Employee Monitoring Software Review

Employee monitoring software has multiple advantages. Businesses can experience huge financial losses when workers play online games, access social networking sites or even view online pornography.

Innovations in technology make it possible for an employer to monitor all of their staff's computer and online activities. Today, managers can remotely monitor employees in real time as they perform job-related tasks. PC Monitoring also makes it possible to catch and document those workers who abuse company resources by leaking confidential company information via email or using instant messaging applications to threaten and harass others.

Designed to keep management informed, employee surveillance applications can also increase worker productivity while decreasing incidences of inappropriate employee behaviors. Cleary, surveillance apps and their logging and documentation capabilities can serve as a vital forensics tool when allegations of employee sexual harassment, coworker hostilities and other problems surface.

To learn more about monitoring employees, please visit our Learning Center to view articles about employee monitoring software.

In our reviews, you will find objective side-by-side comparisons and reviews of the top employee monitoring software solutions available. We will provide details about what components to look for when selecting software because At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don't Have To.™

Employee Monitoring Software: What to Look For

Below are the criteria that TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate employee monitoring software solutions.

Online Monitoring
Monitoring an employee's online activities is of vital importance to employers who are concerned about employee productivity and seek to provide their workers with an environment that is free of objectionable materials and threatening behaviors.

Elements to consider in this area include the logging of accessed websites and online searches. The app should have the ability to detect when a staff member accesses a social networking website like MySpace, Twitter or Facebook or even views online pornography.

Some PC monitoring apps can record usernames and passwords, log blog posts and identify those employees who waste time by shopping or playing games online. Recording chat and instant messaging transcripts is another sought-after element.

PC Tracking & Management
Computer tracking features to look for include the recording of launched applications as well as the duration and frequency of use. These features are useful to track how much time an employee wastes watching videos, playing games or engaging in other nonproductive activities.

A Keylogger can record an employee's keyboard strokes. Other elements to evaluate include display screenshots of the employee's desktop, document tracking, remote computer administration and scheduled PC access.

Filtering & Blocking
Make sure the software you select has some type of filtering and blocking features if you desire to prevent your employees from executing specific applications or accessing websites that contain objectionable content.

Some PC monitoring apps can filter content by keywords, phrases and categories. The blocking of chat and instant message software by name, application type or even username could be another desired component.

Additional elements could include the filtering or blocking of online games, dating, social networking and social media websites.

Reporting Methods
Employee monitoring software can record enormous amounts of data. A poorly designed report console can render even the most robust applications useless. The reporting interface should be intuitive to navigate. It is common to have easy-to-use built-in reports as well as the ability to perform searches by date, time, launched applications, internet activity and other parameters.

In our employee monitoring software review, SONAR, Spector CNE Investigator and Spytech NetVizor are our top-rated applications.