The past few years have seen a surge in remote work and, at minimum, a more flexible, hybrid schedule. This has also brought an increase in employers looking for ways to monitor their employees’ work activities to ensure they ARE actually working when remote.

This comes as no surprise given the new “quiet quitting” trend that has now evolved into “Bare Minimum Mondays” and “Try Less Tuesdays.” Sadly, some employees are taking advantage of working remotely as a way of working less.

Of course, not all remote employees are slackers – but how can an employer know the difference? That’s where tools like Teramind and ActivTrak come into play. These are software tools that can be installed on employees’ workstations and laptops to monitor activity, both in the office and remote.

These tools can provide insights into productivity and where employees are spending their time.  Additionally, an employer can see when someone checks in to work and then leaves for the day. These apps will also help to ensure employees aren’t surfing inappropriate websites during work hours while using company resources.

While many people are against monitoring, it’s completely legal in the US, provided this is for work-related activities on workplace devices. However, monitoring laws do vary by state, so you should always check with an HR attorney on any employee-related monitoring before initiating it. While there is no requirement to gain consent on a federal level, some states require that you establish consent before monitoring.

It’s also legal to monitor company-owned devices outside of work hours, including Internet traffic, search terms, websites visited, GPS geolocation and content viewed, to name a few. If you issue your employees’ phones, you are also legally allowed to monitor them. It’s even legal to monitor your employees’ own personal devices if you have a BYOD (bring your own device) to work, provided those devices are used for work purposes.

If you are thinking of rolling out employee-monitoring software, here are a few recommendations BEFORE you start.

  • Before rolling out any monitoring software, let your employees know you WILL be monitoring them, and how. Being completely transparent about what you are monitoring and why is important to establishing and maintaining trust with your employees. If they discovered you were monitoring them without their consent, most employees would be very upset. Even though it is legally your right (in most states) to monitor without letting them know, it’s best to be open about this, so they understand what’s being logged.
  • Address what is and isn’t allowed during work hours and on company-owned assets. Let employees know what is acceptable and what is not. If you don’t want employees visiting what you deem as inappropriate websites and mixing personal activities with work activities on company-owned devices, let them know. Set guidelines for working from home, such as work start and end times and how long and how frequently they can take breaks. The goal is to detail when they need to be available (at work). You would not like to get a speeding ticket when there’s no speed limit sign posted. Be absolutely clear on your expectations and put them in writing so there’s no risk of “You never told me that…”.
  • Seek legal advice before implementing any kind of monitoring software. We recommend working with an HR attorney to make sure you are not violating anyone’s rights. Laws can change, especially with privacy of data becoming more critical (and a legal hot potato). Recently, the fast-food restaurant White Castle was hit with a lawsuit that could cost them up to $17 billion for using fingerprint login software for their employees to access certain systems. The lawsuit claims they violated Illinois’s biometric identification laws by asking employees to use their fingerprint as a secure way of logging in to their systems without first gaining consent.

So, while it’s legal to monitor employees, you still need to be mindful of employment laws, along with data and privacy protection of the employees you monitor.

Need help implementing a more secure and productive workplace? Click here to schedule a quick call to discuss your options and get ideas on how we can help you, and your entire team, be productive and stay protected, no matter how or where you choose to work.