All About Monitoring Software – The Importance of Monitoring Employee Smartphones
Most of the businesses these days provide a smartphone to their employees for better communication and workflow. Employers can always be in touch with their employees even when they are working onsite. Also a company smartphone has a proper inbuilt set up in their phones that would help the employees to send mails, manage projects, share important files and more. The phones are strictly for office purposes and not for any personal entertainment.
Monitoring company owned phones of employees
Often the employees are seen fiddling with their smartphones in their cubicle. They are either busy browsing net, chatting in WhatsApp or talking to their friends. A lot of time is wasted in smartphone activities which can affect the workflow in any organization. In this busy world, every moment is valuable. One needs to know the value of time to prosper in life. Working towards the prosperity of the organization is the duty of each and every employee.
As an employer, it is really important for you to monitor the employee activities, especially when there are so many technological advancements to allure employees. Intruding into employee’s personal space is a matter of controversy and some people think it unethical. Monitoring employees during work hours is very important for work productivity and for the growth of the organization. An employer has the complete right to keep a track of their employees during work hours and what are they up to. Gone are those days when employers had to think and panic wondering what the employees are doing. With the advent of new methods of communication, it is very easy for employers to keep a track of their employees. Mobile phone monitoring is something common in reputed organization. The technological advancements have made it possible for employers to monitor employees seamlessly without any hassle.
An employer must be aware of several activities of employees that can be harmful for the organization to a great extent. The different reasons for which an employer needs to monitor employee smartphones are as follows:
Spending time in social media sites: Most of the employees tend to spend more time in social media platforms. It is an addiction that is difficult to leave. They tend to spend more time online chatting with people, posting updates in their profile, browsing the newsfeed or talking to friends online. This affects concentration level and productivity of employees to a great extent. They devote less time to work and more time in social media platforms. Monitoring employees is important to keep them focused in work and prevent them from visiting social networking sites very often.
Using unwanted apps: In this era of science and technology, different kind of apps would keep you amused and hooked to your smartphones. Dating and chatting apps, horoscope and gaming apps are enough to keep you engaged throughout the day. During the working hours they tend to use those apps and spend more time with their phone. This affects the workflow and productivity of employees to a great extent.
Browsing net throughout the day: Browsing net throughout the day leaving behind work can be harmful for the organization. The net services are provided to utilize it in a fruitful way for the organization and not simply browsing net. Employers can monitor the websites visited and the kind of content that was searched for.
Date theft and leakage: Though not a common affair, still chances of confidential company information being leaked is something very risky. It is very difficult to monitor employee activities outside the office. Employers have no clue with whom the employees are meeting and interacting with. Monitoring call and text messages is very important to figure out the activities of employees in an organization. Unethical dishonest people figure out ways to steal data and harm the organization. They track employees who can easily help them to fulfill their intention. Monitoring your employee smartphones can save you from that trouble.
Apart from this monitoring the locations of the employees is also very essential. You can track where your employees are going as you will get location updates within a frequent time interval. Also checking on photos, Gmail and Youtube is important as majority of the employees tend to spend more time in these apps. Sending personal mails, watching Youtube videos or clicking photos should not be done during the work hours. Employees should understand the fact that a proper balance should always be there between work and social interaction. Work should not be the second priority and social interaction being the first. A proper balance between the two can only result in growth of the organization as well as of the employees. Frequent motivating sessions about the same must be conducted by the management for the betterment of the employees.
Monitoring employees these days is easy. Monitoring apps can help to monitor mobile usage to a great extent. An effective app would log all the activities of the employees and give a detailed report to the employers. Employers can block unwanted websites and apps if they want to prevent the employees from seeing so. They can also block the search of specific keywords and prevent the employees from seeing so. From monitoring phone calls, messages, photos, contacts, calendar, GPS location, internet usage- every sort of activities can be recorded by these apps. Employers can also take screenshots in real time, set restrictions on when the business access application would be allowed, get notifications when sim cards are changed and also receive alerts when the employers contact certain people. Cell phone monitoring has become really easy because of several discoveries in the field of science and technology. Employers can sit at one place, log in from the secured online panel and check all the activities of the employees. The apps are really reliable and can provide accurate results in terms of employee activities.
Monitoring smartphone activities is perfectly legal especially when the phones are provided by the company. It is better to inform the employee that they are being monitored so that they themselves keep control on their activities. Adopting this measure will surely help you to come up with results that would benefit the organization.
Sohel is a software engineer by profession and a tech writer by passion, he writes about the latest technologies and latest applications and he has shared his experience and lots of innovative ideas at various technology blogs. You can follow him on LinkedIn.