The use of employee monitoring software is growing: the roughly $200 million industry is expected to more than double to $500 million in the next four years. Why are businesses increasingly buying into employee monitoring?
Let’s take a look at seven reasons why organizations are turning to employee monitoring software.
Rise of the remote workforce. Whether its employees periodically working from home, full-time remote workers, or members of the gig economy (short-term and freelance workers), more people than ever are working out of the office. Global Workplace Analytics reports that 3.7 million employees (2.8% of the workforce) now work from home at least half the time. Regular work-at-home, among the non-self-employed, has grown by 115% since 2005, nearly 10x faster than the rest of the workforce. Beyond the obvious dispersed nature of the workforce and how that makes it difficult to monitor the work environment and technologies used, businesses face a potential negative impact to engagement among remote workers Organizations are turning to employee monitoring software to help them monitor employee output, ensure the use of approved company software, and prohibit the use of unapproved software or websites.
Insider threat detection. Among 874 incidents reported by companies to the Ponemon Institute for its 2016 Cost of Data Breach Study, 568 were caused by employee or contractor negligence and 191 by malicious employees and criminals. Insiders – whether with malicious or negligent intent – are a leading source of threats. Insider threat detection is a key capability of employee monitoring software, allowing organizations to listen for harmful behaviour from ordinary and privileged users. Indicators of suspicious behavior include large file downloads, emails to personal accounts, and login access during off-work hours. Some cyber security companies offer threat hunting options to be on the look-out so you don’t have to be
Regulations requiring information security. Organizations must ensure information is secure and properly tracked to comply with various laws and regulations. HIPAA legislation, for example, requires data privacy and security provisions to safeguard medical information. Monitoring software can help listen for unauthorized access to sensitive data stores.
Productivity realization. Employee productivity drives business results. Monitoring software is being used to ensure employees are using the right applications and avoiding online distractions. The software also can be used to help identify poor processes or badly designed software that hampers productivity.
Corporate reputation protection. Corporate reputation can be on the line due to poor customer experience. Monitoring software can help customer service leaders review interactions via chat or email to ensure quality communications.
Objective performance measurement. Insight provided by monitoring software is objective and helps employees recognize top performers and identify the habits that contribute to this performance. This information helps drive rewards and also helps in mentoring and coaching of other team members who might be struggling.
Time-tracking automation. Filling out timesheets is time-consuming and prone to error. Monitoring software automates this process by tracking time worked.
Whether it’s data protection, productivity or process improvement, or a service-quality initiative, businesses are increasingly seeing value in employee monitoring software to achieve their goals.
