Employee monitoring software can improve an small business’s bottom line and have other benefits as well. But that doesn’t mean that you can choose just any employee monitoring software and get the results that you’re looking for. You will need to choose the best employee monitoring software for SMB’s that has the features and capabilities that your business needs in order to get the outcome that you want.
Take a look at some of the things that you should be looking out for in small business employee monitoring product. Knowing what features to look for can help you choose the right monitoring software for your company.
Cut Down on Cyberloafing
It’s normal for employees to have a little bit of downtime during the workday that they might use to check their own email or browse the web. But when employees abuse the company’s internet access and devices, it can add up to a lot more than you think.
Most employees might spend only a few minutes doing personal tasks online, during a scheduled break or a slow period in their work. But a few will actually neglect their work to spend time scrolling social media, chatting on messenger apps, or shopping online. This type of behavior in the workplace has come to be known as cyberloafing, and it can cost companies a lot of money.
After all, if you’re paying even just one or two employees who are spending hours of work time browsing the internet instead of working, you’re losing money on payroll – and that doesn’t even take into account the potential costs of unfinished or poorly done work that could cost you in client relationships, reputation, and other costs.
By choosing the best employee monitoring software for SMB’s, you can go a long way toward helping your organization cut down on cyberloafing in the workplace. The right software will not only let you see which websites your employees are visiting and what kinds of activities they’re engaging in online, but will also let you block websites based on keyword, category, or specific URL.
Employees who know that their online activities are being monitored are less likely to engage in cyberloafing behaviors to begin with, but if they do, you’ll be able to spot patterns and take action to block websites that cause problems.
Improve Your Time-Tracking System
Monitoring your employees digital activities can also improve your ability to keep track of when your employees are coming and going from the workplace. Keeping accurate track of hours worked is good for both employees and the company they work for. It ensures accurate paychecks for your employees and ensures that you’re not overpaying for the hours that your employees are working.
Look for a software that comes with tools that allow you to track the hours that your employees work and monitor when they leave and return for breaks and meals, as well as track overtime, vacation and sick hours, and other things that affect wages.
Protect Your Company Network
Employee monitoring software lets you know which employees need further security training.
When it comes to protecting your organization, cyber protection should be high on your priority list. If your company network is compromised, it can put sensitive data, proprietary information, and even the structure of your network in danger.
How can employee monitoring software help? When it comes to network and data security for businesses and organizations, employees are often the weak point. It’s common for employees to make mistakes that cause vulnerabilities in the company network. Visiting insecure websites, opening unsafe attachments in email, and falling for phishing attacks and other scams are some of the ways in which employees put the company network at risk without meaning to.
There are also situations in which employees maliciously act out against the companies they work for, either out of spite or for some type of compensation. Employees who have recently been passed over for promotion or demoted, employees who are in personal financial trouble and employees who are at risk of being blackmailed are the ones who are most likely to try to compromise a company’s network from the inside.
Employee monitoring software for small businesses can help protect your company from both careless mistakes and malicious acts by employees. Look for software that allows you to set alerts for suspicious activities, like attempting to access files that should be off-limits, downloading or printing unusual numbers of files, or accessing the system from out of the office or outside of normal working hours for that employee.
With the right employee monitoring system, you can spot patterns that suggest a problem, repair vulnerabilities, and put a stop to malicious actions before they get out of control and threaten your organization. This will also give you the information that you need in order to better train employees so that they can avoid dangerous mistakes that could compromise your network.
Customize Your Experience
Your organization is unique. The monitoring experience that best suits your needs may not be the same monitoring experience that best suits the needs of the business next door or of your closest competitor. This means that it’s important to avoid one-size-fits-all solutions. No matter which features mean the most to you, you should be looking for employee monitoring software that is customizable for your needs.
You will want the ability to set up alerts, monitoring, and custom reports as needed, and to make changes as your company’s needs change. Look for software that is intuitive to use and offers a high degree of customization. With the right software, you’ll be able to create a monitoring system that meets your needs and the needs of your employees.
Choosing the right monitoring software for your company is a big decision, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. One way to find out if a monitoring software is right for your company is to try it out before you buy it. To get a feel for how monitoring software could work for your company, start your risk free 7-day trial.
