A common question about Cyclope Employee Surveillance is whether this is a monitoring software or a time tracking application. We consider our software as being employee monitoring software which includes time tracking features. 

Our product monitors all computer activities and it is able to generate reports that shows active time spend using applications, documents and web sites. Cyclope also shows the active / passive usage of the monitored machine. These are major features for all employee monitoring applications. 

By the fact that we generate an activity report that shows the application usage per day, week, month or custom period of time we consider that Cyclope is also a time tracker application. In order to provide powerful information to our users we have an overtime report that shows the application usage during overtime.

Your employees are the heart and soul of your business. As much as you’d like to be in control of the business and see it going in the right direction, much of it is in the hands of your employees. As an employer, you try to give those working on your side as much as you can in order to see your business flourish. You give advice and tools for the job, and if you are as modern as your competitors, most of your employees probably have access to a computer. And in fact, if you want to know just how your employees are handling their work, examining their work history through the computer is one of your best options.

Many computer logging software programs are available on the market today. Why are these programs excellent for any employer? It allows you to keep track of statistics, files, keystrokes and other documents that your employees are using on their computer. With multiple computers installing this software, you can keep track, side-by-side, of your employees computer activities.

This is especially benefiting if you are considering giving someone a raise, or if someone, unfortunately, needs to be cut from your workforce. Say you have two employees. By tracking their computer work with computer log software, you can compare their work productivity.

Employee #1 is typing 2000 words per hour, only visits sites that helps his work research, and only stops using the computer during break time. Employee #2, however, is only typing 750 words an hour, visits several non-work related websites, and it looks like he stops using the computer a couple times every hour. Using these tools and employer can know who will get fired and who is ready for that promotion.

As an employer, it is your task to hire only the top that will help your business progress. While a resume and interview can give you insight into an employee’s work ethic, it isn’t always detailed. With computer tracking software, though, you can get in-depth comparisons of who is helping your business and who is hurting it.

When it comes to employers’ and employees’ rights in the office, both are on fair levels. A boss cannot harass his employees, and the same applies vice-versa. They are both allowed to maintain some sort of personal privacy, as well. However, once an employee enters the digital world in their computer, does this change? It most certainly does.

An employee is at a slight disadvantage when using their workplace’s computer. While visual and listening devices placed amongst an employee’s workplace must be installed according to laws and regulations, anything that goes down within a computer at the office is fair game to an employer. There are virtually no laws regulating the way an employer can monitor their employees’ computer activity.

In a national survey, nearly 80 percent of employers admitted that they use some sort of tactics to monitor their employees use on the computer. There are some states where legislation asks an employer inform his employees that he can access what has been happening on an employee’s computer, though.

There are several things that can be monitored through a computer system. Most use specially configured software that will track specific stats logged through the computer, which can then be accessed remotely by the employer themselves. This type of software might be key-logging software. Key-logging software can not only track what is being typed, but how fast an employee is typing, as well. This can be a tool to measure an employee’s efficiency for the employer; however the use of this type of software promotes carpal tunnel syndrome and stress-related disabilities.

Another type of computer monitoring software can track internet usages, and block programs, services and website deemed inappropriate for the workplace. These types of software are useful for the employee as they, once again, can be used to manage employee efficiency, as well as tracking exactly what their work computer is being used for.

While heavily unregulated, there are some terms that employers must follow. Unions set rules against computer monitoring in some instances. Approximately three-fourths of all employers monitoring their employees let them know beforehand, which is not only beneficial for the employee, but it is also a show of justness.

A manager’s list of concerns. Once you have your own business and company, problems keep appearing.  A manager’s concerns refer to a proper development of the business, employees respecting company policy, minimizing the costs while increasing benefits and productivity.
Nowadays, solutions for keeping business going around and further more, for improving the business process, have been found and managers are implementing these results within their company.

Should I monitor my employee’s activity or should I restrict their internet access?  Internet usage within a company is a necessity and this question is the consequence of this fact. Employee monitoring software is a complex tool for recording employee activity starting with websites visited, application run, downloaded files etc. The manager’s responsibility is to warn the employee about this, otherwise he will confront the law.  Using a monitoring solution, managers can analyze reports regarding employee activity, breaking rules attempts, overtime and even idle or active time. Based on these reports he will easily decide how to face the problem or how to reward those who deserve.  

On the other side, using an internet filtering software, a manager will restrict the access to internet, and this, comparative to employee monitoring is legally in all countries around the world. It’s an advantage that must be taking in view. Internet filtering solutions offers a security feeling, because by restricting the access you know that employees will not visit inappropriate web sites, will not download files that might harm or corrupt your information.  The disadvantages of using an internet filtering software are that you limit the imagination of the person in cause and on the other side you don’t know how much of time is working or how much is wasted.

Internet filtering vs. Monitoring solution? The answer to this question, like you already figure it out, depends on each manager in part and on his company profile. Solutions presented above are developed to accomplish all managers’ needs regarding different aspects of company security and increasing productivity. What you have to keep in mind is that if you decide to use a monitoring software solution, fist, contact your jurist to be completely sure that is officially permitted in your country. There isn't an agreement that is morally right for everybody.

With billions of dollars being lost every year due to this, work productivity in the office and work place is not a minor issue. Instead of undertaking word processing, research, and business tasks with their work computer, employees are using the computer for other, more personal uses.  These “tasks” can range from internet instant messaging, sending personal emails, playing internet games, browsing inappropriate material, and many other non-work related tasks. So how does an employer get their employees off their computer and back on work?

Offering incentives for achieving work goals ahead of schedule is a simple way to provide a means of getting your employees on track. This can range to a small paycheck bonus, an office party, or if it will provide the company with millions of dollars, you can even arrange a small getaway vacation for your employees. However, all of this means money out of your businesses pocket, and that can add up over many incentive giveaways.

Setting up surveillance cameras is a good way to let your employees know you will always have your eye on them.  However, with hardware based security and surveillance systems, you run into many problems. They are not cheap by any means, and can take days or weeks to install depending on their complexity. They can only see what is happening on the other side of the lens, and their resolution and capture speed isn’t high enough to actually view what is happening on an employee’s computer. You may also run into problems with the law.

The best way to increase productivity is to limit what an employee can do with their computer. Installing internet filtering and surveillance software on your computers and servers is an easy way to stop your employees accessing inappropriate content on their computers. It can also be used to view what is happening on their computer. What are they typing and what programs are being opened? It is nearly essential in the business and computer world to have software that lets you control what your employees can do on the internet, as it could save your company millions of dollars in lost productivity.

When examining the options you have to observe the activities of your employees of your organization in the workplace, you are left with two reasonable options. You could settle by installing a hardware based system, setting up cameras to watch your employees. An alternate route would be to install software on your server and employees work computers to view exactly what they are using their workstation for. There are benefits and disadvantages to both types of surveillance choices.

Using hardware, like cameras, set up around your employees’ workspaces, is a sign to all employees that they are being watch. It is an effective way to remind them that any physical actions they take can be monitored, as well as increase productivity.

However, this can create a stressful atmosphere (nobody likes to be fully monitored). Also, only so much can be picked up by video recording systems. Things out of range, or outside the cameras viewing angle will be left unknown to those needing to view them. Anything on a computer screen will not be legible, and you will not be able to identify just exactly what they are using their computer workstation for. On top of this, hardware systems can be pricey. On top of the cameras, you will need to set a budget aside for a recording system, wires and extra electricity consumption, and installation.

A software system is beneficial as it allows you to see directly what your employees are doing on your server and computers. Software surveillance allows you to know what programs where opened, who emailed who, and what files were sent where. It is an excellent way to catch trade secrets of your business getting into others hands.

Another benefit is that software systems aren’t fully regulated by the government. Recording your employees with video can get you into deep legal fixes if something is installed improperly, but software systems can be installed without letting your employees know. A software-based security system can’t see the other tasks being performed outside of the computer, so that is where a video-recording system can come in handy.

Security in the office is becoming more and more beneficial, not only to an employee’s safety, but to the business as a whole. One’s business practices and news needs to stay on the inside and one of the best ways to keep it on the inside is to know what your employees are doing, especially on their computers.

Sometimes you may just need to start monitoring your employees’ computer and Internet activity in your office. While there are certainly privacy issues you will need to work out amongst yourself and those working for you it can be a very smart choice that can save you money in the long run if used for the right reasons.
What are some of the top reasons you may want to implement computer monitoring software? 

Productivity
A company can be made up of hundreds, even thousands of employees, all connecting with your computers and Internet connections. A company’s value, through many people’s eyes, is a reflection of how productive they are. While a computer and the Internet can help speed up productivity, it also can affect it negatively. There are many distractions on the internet – social networking, instant messaging, media and news, amongst others – that can slow your employee’s work to a standstill. If you feel this might be affecting your employees, you may want to install computer monitoring software and let your employees know that you are doing so. This may have enough of an impact to get them off the internet and back to work on its own.

Security
Connecting your workplace’s computers to the internet leaves your connection open to attacks from all kinds of Internet sources. With monitoring software, you can not only be able to see attacks coming towards your server, but you may be able to catch why they are coming. In some cases, your employees could be downloading files. Some of these files may come with adware, spyware, viruses and all sorts of other things that can affect your systems.

Keep company secrets on the inside
You don’t want your company secrets to be released to those outside of company walls do you? With certain computer monitoring software, you can view and manage all activities that have happened over periods of time. Did any work files get emailed to an outside e-mail address? Protect your company, its secrets and image with computer monitoring software.

Other excellent reasons to use computer monitoring software include:
• Keep your employees from viewing non-work related websites
• Troubleshooting your computer systems and servers
• Protect you against legal issues and help carry out employee investigations
• Figure out what kind of bandwidth you are using and if you need more
• Make comparison between stuff finding out which employee is the most active
 
It is important to know that your employees are doing work, and if they aren’t what can you do to get them to do it. Computer monitoring software might be your answer for any of these reasons.

It is almost necessary for anyone managing a business or office that you know your employees are doing their job. It is especially important to know what they are using your company’s equipment and computers for in the work place and they are not playing nor do other inefficient, non-work related tasks. While there is plenty of software available on the market to track what is happening on each of the computers available on your network, there is one question that needs an answer before you install it. Is it legal?

The question on whether or not you are allowed to “spy” on your employees in the office comes down to the legality of it. In some cases it is legal, and in other cases, using monitoring software to view what your employees are doing on the job can be illegal. In America, some states say this is perfectly ok. However, many actually may take legal action against employers viewing its employee’s activities. Local county or city rules may even come into play.

Certainly, anything happening inside the office can, and should be monitored. This should be done to track reliability, use of time, and efficiency of your employees, if not for anything else. If your workers in the office are using your computers, your equipments, your company’s software and servers, then it is legal to know every little exchange of information that happens within the office walls.

Say your office uses an office-wide IM service. Most of these IM services already have a built in monitoring system for your server that will catch any message going between the computers in your office. Reading these would be legal. However, if an employee logs on to MSN or AIM, you may have another problem. Because the messages are being sent outside of your office, you could be infringing on employee privacy laws if you monitor and review these messages.

Monitoring your employee’s activities usually requires actions to confirm with the employee that you are doing so. While in some cases this may not be legally necessary, and employer must look into the ethics of monitoring their employee’s computer activities. Some messages sent across your server may be quite private, and if an employee is not aware of this (despite the fact that they shouldn’t be chatting freely while on the clock), they could get quite upset.

To truly know if it is legal to monitor your employees’ internet and computer usage, check your local privacy laws for more information.

Chances are if you are running a business, you have employees working on computers with the latest Microsoft Office software suite. On these computers, however, your employees also have access to other distracting applications like their web browser, IM chatting services, and those little desktop games we love so much like Solitaire. It is always important that you know what your employees are doing with your time and money while they are at the office, and there are several solutions that can help you do this.

Special software, made specifically to monitor data being processed on a computer has made it possible to monitor your employees computer tasks while still keeping their privacy. While these types of software and programs aren’t built for the task of spying on your workforce, they are programmed to help you monitor what is really going on behind the scenes at your office.

Using desktop monitoring software, you can see exactly what sort of documents your workforce has been analyzing and processing on their computer. How many words did they type in that hour and how much time was dedicated to a specific project before it finished? If someone within your company has deleted an important document and he does not admit it, using an efficient Microsoft Office tracking software  this will be easy to find out. Users on each computer are monitored while every opened, modified or deleted document is recorded and specified in reports. Additional information regarding the date, time, hour and or if there were any printing actions will all be saved for a future deep analyze. This is a great tool if you are looking to see if your employees are being paid enough for their actual labor. Instead of using a typical punch clock, the moment someone logs onto their computer can be used to take attendance in the office, making the task easy for the employees and the employer. Overtime can be easily tracked with features built into the desktop monitoring software.

But more than just Microsoft Office tracking, if you think you have a problem with employee who is spending too much online, you will soon be able to know using the internet reports feature in software like these. All information that passes through your server can be recorded, and you can track whom employee was talking with, how long they spent their day chatting, and how many websites they visited during a working period of time.

Improve the security and reliability of your company and know what your employees are doing by tracking their desktop activities. It will be a money-valuable choice that can help improve productivity.

As a manager, boss, or CEO, you rely on your employees to help you get the work done that makes your business tick. Even if one of those employees is gone, it can throw the whole pattern of your work day off. If several employees are gone in a day, you may have some extra work on your hands. However, once your employees miss several days of work in a shortperiod of time, you might have some issues.                                                                                                                                                                

Having a constantly late or missing employee is a huge problem for any boss needing efficiency and reliability from their employees. There are several  methods for dealing with your employees’ attendance, however based upon their work track, excuses, and previous attendance issues, you will need to work on a personal level with that single employee in order to resolve these problems.

Contact the employee personally and set up a time when you can both sit down and talk. As soon as you notice a recurring attendance issue start to arise, you should contact the employee. The longer you wait the more chances an employee has to take advantage of not being commented on their attendance. Arrange a conversation with the employee yourself and formally to let them know that this problem is very important and one that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible.

To this kind of meeting, it’s very important to clearly describe and present to the employee all the problems. Having proves like statistics to show him the exact day, time and hour when he was absent is useful and professional. With an employee monitoring solution installed on computers a manager can control all the activities within his company and the active time for each employee in part.

Be fair when talking about an employee’s attendance problems. Their excuse may have been for serious medical reasons.  When hiring an employee, they should be well aware of what to do in case they cannot come into work a specific day. Did they follow the rules on this? Have they kept under a limit of missed days? These still require small, formal conversations so you can help your employee get back on track.

If an employee has attendance problems beyond what is normally acceptable, a much more stern warning should be given. Let them know it is affecting you, your other employees and the business. Set a time frame for them to improve their attendance.

If it is still no better after the said date, you can issue another more serious warning, however it may be time to find some new feet to fill their shoes within your office.