Top 5 Employee Monitoring Software For 2021

by Alice Thomas Consultant

Employee monitoring refers to a set of techniques used by employers to track employees' online and offline activity. A corporation can protect itself from data leaks, sabotage, fraud, and theft by monitoring its employees’ online activities.

For corporations, the benefits of an employee monitoring solution are to track employees' performance and compliance such as comparing active vs. idle time or productive vs. unproductive tasks as well as workplace harassment cases.

While the recent pandemic has focused attention on employee monitoring software, which was previously seen as a specialized option only relevant to certain companies, many organizations are starting to look at it in new ways. Managers must find new ways to guarantee security, efficiency, and compliance as more businesses work with distributed remote teams. Many of these issues can be solved by modern employee monitoring tools, which were created with remote teams in mind, to begin with.

We compiled a 5-point checklist that included features, business cases, flexibility/scalability, ease of deployment, and more. Then we used it to evaluate well-known employee monitoring solutions.

Top 5 Employee Monitoring Software For 2022

Monitoring your employees' activity is a great way to improve the productivity of your team. Employee monitoring software can help you track down the most productive employees, and those who are struggling in their roles.

The best employee monitoring software should be easy to use and provide you with valuable data that can be used to make improvements in your company's productivity. Here are some of the top employee monitoring software options on the market today:

1. WE Controlio (cloud version)

WE Controlio is a computer program that monitors employees’ online and computer use while they are on the job.

The client-server application known as Work Examiner is made up of three modules: the WE Controlio Client, which is the monitoring software installed on the user PC and gathers data, the Work Examiner Server, which will be the hardware receiving the data, and the WE Console, which can be installed on the WE server or in any admin PC and performs the actual remote monitoring. The WE Controlio cloud shows real-time observations of user PC activity.

This contains screenshots of open programs, sites visited, and whether their desktop is in use or not. Browser usage timers, web filters, and application launch controls are some of the controls that assist limit the amount of time users spend accessing the internet. If a user tries to open an illegal application, accesses a blocked website or directory, or goes over their allotted online access time, Work Examiner notifies the admins.

Pros

activity tracking
Application and website filters
logging keystrokes
offers an everlasting license for software
Real-time monitoring
Screenshots
Email, chat logs, and search

Cons

Installation locally
Out-of-date user interface
No tracking of where you are or remote desktop access
Fewer alerts and tracking of keywords

2. Workpuls

Workpuls, relatively new on the employee monitoring software scene, has become a well-liked choice among small- to medium-sized firms because of its competitive pricing and value. The solution is available in four flavors: Enterprise, Automatic Time Mapping, Time Tracking, and Employee Monitoring.

Workpuls's focus is on time tracking and employee engagement, not security or insider threat protection. Because of this, Workpuls is able to monitor only the websites and applications that are relevant to its mission. Additionally, it focuses on compliance issues related to employee privacy. Admins may easily choose which apps and websites they don't want a team to use for time tracking or screenshots. Additionally, employees can start, pause, or stop their task timer in manual and project-based tracking scenarios.

Pros

Stylish, contemporary user interface.
Flexible features for monitoring time and attendance.
A kiosk for employees to clock in and out from remote locations, as well as computers on-site.
Automated online and app categorization to find useless and fruitless work

Cons

No features to prevent data loss or identify insider threats.
Only monitor app and online activity.
For non-enterprise editions, the number of screenshots is capped at 30 per hour and is not continuous.
There must be 100 users or more for an on-premise license.

3. Veriato Vision

Veriato, one of the first companies to offer cybersecurity and internet monitoring software, changed its name from SpectorSoft in 2014. Veriato offers various applications for monitoring users' online activity, analyzing their behavior, and detecting risk. Veriato Vision is the company's staff monitoring system.

The Vision system provides a range of monitoring and recording options for web, app, file, or social media activity. Further, it offers real-time alerts and insider threat detection along with strong productivity reports. But Veriato's most distinctive capabilities, including risk scoring and anomaly alerts, are not available on Vision. To obtain them you must upgrade to its Cerebral solution.

Veriato DLP enables you to recognize and flag sensitive data, preventing its exfiltration. For stolen or compromised computers, Veriato Endpoint Control enhances the possibility of remote lockout and it works for both physical PCs as well as virtual ones.

Pros

provides virtually limitless ways to monitor computer usage and activity.
powerful features for managing compliance and policies.
reporting on productivity.
Tool for measuring waste, savings, and return percentages.

Cons

There is no risk scoring or network activity monitoring.
Anomaly detection is absent.
the only choice for cloud deployment.
No monthly payment structure.

4. Teramind UAM

Teramind has appeared in popular journals and review websites as the best employee monitoring software available. Teramind UAM (User Activity Monitoring), the employee monitoring system, includes a sophisticated policy and rules engine to automatically respond to insider threats and data leaks. In addition, it provides standard monitoring functionality.

Teramind UAM can control how privileged users access company resources. It also monitors employee productivity, performs risk analysis, and stops unlawful data exfiltration at workstations all without requiring any changes to the existing architecture or applications. It provides quantifiable data that clearly pinpoint who is responsible and which parts of the system have been affected by a violation. The company has just released a suite of new tools to simplify the monitoring and management of remote workers.

Pros

A user experience that focuses on widgets and personalization.
Hundreds of pre-built templates in a powerful policy and rules engine.
Features for live viewing, screen, audio recording, and remote control.
Interactive software offers a variety of features, including business intelligence and job management capabilities.

Cons

For some people, having too many functions may be daunting.
Mobile devices and Linux are not supported.
The agent's Mac version only has a few features.
Pricey a little bit for smaller enterprises.

5. ActivTrak

ActivTrak's employee-monitoring software has all the features a small–to medium-business would need to keep track of its employees. For example, its time-tracking capabilities can help you keep tabs on employee hours. It also features a limited set of insider threat protection tools.

Some features, such as the ability to redact screen recordings and block websites, are available only at a cost of $9 per user per month. ActivTrak offers a free version of its product, but it is limited. This edition allows you to save only 3GB worth of logs and images and monitor up to 3 users.

Pros

Freemium edition
Screen capture.
tracking of productivity based on projects.
Risk evaluation.

Cons

No fingerprinting or OCR capability.
Neither specific files nor keystroke logging exists.
No recording of keystrokes.
Because it uses Google Cloud for analytics, privacy concerns might arise.

Final Words

If you're interested in monitoring software, there are many great options available. It's easy to find something that meets your needs, whether it be simply keeping track of when people are working and how long they work or managing employee activity beyond their computer. Companies can also use monitoring software for various legal purposes as well. Whether your company is running smoothly or is experiencing problems that require in-depth investigation, the above list of monitoring software will help you find something that fits your needs.