Your choice of employee monitoring software will depend on various factors. We outline some of the key areas to consider below.
Devices
If your company uses PCs exclusively, you can choose any of the 10 packages we’ve reviewed. However, if your employees routinely work on mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure your chosen platform offers both iOS and Android compatibility. Similarly, if employees often use USB sticks, check whether portable devices can be monitored and scanned. Some platforms are unable to monitor peripherals like printers and data keys.
Additional Services
In an attempt to differentiate their packages, some software providers have incorporated extra services, such as onboarding and offboarding tools, payroll and performance management, and COVID-19 vaccination tracking. This might be superfluous, but if you don’t already have software providing these services, it may be worth considering a package like BambooHR, which brings different HR tools under one roof. [We recently reviewed the best time and attendance software of 2023.]
Support and Assistance
While some of the best employee monitoring software providers offer a variety of ways to get in touch, others provide web support only. Some offer customer support 24/7, but others don’t. In fairness, this is rarely a sector where after-hours or overnight support is pivotal for maintaining productivity, but ensure you’re happy with the variety of support on offer – and when it’s accessible – before signing up.
Usability
Given the wealth of metrics tracked by the best employee monitoring software packages, it’s important to ensure that you’re not overwhelmed by the scope and scale of a particular platform. If Insightful’s second-by-second raw data generation or Veriato’s disengagement analytics are too granular, you might feel more comfortable with Hubstaff’s basic monitoring or InterGuard’s choice of six types of report views on its dashboard.
Cost
It would take a very detailed spreadsheet to outline all the plan options and costs associated with signing up for employee monitoring software. However, key areas to consider include how many employees are covered, whether you’re signing up for a month-to-month arrangement or an annual contract, if there is a free trial available, and whether you have to upgrade to a more expensive package to unlock certain features. The freemium model is commonly used, with the likes of ActivTrak offering free plans for a couple of users. Work Examiner offers decreasing fees per user, which will particularly appeal to businesses with 25 to 100 employees.
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