Employee Monitoring Software

Why Successful Companies Use Employee Monitoring Software

Consider this startling fact: on average, only 65% or less of work time is spent on productive tasks. In simpler terms, more than 38% of valuable work hours are wasted. Take a moment to let that sink in.

For any company executive, founder, or manager aiming to run a productive and profitable business, this figure is nothing short of eye-watering.

As a team leader, it’s frustrating to witness such a significant portion of employee time go to waste. The challenge lies in the modern workplace, where it’s practically impossible to observe every click, scroll, and tap made by employees.

In the absence of proper checks and monitoring, today’s digital work environments can quickly turn into unregulated territories, resembling the Wild West. Countless hours are squandered on social media, timesheets are manipulated, budgets spiral out of control, and distinguishing between merely “looking busy” and genuinely being productive becomes a daunting task.

This is where employee monitoring comes to the rescue. Implementing an effective employee monitoring system empowers businesses to regain control over their workforce’s activities, ensuring that time is spent efficiently and that efforts are genuinely contributing to the company’s and employees’ simultaneous success.

Considering Employee Monitoring Software?

Exploring Employee Computer Monitoring Software: Key Considerations

Employee computer monitoring software offers a powerful solution, capable of monitoring almost 100% of employee activity without making them feel micromanaged. By providing clear and insightful data, it enables you to gain a comprehensive understanding of your employees’ actions and time usage.

On the surface, this may seem like an obvious choice, right? However, before you make a purchase and purchase any employee productivity monitoring software, there are crucial questions to ponder:

• What features are essential for your specific needs?
• Do you require customization options to tailor the software to your requirements?
• What is the actual cost, considering both financial investment and potential productivity gains?
• How easy is it to install and use the software effectively?
• How will your employees react to the implementation of such software?

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg…

Fear not, by investing a few minutes in reading further, you will have all the answers and more! 

This comprehensive guide will equip you with the knowledge necessary to make an informed decision and choose the best employee monitoring software for your team.

Understanding Employee Monitoring Software:

Before delving into the selection process, it is essential to clarify what the best employee monitoring software encompasses and what it does not. Often, there is confusion surrounding its purpose, with both managers and employees viewing it as mere employee surveillance. However, as you’re about to discover, it offers so much more.

The finest productivity monitoring software allows you to:

1. Identify unproductive workers and areas that need improvement.
2. Gain insights into the most frequently used apps, websites, and software within your team.
3. Track every minute of time and attendance diligently.
4. Utilize the gathered data as actionable insights and trends to continually enhance team performance.
5. Get minute-by-minute productivity analysis or timesheet reports to understand effort utilization
6. Make smarter and cost-saving decisions based on real-time employee data insights

In essence, it grants you the power of an all-seeing, all-knowing manager, providing invaluable support to optimize your team’s productivity – a truly modern approach to work monitoring software.

What Type of Employee Activity Can be Monitored?

With today’s powerful employee tracking software, it’s possible (and effortless) to monitor:

• Email usage
• Idle hours, break time, and missing hours
• Application usage & website usage
• Computer activity
• Time & Attendance 
• Time on projects & tasks
• Screenshots
• Time Theft activities
• Daily/monthly/yearly productivity 

Plus, with some employee productivity monitoring software, like Flowace’s automated employee tracking tool, every byte of data from your entire team is visible via an intuitive dashboard that’s as easy to read on the move. 

Top 5 Employee Monitoring Data, Trends and Stats 

1. Employee surveillance software demand shot up to 58% since the pandemic started (Top10VPN Survey)
2. 1 in 3 employees have used their work computer for purposes that they’d find embarrassing should their employer find out (ExpressVPN Survey)
3. When a group of Canadian employees were asked by Capterra what the benefits of employee monitoring were:

• 39% said it gave their employers more insight into daily business operations
• 38% said it can ensure staff are never underpaid
• 37% said it allowed mistakes to be caught before they can escalate
• 35% said it gave employers greater visibility into high and low work performers
• 34% said it allowed employers to help them work more efficiently during work hours

1. 60% of companies with employees who work remotely are using monitoring software to track employee productivity and activity. Another 17% are considering it.(Digital.com Survey)
2. 92% of workers are open to the collection of data on them and their work, but only if it improves their performance or well-being or provides other personal benefits (Accenture Survey of C-suite Executives)

How Companies Have Optimized Performance Through Time Measurement and Cost Alignment

1. Enhanced business process efficiency by an impressive 24%, streamlining operations for better productivity and resource utilization via employee monitoring tools. 
2. Achieved a remarkable 15% increase in clock-in accuracy, reducing discrepancies and ensuring more reliable attendance records.
3. Boosted daily active time by 10%, enabling teams to maximize their output and achieve greater efficiency.
4. With potential annual time savings of up to $10 million, enabling cost-effective measures have yielded substantial financial benefits.
5. Office team productivity witnessed a remarkable 32% increase, empowering the workforce to accomplish tasks more effectively.
6. Remote companies also experienced a significant 26% rise in productivity, showcasing our adaptability and effectiveness in diverse work environments.
7. Our measures led to an impressive 23% improvement in payroll accuracy, minimizing errors and ensuring fair compensation for employees.
8. Project completion time was reduced by an impressive 25%, allowing businesses to deliver outcomes faster and stay ahead of the competition.
9. Time reporting accuracy witnessed an exceptional 60% improvement, providing businesses with reliable data for decision-making and planning.
10. Daily active work time for office teams increased by an encouraging 21%, resulting in heightened output and enhanced team performance.

Teams that Benefit Most from Employee Monitoring Software:

The comprehensive employee monitoring software is tailored to cater to the needs of various teams and industries, including:

Office workers – Ensuring optimal productivity and resource management within the office environment.

Remote workforce – Providing effective tools to monitor and support remote teams, irrespective of their location.

Enterprise – Assisting large-scale organizations in streamlining operations and maximizing employee efficiency.

Shared Service Professionals – Enabling shared service teams to work collaboratively and enhance service delivery.

Accounting Firms – Supporting accounting professionals with accurate time tracking and enhanced payroll management.

IT – Facilitating IT teams in managing projects, improving efficiency, and meeting project deadlines.

BPO/KPO – Enhancing operational efficiency and quality in Business Process Outsourcing/Knowledge Process Outsourcing entities.

Fast Growing Businesses – Empowering rapidly expanding businesses with the tools to manage and optimize their workforce effectively.

AEC (Architects, Engineers & Construction) – Assisting construction and engineering teams in project management and time tracking.

Startups – Providing innovative startups with the means to monitor progress and drive growth.

Lawyers – Supporting legal professionals in time management and client billing.

SMBs – Catering to the specific needs of small and medium-sized businesses for better efficiency.

Accounting Agencies – Assisting accounting agencies in managing client projects and resources more effectively.

Software Development – Empowering software development teams to deliver projects on time and with greater accuracy.

PQR uses Flowace to Map Maximum Productivity and Streamline Billable-Hour

Note: The client’s name, “PQR,” has been used to maintain confidentiality.

PQR, a renowned global provider of IT-based business solutions, operates with a dedicated workforce of approximately 186,000 professionals, serving clients in over 70 countries. The company’s commitment to excellence lies in combining the expertise of its skilled systems and services specialists with reliable computing products, advanced microelectronics, and efficient communications to deliver unparalleled value to its customers.

Challenge:

One of the key challenges faced by PQR was to ensure accurate effort estimates while preparing project proposals for their clients. Additionally, they sought an employee productivity mapping system that would be user-friendly, catering to both tech-savvy individuals and novices alike.

A few years back, PQR developed an internal time and expense tracking system to monitor billable hours, expenses, and project timelines. This system utilized a small application that gathered data from a database at the end of each month, generating Excel files that were emailed individually to the users. These Excel files served as the official forms that each employee needed to complete and were archived by the personnel department in compliance with Italian national security regulations. The forms encompassed critical information such as working days, holidays taken, sick leave, and overtime for each day of the month. In addition to these monthly forms, users were required to log their project activities on separate forms.

The usage of Excel files introduced challenges for users unfamiliar with the application and administrators who lacked effective checks and balances. Consequently, errors arose, and some forms were left incomplete, leading to inaccuracies in effort estimates and actual cost comparisons.

Moreover, as PQR’s requirements expanded, this internally developed time tracking solution proved inadequate. Ensuring that all estimates were filled with precise data created a backlog in client service tracking, as the personnel department had to manually verify the forms received via email. This process proved to be time-consuming, costly, and inefficient. Recognizing the magnitude of the forms backlog, A, PQR’s partner, understood the need for a superior solution to streamline their operations.

Solution

As a distinguished leader in hardware and system services, PQR recognized the criticality of accurate effort estimates for project success. They sought a comprehensive time and expense tracking solution that would provide complete visibility into their projects. PQR’s goal was to furnish clients with detailed reports on estimated completion times, total project hours, and associated costs at any stage of a project’s lifecycle. Additionally, they required a user-friendly system that catered to individuals with varying levels of technical expertise.

“After implementing Flowace for our users, the onboarding process was seamless, and the management team can now easily verify data accuracy through the data-centric dashboard,” shared A, a partner at PQR.

The Flowace system offered PQR the capability to assess the efficiency of their workforce and measure the accuracy of their effort estimates. By meticulously tracking various project activities, PQR could refine its estimation model, resulting in more realistic and dependable estimates.

In the pursuit of a suitable solution, PQR carefully identified the essential data they needed to collect and organize their projects accordingly. They conducted a trial of TimeBill and TimeAttend, comparing them against their existing system. Ultimately, they chose these solutions for their user-friendly nature, easy administration, and reliable support. The flexibility of these tools provided an additional advantage.

A remarked, “The system’s flexibility is remarkable. Depending on the setup, we can achieve different levels of functionality and usability. It allows us to make corrections without adversely impacting the system or data history—a crucial aspect when choosing a standard system for projects, tasks, and users, ensuring consistency in information.”

With the implementation of Flowace, PQR successfully streamlined their internal procedures and delighted their users, who no longer had to deal with an extra form. Managers could effortlessly compare effort estimates against actual costs, gaining valuable insights for decision-making.

Flowace proved to be the solution that addressed PQR’s specific needs, offering accuracy in effort estimates, easy adoption, and an intuitive interface, ultimately enhancing project management and client service.

The Outcomes:

• Accurate effort utilization reports for measuring employee productivity.
• Improved project profitability and higher client satisfaction.
• Over 90% reduction in client billing times.

Additional Advantages:

• Streamlined time and expense approval process, now takes minutes instead of days.
• The billing cycle was reduced from days to minutes.
• Enhanced project management with improved visibility into employee productivity.

The Not So Typical Employee Monitroing Software 

By now, you must be well aware of the importance of utilizing an employee productivity measurement software like Flowace. Unlike typical monitoring software that can make employees feel micromanaged, Flowace functions as a productivity analysis tool, measuring time and employee efforts to ensure mutual growth for both employees and the company.

In short, it combines the best of both worlds, providing effective practices for scaling a company exponentially.

Finally, this comprehensive guide aims to help you make an informed choice regarding employee monitoring tools. However, the most effective way to find the best fit for your team is to try it out. That’s why at Flowace, we encourage you to take advantage of our free 14-day trial.

For more information, click here for a 14-day free demo.