed to monitor employee computers, for uses “in the normal course of his employment while engaged in any activity which is a necessary incident to the rendition of his service.” This includes emails and chats.
State laws may add some stipulations, so be sure to check before installing remote employee monitoring software on any computer. If you or your employee is not in the United States, then you must check the laws for that country or the European Union if applicable.
Some employees may resent the monitoring, while it may make others nervous. This can contribute to staff turnover or negatively impact employee engagement. The key to this, according to the Society of HR Management(1), lies in intent, the kind of data you’re tracking, and how you are using it. Transparency is also important, especially when the goal of monitoring is to improve employee performance.
First, you need to set up the software: creating groups and determining the rules as far as when to monitor, what sites are good, bad, or indifferent, and what alarms should be set. Then you install the software onto the employee’s computer. You can also arrange for certain people to get alerts about specific activities and get regular reports on overall stats like attendance, activity, timelines, web usage, and more. From there, the monitoring runs in the background.
If you are using employee monitoring software for productivity management, you will want to let your workers know. You may also need to have something in your employment contracts assenting to such monitoring.
Bottom Line
As we continue toward a remote and hybrid workforce, employee monitoring software will continue to gain importance. While it may seem intrusive, the best programs are designed to respect off-hours privacy and offer tools that help employees improve productivity. Even more, they protect company computers and laptops from attack from disgruntled employees or if they are lost or stolen.
We found Teramind the best overall software for employee monitoring. It offers a broad range of monitoring features, extensive reports and analytics, and tools for reacting to threats. While a little more expensive than others on our list, it provides great value for a productivity- and security-conscious company. There’s a live demo on the website, or you can sign up for a free trial and jump right in.
FAQ Sources:
(1)SHRM
