Top 10 Remote Employee Monitoring Software
Remote employee monitoring software is essential for managing productivity, accountability, and security in remote work setups. This post highlights its benefits and presents the top ten solutions catering to various organizational requirements.
By Ellie / Updated on March 4, 2024
How do I monitor my employees working remotely?
In today's digital age, the landscape of work is rapidly evolving, with more companies embracing remote work models. With this shift, the need for effective remote employee monitoring software has become paramount. Remote employee monitoring software makes remote work easier by allowing employers to track and manage the activities of their remote workforce, ensuring productivity, accountability, and security.
What advantages does remote employee monitoring software offer?
Remote employee monitoring software offers several benefits for both employers and employees in today's dynamic work environment. Here are some of the key advantages:
- Increased productivity
Remote employee monitoring software offers insights into how employees allocate their time during work hours.By identifying areas of inefficiency or distraction, employers can offer targeted support and resources to improve productivity.
- Enhanced accountability
With remote work, it can be challenging to ensure that employees are staying on task and meeting deadlines. Remote employee monitoring software helps hold employees accountable for their work by tracking their activities and progress.
- Improved security
Remote employee monitoring software helps protect sensitive company data by monitoring employee activities and identifying any suspicious behavior or security threats.
However, it should be noted that your use of remote employee monitoring software complies with relevant laws and regulations, and consider the ethical implications of monitoring employee activities.
How to monitor remote employees [10 ways]
Several remote employee monitoring software solutions are available in the market today. Below, you'll find a compilation of the finest ten selections available to you.
Way 1. AnyViewer —Best for concurrent multiple employees monitoring
AnyViewer stands out as a premier remote desktop software with a screen wall feature, facilitating seamless monitoring of multiple employee screens simultaneously. It enables supervisors to observe computer activities and even assume control over individual workstations as needed.
Why pick AnyViewer?
AnyViewer enables employers to effectively oversee multiple employee computers concurrently, providing real-time insights into their activities. In the event of technical issues, it empowers employers to remotely access and troubleshoot employee computers, saving valuable time and effort.
In addition to its concurrent monitoring and screen control capabilities, AnyViewer offers a suite of features such as file transfer, mobile control, and remote shutdown/restart. These functionalities make it an indispensable tool for remote workers seeking efficient management and support.
Pros:
- User-friendly interface ensures ease of use
- ECC encryption and two-factor authentication enhance data security
- Remote monitoring speed is fast and stable
- Free services available for any purpose
Cons:
- Compatibility is limited to Windows, iOS, and Android platforms
Way 2. Insightful — Best for tracking employee productivity
Insightful empowers you to effectively oversee team members regardless of their location, providing valuable data insights on productivity and employee time management.
Why pick Insightful?
This tool provides extensive employee monitoring and computer activity tracking, offering insights into how employees and freelancers utilize their time, applications, and websites. Scheduled or rule-based screenshots offer evidence that employees are meeting work expectations throughout the day. Employee work is automatically logged based on activity.
You can add projects and tasks, assign them to employees, and verify ongoing work. Accurate project budgeting ensures financial accountability and eliminates guesswork. Project insight reports enable you to monitor progress closely and ensure optimal utilization of time.
Pros:
- Simple to identify unproductive apps
- Minimal impact on system resources
- Operates discreetly in the background
Cons:
- Requires more integration options
- Limited number of screenshots allowed
Way 3. Veriato — Best for overseeing employees in regulated settings
Veriato is a workforce behavior analytics company that equips you with the necessary tools to oversee remote or hybrid employee productivity effectively.
Why pick Veriato?
Veriato facilitates effective management of remote teams by pinpointing unproductive employees and enhancing overall team efficiency. Particularly beneficial for industries with intricate corporate and regulatory compliance needs like healthcare, legal, and financial services.
Veriato streamlines audit processes and ensures compliance with real-time alerts, customizable reporting, and intuitive dashboards. It allows tracking of computer activity, chat monitoring, and automated screenshot capture. Additionally, it offers flexibility in setting start and end times for tracking employee activity.
Pros:
- Offers a thorough overview of the activity
- Extensive customization options available
- Provides descriptive reporting
Cons:
- Setup process can be time-consuming
- Screenshot archives could be improved
Way 4. DeskTime — Best for subtle employee monitoring
DeskTime aids small business owners in effectively managing remote employees through the utilization of time-tracking software, offering comprehensive productivity reports for enhanced oversight.
Why pick DeskTime?
This application automatically tracks employee activity and computes productivity levels. Its URL and app tracking capabilities provide detailed insights into the websites, programs, and apps utilized by employees, categorized as productive or unproductive.
Furthermore, the software enables monitoring of specific documents employees are engaged with. The integrated web time tracker accurately measures time spent on projects and tasks. Employees can also utilize a pause feature to take breaks when necessary. Additionally, it offers a booking feature for reserving meeting rooms and shared resources.
Pros:
- Streamlined productivity assessment
- Straightforward onboarding experience
- Accessibility from mobile devices
Cons:
- Gap management functionality requires enhancement
- Integrations could be improved
Way 5. ActivTrak — Best for achieving a balance between employee productivity and well-being
ActivTrak is an employee tracking tool designed to support flexible schedules, enforce compliance, and foster a healthy work-life balance, ultimately leading to improved long-term productivity.
Why pick ActivTrak?
By utilizing ActivTrak, you attain a comprehensive understanding of digital work dynamics, enabling you to strike a balance between productivity, flexibility, and employee well-being. The software analyzes daily work activity data, providing valuable insights into time allocation, technology usage patterns, resource deficiencies, and productivity trends.
You can track daily work activity across hybrid and remote employees, distinguishing between active and passive online statuses and identifying current work priorities. Additionally, you can categorize applications and websites based on team, role, or job function for in-depth usage analysis. ActivTrak facilitates a comparison of remote and in-office employee habits to identify productivity disparities and operational bottlenecks.
Pros:
- Operates invisibly to users
- Compatible with anti-virus software
- Features a useful alarm functionality
Cons:
- Lacks keystroke logging capability
- Historical records interface is cumbersome
Way 6. TimeDoctor — Best for employee monitoring solutions with comprehensive integrations
TimeDoctor provides direct insight into your team's workflow and productivity, revealing the websites and applications utilized by each employee throughout the day.
Why pick TimeDoctor?
This application provides actionable insights and performance trend data to enhance productivity. It allows you to capture screencasts of employee screens at scheduled intervals and track their most frequently used websites and applications.
Time Doctor assists in generating precise payroll data and facilitating invoice processing. With integrations available for various popular business applications, you can customize TimeDoctor to align with your organization's requirements. Overall, it offers a comprehensive view of employee performance, enabling you to optimize team productivity and efficiency.
Pros:
- Provides accurate time-tracking
- Enhances billing processes
- Reduces time wastage
Cons:
- Issues with redundant notifications
- Occasional tracking glitches
Way 7. Hubstaff — Best for monitoring employees in real time
Hubstaff provides a distinctive combination of time-tracking and employee-monitoring software, allowing you to observe your team's work in real time.
Why pick Hubstaff?
With Hubstaff's remote employee monitoring software, you can effectively track your workforce's time and generate precise timesheets. Additionally, you have the option to set up automatic reminders to prevent oversight in time tracking.
The software directly monitors website and application usage, providing insights into potential distractions. Furthermore, you can schedule automatic screenshots to monitor user activity closely.
Hubstaff tracks keyboard and mouse activity without accessing sensitive data, focusing instead on measuring activity frequency.
Pros:
- Outstanding management of idle time
- Highly customizable features
- Abundance of integrations available
Cons:
- Manual initiation is required for time-tracking
- Reporting interface can be confusing
Way 8. EmailAnalytics — Best for enhancing email response times
EmailAnalytics provides visibility into daily email activity, offering insights into how your team members respond to email inquiries.
Why pick EmailAnalytics?
This tool offers an email analytics dashboard that showcases your sales team's email activity, including the number of emails sent and received daily. It provides insights into the volume of correspondence and identifies spam complaints received. Additionally, you can delve deeper into any metric for further details.
It's simple to identify top email senders, track client interactions, and assess average response times for each recipient. You can also monitor the number of unread emails in each inbox and identify those labeled as "important". Moreover, the system analyzes email activity by time of day, allowing you to pinpoint peak activity periods.
Pros:
- No need for software installation
- Provides comprehensive team reports
- Offers in-depth email insights
Cons:
- Limited to tracking emails
- Designed specifically for sales teams
Way 9. Monitask — Best for employee monitoring featuring customizable settings
Monitask provides employee monitoring solutions tailored for remote workplaces, encompassing automatic time-tracking and proof-of-work screenshots.
Why pick Monitask?
This application meticulously tracks the start and end times of home-based employees' work shifts, ensuring accountability. It also monitors remote employees' work hours to guarantee the completion of full shifts. The productivity tracking feature aids in maintaining focus and minimizing distractions among team members.
Additionally, Monitask's employee monitoring solution plays a crucial role in safeguarding sensitive data, particularly when accessed outside secure platforms. The system actively monitors the transmission of such data via email, cloud uploads, or copying to external USB devices, with admins receiving alerts accordingly.
Pros:
- Simple setup process
- Offline time tracking capability
- Promotes productivity for all team members
Cons:
- Excessive number of integrations available
- Limited availability of historical logs
Way 10. Teramind — Best for integrating employee monitoring and security measures
Teramind provides remote work monitoring software designed to enhance both employee productivity and data security.
Why pick Teramind?
This software visually records every action made by remote users, including contractors and third parties. It tracks all activities, even those within custom applications, and allows the configuration of rules and policies to collect data on any user action.
Teramind enables tracking of all user activity while adhering to applicable employee privacy regulations. It can monitor work performed on local machines, remote domains, servers, or terminal servers. Additionally, you can request a breakdown of work-related versus non-work-related tasks and receive minute-to-minute trend graphs illustrating time allocation to specific projects.
Pros:
- Comprehensive feature set
- Exceptional tracking capabilities
- Effective user behavior analytics
Cons:
- Requires a minimum of 5 seats
- Occasional false positives with anti-virus software
The bottom line
In conclusion, remote employee monitoring software is essential for maintaining productivity, accountability, and security in today's remote work environment. It offers benefits like increased productivity, enhanced accountability, and improved security measures. However, it's vital to comply with laws and ethical considerations.
The top ten remote employee monitoring software options provide various features to meet different organizational needs. From AnyViewer's simultaneous monitoring to Teramind's integrated security, each solution offers unique benefits for managing remote teams.
Ultimately, selecting the right software depends on specific organizational requirements. By choosing and implementing the appropriate software carefully, employers can effectively manage remote teams while promoting productivity, accountability, and security.
