How To Track Employees To Increase Their Productivity

Nowadays tracking what your employees are busy with at their workplaces is just a part of technological progress.

Of course, this topic always carries in an ethical dilemma — do you invade their privacy by doing that? Or using spy apps is inevitable to make sure your workers are actually busy doing their tasks (and not checking their Instagrams, calling their moms, or scrolling through messengers).

When should you track your employees

Managing your team’s productivity is not rocket science, but it requires you to be more deliberate about how you track the outcome of their work. And using modern technologies to track their activity is a perfect tool for that purpose.

A workplace research study from International Data Corp (IDC) reported that 30-40% of employee internet usage was not related to work. Another study shows that 20% of employees divulged secret information of their companies, either non-intentionally or on purpose.

If in the first case, you can “scratch your head” in search of ways to boost your employees’ productivity, the second one clearly requires more harsh methods to find out who’s staying behind information leaks.

You should consider using modern discreet tracking apps if:

• There is a need to ensure remote employees are busy completing tasks
• You want to track your employees’ movements while on fieldwork
• You need to discover who is responsible for the information leak
• You want to track their arrival and departure times

Legal rights: can I monitor employees without their knowledge?

The U.S. laws allow an employer to monitor employee’s online activities, like website history, the amount of time spent on certain websites, keystrokes, emails, and even restrict access to some platforms (for example, social media).

It wouldn’t hurt having a documented workplace policy that clearly outlines the rules, though.

As to the phone calls recording: each state has its own regulations on whether you’ll need consent from the second part to record phone conversations.

In Europe most forms of employee monitoring are lawful, however, you’ll need to make sure the one you’ve chosen abide by the GDR (General Data Protection Regulations) laws.

What are the ways to track employees’ activity

Technological advances make it incredibly easy to put your hands into company-owned devices in your workplace. The most cost-effective way as of today is still installing a mobile tracker app.

Mobile tracking apps refer to special software that is installed on the target phone to transmit information from it to the place where you can view it. A special place is usually your personal space available to access at any browser. Such an app is able to inform you about where the target is (GPS-location tracking), get you screenshots of text messages, provide access to the photo gallery, monitor social media activity, etc.

Monitoring apps work best for tracking:

• Website history
• Employees’ movements while on fieldwork
• Social media usage
• Apps block
• Employees’ GPS location
• Inappropriate chatting during working hours

They also allow you to find out what are the main distraction factors that bring down your team’s productivity. Most of the spy apps offer a free trial version to try things out. Mobile Tracker Free gives you a free package of basic monitoring features to help you gauge your employees’ productivity.

Have additional questions? Let us explain how the app works so you can get out the most.