Employee Monitoring Software: Overview, Key Features & Pricing

In the last two years, the concept of the workplace has changed drastically for millions of people, and working from home has become a normal thing for people in various sectors globally. Even after the pandemic has receded, it seems the companies are not fully ready to revert to earlier work schedules and types. While some companies have embraced a hybrid work mode, many major businesses, including some MNCs, have adopted a permanent working-from-home policy for a majority of their employees. 

While WFH has its advantages, there are drawbacks that are too big to overlook. That is why the usage and popularity of employee monitoring software have grown manifold. Companies in sectors like healthcare, finance, retail, IT, and Banking are using such specialized applications. Of course, they resort to offerings of the top software development services for such needs. 

Why using employee monitoring software is necessary?

Using a specially developed employee monitoring application makes complete sense in the post-pandemic period, think the businesses. As WFH continues to be popular among a majority of businesses across all sectors, ensuring the workforce remains under monitoring is necessary. 

When your company employees work from their homes, it is no longer possible for team leaders or managers to look after them, which was possible in the office space. They need digital monitoring, and that is where such applications come into the picture. When such applications are used, the management-level employees can focus on their work rather than watching what junior employees are doing. 

Ever since the pandemic started and employees were given a choice to work from their homes, a section of them started working slowly or citing numerous reasons to cover up lack of productivity. The company management became weary of listening to reasons like slow internet connection and power outages for reduced productivity in the workforce. While some of such cases are genuine, there is no denying a section of the workforce tries to exploit the situation. To put an end to such malpractices, the deployment of employee monitoring software is quite necessary.

When employees work from home, either owing to pandemic-related restrictions or for ill-health, they may get distracted while working. Sometimes, it may not be intentional but distracting elements can be at play! It can be detrimental to the company eventually. Logically speaking, the companies bear the bill for internet access and work-related charges for the employees in such situations. It is not acceptable when the employees use the time and facility to indulge in online activities not related to work. The company is not paying for its social media usage or online entertainment needs.

By using such specialized applications, company management can figure out the employees who try to skip work and those who perform well while working remotely. So, they can reward the deserving employees and caution those trying to skip their tasks.

Limitations of using employee monitoring applications

While using employee monitoring applications helps businesses track the online activity of their employees, and their work timing can be checked, these tools are not exactly miraculous solutions! 

There are a few drawbacks to these apps.

• Not all types of online work can be tracked using such monitoring applications. A social media manager will have to browse websites like Facebook or Instagram as part of the work. But, from the URL, it is hard to see what he/she actually did while visiting the websites.
• Some of the employees can be quite tech-savvy, and they can resort to many technological loopholes to escape monitoring. They can, for example, use VPN applications. 
• By using such applications, the management cannot fathom hardware problems at the employee’s place. 
• Sometimes, an employee may work slowly or log in late because he/she is genuinely ill, but the software cannot be used to assess that.

What can be tracked by employee monitoring applications?

Nowadays, you can hire a software development agency to develop a custom employee monitoring application for your company or buy a ready-made tool. These applications come laden with computer and web activity tracking features.

• These applications can track the log-in and log-out times of the users.
• These applications can be tweaked to block access to specific types of websites by the users. 
• If the users are found to deviate from allowed online activities, such applications can be used to send them alerts.
• These apps can also be set to allow access to sites like YouTube for a limited period- for work-related purposes.

Things to check when choosing an employee monitoring application

Before you invest in a workforce monitoring application for your company, ensure it has the required features. Ensure you hire a suitable software development company to get such an application developed for your venture.

• Ease of usage- The application should be simple to use. You should not have to scan through the documentation and seek support to use the features.
• Customization- The application should be customizable. You may not want to use all the features at the same time, so options should be there to use only the required features, as per the need.
• Alerts- The application must include alert features. You can opt for the beep, email, or flashing alert on the screen. 
• Low on resources- An employee monitoring application must not be resource-guzzling. If it makes the computer sluggish, that will hamper employee productivity. 
• Time tracking- The application should be laden with log-in and logout tracking features. This will let you check if the employees are being punctual or not.
• Stealth mode- Some companies ensure the employee monitoring applications used by them run on stealth mode. This can be useful if you do not want to make the employees feel bad about getting monitored when they work. 
• Screen capture- Many of these apps come with screen capture features. This makes it easy for the management to see if the employees are sleeping or fatigued.

Picking the best company for developing employee monitoring software

You have various options when it comes to choosing a software development firm for creating an employee monitoring application. You may sign up for the services of a regional software development company. The other option is hiring a veteran offshore development company. Some IT companies develop such applications in collaboration mode as well. In any case, you should hire an agency developing such applications on some key grounds.

• Assess the tenure of the agency and its image.
• Check out its client base and obtain their reviews. This can be done using the top social media platforms. 
• Check out the portfolio of the company developing such applications. See how user-friendly, lightweight, and customizable the applications are.
• Learn about the service terms and support options offered by it. 
• Find out if the application pricing can be kept flexible.

Summing it up

Using employee monitoring software can be useful if your company resorts to remote and hybrid work modes. However, you must check your legal stance on the issue before buying and using such applications. Also, you need to hire the right vendor to develop such an application.