Productivity is a word that, over the past twelve months, has been grossly overused in advertising copy. There’s a wild assortment of apps that claim to help improve this elusive thing, many of them being time management tools and employee monitoring software. Before we get into whether these tools work or not, let’s see what “productivity” actually is.
In the business world, productivity is regarded as the effectiveness of productive effort, usually measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.
Because of the inherent nature of human beings, people tend to get distracted when they should be working, becoming less productive overall. Business owners bear the brunt of this wasted time, paying for work that was never done.
This is why many turn to employee monitoring software. But can these tools actually help boost employee productivity? We unpack this in today’s article.
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A monitoring tool holds employees accountable
According to salary.com, 89% of people admitted to wasting time at work, 61% of whom waste up to 30 minutes to an hour each day. This amounts to about 5 hours each week that are billed but never accounted for. Over time, this wastage will begin to take a toll on the overall business productivity.
Introducing employee monitoring software is an easy and effective way to deal with this problem. These tools help to keep people accountable.
When your employees know they’re being monitored by their employer, they’re bound to be more focused and productive. They are also less likely to waste time online or spend more time than they should on simple tasks.
Track how long it takes to complete tasks
After monitoring your employees’ activity for a considerable period, you’ll get to know how much time they generally take to handle certain tasks. Over time, you’ll even get to know what normal activity looks like for each employee, which will make it easier to tell when they spend time doing anything out of the ordinary.
This way, should they suddenly begin spending 35 minutes on tasks that previously took them 15 minutes, you’ll also be able to notice and point it out.
Keep your employees from getting distracted
For the most part, employees don’t waste time at work maliciously. Rather, they find themselves getting distracted. Distractions are a part of life. For example, if your employees are working from home, their neighbor maybe mowing the lawn or their dog barking incessantly.
When real-life distractions compound with the internet (a mega force of distraction itself) it’s hard to get any work done. That’s where employee tracking software comes in.
A good monitoring system makes it easy to see your employees’ internet activity when they’re connected to your network. It also allows you to block certain sites – for example, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media sites – which ensures that your team isn’t scrolling through Instagram when they should be working. This helps boost their productivity.
Identify your most committed employees
One of the best ways of keeping your staff motivated is by acknowledging great performance and rewarding them for it. An employee monitoring software creates analytics and reports that make it easy to see how much work everyone is putting in, and how much they’re doing to keep the business growing.
These systems also calculate how much time in a day is spent productively, how much overtime your employees put in, and other parameters.
Once you’ve identified your top-performing employees, compensate them with bonuses and even consideration for promotions and pay rises. This is bound to make them even more productive, creating a ripple effect among your staff members.
Prevent burnout
Burnout is a term that typically refers to cynicism and negative feelings towards one’s work due to chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been properly managed. It happens to people that dive deep into work and pay no attention to other aspects of their lives.
An employee monitoring tool helps keep your staff from burnout. They do this by making sure workers are not working too much overtime at the expense of their physical health, mental health, and interpersonal relationships.
Start tracking your employees in 2021
Using special systems to monitor your employees’ productivity and progress on tasks has revolutionized employee supervision. In the traditional office, workers had to fill in assessment reports to prove they were doing what was expected of them. Many businesses also kept a punch-in book, where staff members wrote their check-in and leaving times.
Modern employee monitoring software has made it way easier to supervise your employees and monitor their performance. By taking the onus away from the employee, they allow them to focus on the tasks at hand, boosting their productivity, and ultimately increasing overall business productivity.
