Thread: monitoring employees via a monitoring software

Facebook :-) lol. Sorry couldnt resist. Spend time on FB and Im sure you'll see where their time is being used.
Of course you can always manage web access through your firewall but expect big kick backs. Though not as big as if you intend "Monitoring". Being up front us a better policy.

I would suggest raising the issue in general terms with the employees first.
Take a look at the firewall logs, see what the most popular sites are and mention them on a broad basis.
"i've noticed our available bandwidth dropping, analyzing firewall logs shows a lot of traffic to facebook, RTE player etc, I don't want to have to bring in tough policies, don't want to be big brother, but if the current high traffic on non-work related sites continues then it is something I will be forced to consider"

Then if the traffic doesn't subside at least you can say you gave them fair warning.
I also think you are legally obliged to inform employees if you are monitoring there Internet and email usage.

Originally Posted by trishamays

Hello guys i would like to ask if if you know any software to monitor employees during working hours cause i feel that lots of time is wasted over unnecessary usage of the internet. Any review for a software or tool that can help me would be helpful.

In work we use 1timetracking works well for companies that have lots of staff that tend to work independently. For example when I'm starting a job for a client I open there account name, set the task & start the timer. from an employers point it's great for 2 reasons:

1) you know exactly how many hours to bill a client
2) you can see how your staff are performing or not!

A possible approach:

1). Tell your employees the hard line - you need to stay in business, you are losing money.
2). You know Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, even Web Texts are eating into work time.
3). Employees need to stop using these services, except on designated work breaks.
4). If productivity doesn't improve, first evaluate if it IS actually poor, or if it's just your perception, if it isn't actually poor in comparison with before, etc leave it.
5). If productivity has dropped, and continues to drop, ask your employees again (second formal warning) and say you will need to get net nanny style software.
6). If issues are still occuring, block employees from using these sites / their mobiles - but this really should be a last resort...

I think for privacy reasons you have to notify staff first, do you not?! Otherwise they could get nasty and say you violated their privacy by tracking their online movements. If it's not mentioned anywhere else I think you need to set out the rules of web usage... or even if it is, a quick and stern reminder will put it to the front of your employee minds...

Originally Posted by seo4blondes

I think for privacy reasons you have to notify staff first, do you not?! Otherwise they could get nasty and say you violated their privacy by tracking their online movements. If it's not mentioned anywhere else I think you need to set out the rules of web usage... or even if it is, a quick and stern reminder will put it to the front of your employee minds...

I agree suppose main thing is cover yourself, then sort out your employees, just make sure they are actually doing wrong, as all the hype about social networking has put managers on red alert when much time is lost or under utilised by time waster or tyre kicker leads, degrading technology or simply doing the jobs of multiple people when not previously expected, let alone personal, financial or emotional issues which may be affecting an employees work

the best solution is to block all those applications .. monitor the employees, may break the privacy...

not sure about privacy? but if you tell them about monitoring, i think you will have no problems.
for what OS you looking monitor soft? if for Mac - i can advice you ActyMac DutyWatch(ActyMac - DutyWatch Remote employee monitoring for Mac OS X) or ActyMac DutyWatch Remote(difference only in that "you can view reports online using Safari or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch"), soon they start DutyWatch with server (for monitoring in offices)
use it myself few months to monitoring for my younger brother...
hope this hep you...

i can recommend you a non-invasive employee monitoring software that monitors all applications and programs launched/accessed as well as the total duration of each user's activity, chat, web pages, online activity, attendance etc.