More and more employers are starting to look into implementing various methods of monitoring their employees so that they can improve productivity and data security. However, contrary to popular belief, it isn’t as easy as merely installing computer supervising software, and if you want it to be effective – you need a plan.
The best roadmap that encompasses how employers can monitor their employees should include:
Defining specific goals
Before you start to plan how to monitor employees, you first should define exactly why you want to monitor them in the first place. Is your goal to prevent data breaches? Improve productivity? Avoid time wastage?
By outlining your goals, you can then look at the software features and how to best use them. For example, if your goal is to improve productivity with employee activity auditing software, the focus should be on tracking how productive employees are based on their active and idle time, online activity, app usage, and so on.
Coming up with a clear policy
Based on the goals, you can then come up with a clear policy that outlines what you’re going to be monitoring, how it will be monitored, and why. The policy should be designed to inform your employees and help them understand what they can and cannot do.
Try to make your policy as specific as possible based on the way that you intend to use the available software. Keep in mind that some of the software features to capture keystrokes, emails, or instant messenger conversations may be seen as intrusive – which is why you need to explain how they’ll be used and justify it.
Setting out the repercussions
It is important that your employees are aware of the repercussions should they misuse company equipment, waste time, or perform other restricted actions. The action that you will take in such cases should be set out in advance.
As a rule, it is best to use any software as a preventive measure. The automated reports that it generates will let you easily issue warnings and provide advice if required. On top of that, individual reports for specific employees can be generated, so that they can rectify any issues.
Providing employees with a way to give feedback
Always ensure that your employees are able to provide feedback about your policy, use of monitoring software, and anything else related to it. By giving them the opportunity to air their views and listening to what they have to say, you could make many improvements.
Don’t just look at the monitoring software as something that you install once and then forget about it. If you want it to be truly effective, you should take advantage of the fact that it can be customized based on your needs. The feedback from your employees can help on that front too.
If you follow this roadmap, you should be able to set up your goals, decide how to monitor your employees, and implement it in a way that isn’t likely to cause many issues. However, you will need to give it some thought and carefully plan it out.
The first step that you should take is to look for the available software and give them a try. When you do, you’ll be able to see exactly what its features can do, and can then decide on the best way to take advantage of them.
It may help to look at other case studies and examples of companies that have introduced employee monitoring – so that you can learn from them. Take your time, prepare, and don’t rush into it so that you’re able to avoid any missteps.
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