Every day, numerous employers decide to implement a PC monitoring software. Because everything that employees do on company computers matters.
Due to this fact, occurs a problem of protecting privacy in the workplace. However, employee privacy is highly debatable.
On one hand, employees deserve to have some time to resolve their personal issues or surf the web, which they actually have – the lunch time. On the other hand, employees are paid for the time they spend at work, so managers expect proper use of time.
But let’s get a deeper look at what the PC monitoring software actually does and what’s good and evil about it.
What is a PC monitoring software?
It is an application that collects data about what, when and how long employees do stuff on the computer, as well as has an option to capture time spent away from it.
There is a vast variety of monitoring tools, from the ones that are pure spyware, to the ones that monitor for the good of both employees and their employer.
The Good
Believe it or not, but PC monitoring software is an excellent tool for changing the workflow of the company for the better.
If the employees feel like they don’t have enough time, and they would gladly add up a couple more hours to the ones that are already given, then computer monitoring is perfect for figuring out how much time is dedicated to actual work and how much is eaten by distractions.
The Evil
After you implement such a tool, there will definitely be a way of resentment. And again, privacy in the workplace is the hot topic here.
But to honest, employee privacy is very easy to protect. E.g. by implementing Yaware.TimeTracker, you can enable pauses in monitoring. Whenever the employee wants to use the computer for personal purposes, s/he can stop the monitoring. So, no data will be captured.
Note: the time spent on personal stuff will not count to the total worked time.
Best practices for using PC monitoring software
1. Forewarn – let employees know that you are going to use a computer monitoring software. The fact that they know is already enough to increase the productivity and prevent the unwanted behavior. Besides, monitoring employees’ computers without the staff knowing is illegal and will most definitely get you into trouble.
2. Choose a good software – as said before, there is a huge variety of monitoring tools. Make sure that you choose the one that will add value to company’s work.
3. Don’t use the software to punish – that is one of the biggest fears of the employees. They think that such software is only used to detect unproductive time and punish for it. However, that will not do anything good. You should use the tracking data to analyze and improve, not suppress and punish.
4. Let employees get accustomed with the software – do a presentation or just introduce employees’ to the website. The awareness of what the software does helps debunk the myths and gossips.
In conclusion
So, what PC monitoring software is really depends on how you treat it and what kind of system you choose. If you want to a Big Brother, we recommend you not even to get started with monitoring.
But if you want to improve the work of your company, then you are welcome to use Yaware.TimeTracker – an automatic PC monitoring software.
