98% of employees surveyed said they would like the option to work remotely (at least some of the time) for the rest of their careers.1 To continue offering this perk in the long term companies need to implement the best employee monitoring software to keep each remote employee productive and secure no matter where they work.
Real Time Tracking of Employee Activity
86% of remote workers feel the need to prove that they are engaged while working remotely.4
Today’s Insights displays the real-time productivity and availability status of individuals and teams via an at-a-glance dashboard.
Easily view the most recent productivity metrics to understand who is actively working and what application/website they last used.
- Get high-level views of the apps and websites activity of individual users and teams
- Easily see who is online now and who hasn’t logged in today
- Filter cards by activity, productivity, name, and average activity time
Measure Productivity to Identify Unproductive Employees
Actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. up to $550 billion in lost productivity per year.2
Remote employee monitoring software provides real-time team productivity metrics to show you who is working diligently and who needs further support.
- Find out if employees are wasting work time on social media, computer games, and other distractions
- Track the productivity levels of your entire workforce, a specific team, and individual employees
- Compare productivity between time spent in-office vs working remotely to provide flexibility while maintaining accountability
Protect Sensitive Data With Insights Into Suspicious Behavior
26% of employees considered keeping company data during the COVID-19 pandemic.3
Real-time visibility into how employees are handling data is essential for preventing data leaks to insider threats; especially in a remote environment.
With CurrentWare’s remote employee monitoring software you can prevent data breaches with detailed reports of data transfers to portable storage devices, network share drives, cloud storage services, and more.
Track Active vs Idle Time
CurrentWare’s computer activity reports let you see if an employee was actively using their computers. You can even see if a specific website was actively used or simply running in the background.
- Monitor employees’ internet usage based on active time, idle time, and total time to see how long they are away from their computers
- Track active and idle times of employees based on how long it has been since they have used their mouse or keyboard
- Start tracking employee idle time after their computer has been inactive for a set period of time
Prevent Employee Time Theft With Time Tracking
The average employee steals ~4.5 hours per week from their employer, totaling nearly 6 full work weeks per year. 5
Combine idle time tracking with logon/logoff tracking to get a full picture of when employees start and stop working on their computers
- Audit logon and logoff times to see how long your employee’s are working at their computers
- Get a record of each time your employees startup, sleep, and shutdown their computers
- Verify that employees working from home are active during work hours and see when they are taking breaks
Take Screenshots
of Employee Desktops
See exactly what your employees are doing on their computers. Automatically take screenshots when specific websites or applications are used.
- Capture high-resolution and compressed screenshots of your employee’s desktops
- Monitor desktops in real-time to watch for unsafe data handling and inappropriate behavior
- Screenshots are tagged with the website or application that was being used, the time, and the name of the computer
Get Insights Based on Employee Location
BrowseReporter’s Location Insights dashboard helps leaders make data-driven decisions about remote, in-office, and hybrid work.
Promote flexibility without sacrificing accountability with insights into how location flexibility affects employee engagement and productivity.
- Compare productivity scores between groups of in-office, remote, and hybrid employees to gauge the impact that location has on employee engagement
- See how much of your workforce is working in-office, remotely, or hybrid in a given timeframe
- Review productivity trends to decide if frequently abused distractions need to be limited with BrowseControl’s URL filter
CASE STUDY
Shady Maple Transforms Their Productivity With Internet Filtering and Monitoring Software
Being able to identify negative browsing trends and put a stop to them within a couple of hours has meant that our employees are focused on the job almost all of the time. We have become an extremely efficient workforce.
Check Out Our Great Reviews
The reports are very easy to understand and the fact that they can be emailed to you on a schedule is amazing, and have made finding productivity killers VERY easy. Customer support has been fantastic every time I've had to reach out to them; I highly recommend them!
Kristen S., Associate IT Director
Specialty Coding Services Broker, 51-1000+ Employees
BrowseReporter is simple to use and provides our company with the information we were looking for. Having BrowseReporter installed has prevented any internet abuse. This was exactly what we wanted!
Denise P., IT Manager
Paper & Forest Products, 51-200 Employees
In my nearly 40 years in the IT business I’ve worked with a lot of support teams. I really appreciate CurrentWare going the extra mile to help me get the most out of the product. They’ve definitely outweighed any of the other competitors that I’ve looked at.
Jerry Slocum, Managed Services Provider
Haggerty Auto Group, 150-200 Employees
BrowseReporter is an extremely useful piece of software for monitoring our employees' devices while they are at work. It enables us to view data in real time, conduct detailed analyses of each employee's activities, and improve productivity where necessary.
Sebastian P., Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer
Retail Industry, 10,001+ Employees
The Challenges of Managing Remote Teams
Whether you are managing a team remotely during COVID or you’ve always been a remote-friendly company, it’s no secret that successful remote employee management is a unique challenge. Here are the top challenges of a remote work environment.
What Are the Top Concerns of Remote Team Managers? 5
- 82% are concerned about reduced employee focus
- 75% are concerned about reduced team cohesiveness
- 82% are concerned about reduced employee productivity
- 70% are concerned about maintaining company culture
- 67% are concerned about employees overworking
The advanced features of remote employee monitoring software tools play a unique role in addressing the concerns of managers and other team leaders.
With insights into remote employee activity you can:
- Track time spent on productive and distracting activities throughout the day
- Ensure that remote employees are following business processes
- Verify working hours to ensure that individual employees do not overwork themselves
Cybersecurity Risks of Working Remotely
When approaching remote employee management from a cybersecurity perspective you need to rely more on authentication, remote employee monitoring, and endpoint security to protect data.
- How can we ensure that employees are following security guidelines when they work from outside of the office?
- Without monitoring solutions in place how can we determine what is “normal” activity for our end-users.
- How can we prevent remote employees from stealing trade secrets, personal information, and other data?
How Can I Keep Data Safe When Remote Workers Have Access to It?
- Provide your remote employees with security awareness training that addresses the unique risks of remote work.
- Monitor and restrict access to data egress points such as portable storage devices to ensure that data isn’t being stolen or mishandled.
- Provide them with access to company-owned devices that can be appropriately monitored and restricted.
Limited Communication, Culture, and Visibility
37% of employees at companies that allow remote work feel that working remotely hinders visibility.6
This lack of visibility can lead to burnout and a loss of morale as remote employees overexert themselves in an attempt to prove that they are working productively.
- How can newly remote teams prove that they have the task management skills to stay productive when they work from home?
- How can the managers of remote teams see the full extent of their contributions when they are not working together in the office?
- How can we ensure that our remote workers are collaborating effectively when they work from home?
With remote employee monitoring software tools you can keep a pulse on individual employee engagement with insights into the time spent working each day. This activity tracking lets your engaged employees work their best knowing their efforts are noticed.
Coordinating Flexible Schedules
Working remotely with flexible work hours is an excellent perk for employees. Unfortunately this remote work style presents unique remote employee management challenges that can be difficult to overcome.
- Are remote employees working too much (burnout risk) or too little (disengagement)?
- Is there enough overlap between remote teams for collaborative remote work?
- Do we have enough employees working during core hours to meet business needs?
How Can I Coordinate Flexible Work Schedules?
Where possible, use asynchronous project management and communication systems. This allows employees to start and stop their contributions as they see fit, improving their work life balance.
For remote teams that require real-time collaboration you can schedule core work hours where all your employees are expected to be available.
With WFH monitoring solutions you can verify that there is enough shared time for collaboration and communication during the work day.
Concerns About Low Employee Engagement
Managers of remote teams often struggle to keep them engaged—Considering that 8 in 10 remote workers admit to slacking off at work during the COVID-19 lockdown these struggles can be a significant productivity drain.7
- Are my employees more productive working from home or from the office?
- Who are my top performers and who is taking advantage of remote work to slack off?
- Do my remote teams have everything they need to meet their goals?
Struggling to maintain accountability when managing remote employees? With remote employee monitoring software tools you can rest assured that your staff is engaged and meeting expectations, allowing you to focus your efforts on providing your remote teams with the support they need to stay productive while they work from home.
Best Practices for Monitoring Hybrid & Remote Workers
Even with the best employee monitoring software with advanced employee monitoring features you need clear employee communication from team leaders to get the most out of your employee monitoring solution.
Follow these best practices for tracking employee activity to monitor your employees’ activity with work from home monitoring software while respecting their privacy.
CurrentWare Features
User Activity Monitoring
Track web browsing, software use, search queries, and more
Screenshot Monitoring
Take automatic screenshots or remotely view desktops
Track Software Usage
Get insights into software usage trends in your organization
Transparent & Stealth Modes
Run silently in the background or provide notice of monitoring
Block USB & Other Devices
Set full access, read only or no access on storage devices
Device Whitelist
Allow only authorized storage devices to be used
Block File Transfers
Prevent files from being transferred to portable storage
DLP Activity Reports
Track file transfers, storage device use, file operations, and more
Block Websites
Block websites based on
URLs & content categories
Block Downloads/Uploads
Prevent uploading and downloading based on file type
Application Blacklisting
Block specific Windows
applications from launching
PC Power Management
Remotely track and control PC power states
Centralized Console
Manage all your users from the
centralized console with Active
Directory import or syncing
Platform Security
Protect your CurrentWare console
with 2FA, passwords, privilege
management, and more
Offsite Management
Extend onsite security policies to any remote computer running outside the corporate network
SQL Server Supported
Database scaled for enterprise and
large business operations using
Microsoft SQL Server
Resources for Managing Remote & Distributed Teams
How to Monitor Employees Working From Home
Struggling with accountability when employees work from home? Here’s how productivity monitoring software can help
Remote Workforce Management 101: Tech, Tips, and Techniques
New to remote workforce management? This guide will provide you with the insights you need to manage your remote team
Pros and Cons of Employee Monitoring—Is It Right For Your Organization?
This article outlines the advantages and disadvantages of monitoring employees to help you make an informed decision
How to Get Buy-In for Employee Tracking Software
Learn the benefits of monitoring employees, and how to get buy-in for employee monitoring from all levels of your organization.
The Top Cybersecurity Risks of Hybrid & Remote Workers
Organizations with remote workers need to adapt to the unique cybersecurity risks that come with them
How to Know if Your Remote Employees Are Working
Learn how to ensure your remote employees work as expected and what you can do to keep them on task
Frequently Asked Questions About CurrentWare’s Work From Home Monitoring Software
Are There Any Limits to the Free Trial?
The free trial of our remote employee tracking software is fully functional. You can deploy it on up to 10 computers for 14 days.
If you need more time or more computers to properly evaluate the best employee productivity tracking software for your organization:
Does CurrentWare Have Access to Employee Data?
No, CurrentWare cannot access your employee’s computer monitoring data. CurrentWare’s software does not send your user’s computer usage data to CurrentWare. They are installed and managed by your organization.
All of the data collected by CurrentWare’s software is stored on a database that is installed in your organization’s data center or cloud service provider.
With CurrentWare’s on-premises & self-managed cloud deployment options, you’re in complete control of your data.
- Sensitive employee data stays secured to your standards rather than being sent to a third party.
- Maintain data localization and residency compliance requirements by keeping employee data exactly where it needs to be.
- Retain auditable records of user activity for as long as you need
For more information please refer to our Terms of Service.
Will My Employees Know They Are Being Monitored?
Depending on the needs of your environment and the laws of your jurisdiction you can opt to deploy BrowseReporter with or without its transparency-enhancing features enabled.
Stealth Employee Monitoring
BrowseReporter operates in stealth mode by default.
In stealth mode, the CurrentWare Client is not visible in the system tray or control panel of the employee’s computer. Your employee will not be able to uninstall the CurrentWare client or prevent it from running.
Transparent Employee Monitoring
BrowseReporter includes a variety of transparency-boosting features to help your employees remain aware that their computer activity is being monitored in the workplace.
- Monitoring Notifications: Display a custom message that periodically reminds your employees that their internet and application activity is being monitored by BrowseReporter.
- Show In System Tray: Enable this feature to make the CurrentWare Client visible in the system tray of your employee’s computers.
- End-User Reports: Enable this feature to give your employees access to their own computer activity data. This lets them see exactly what internet and application usage data is being shared.
Is This a Cloud Solution?
The CurrentWare Suite can be deployed on-premises or on a cloud platform of your choice. Both deployment option are compatible with remote workers with a few configuration changes.
Learn More:
Our remote work monitoring solutions are not cloud-native
How Can I Monitor Employees That Work Remotely?
With the right employee monitoring software, you can easily keep track of what your remote workforce does during work hours.
Simply install the monitoring software on their computers and generate reports on their activities from the central console. To get started:
I Want To Monitor Employees Who Work From Home But I’m Worried About Their Privacy. What Should I Do?
In today’s privacy-conscious world employers need to monitor employees in a way that is transparent, minimally invasive, and respectful of employee privacy.
To help employers develop a privacy-first employee monitoring strategy, CurrentWare has written a white paper with the best practices for monitoring the productivity and time of employees.
Will BrowseReporter Continue Monitoring Employees When They Leave the Network?
Yes. The client agent has the ability to monitor employee computer activity even if it loses connection to the CurrentWare Server.
When your employees disconnect from your network the client agent will store their activity data locally on their computer. Once they reconnect to your network their data will be synced to the CurrentWare server.
Note: If you wish to get activity data from employee computers that are outside of the network, they will need to be able to communicate with the CurrentWare Server. Once a connection is reestablished you will receive your employee’s computer usage data and any CurrentWare policy updates will take effect.
Learn More: How to Set Up CurrentWare’s Employee Productivity Tracking Software for Off-Site Workers
Is It Legal to Use Remote Employee Monitoring Software?
When determining how employee monitoring software will be used in your organization it is important to understand the potential privacy implications for your employees and what factors influence your right to monitor employee computer activity.
Depending on your jurisdiction and the jurisdiction of your employees you may have legal obligations to fulfill before monitoring employees in the workplace. The best practice is to consult with a legal professional first.
Most workplace privacy and employee monitoring laws require you to be transparent about data collection. This includes informing employees about what is being monitored, how their data will be protected, and how it will be used.
Learn more: The Best Practices for Using Employee Productivity Monitoring Software
How Can I Monitor the Productivity of Remote Workers?
Have regular check-ins with your remote employees to go over their progress towards key deliverables. Review the quality of their work and see if it’s up to their usual standard.
If it feels like they are lagging behind, review their computer activity reports to see if internet-based distractions have affected their quality of work.
Using BrowseReporter’s remote employee productivity reports you can readily see how your employees spend their time on websites that are deemed productive, unproductive, or neutral.
My Employees Use a VPN and/or Remote Acess Software to Connect to Their Work Computer. Can CurrentWare Still Track Their Activity?
Yes! Simply install the CurrentWare client agent on the workstation they are connecting to. CurrentWare can also be set up for remote workers with port forwarding, offsite mode, and a standalone software installation.
How Do You Effectively Manage a Remote Employee?
Effectively managing a remote workforce requires a combination of asynchronous management and communication, flexibility, and a revised approach to productivity management.
Performance management for remote workers is a particularly unique challenge. How can you know that employees are engaged and working as expected when they are out-of-sight and surrounded by distractions?
Just getting started with remote employee management in your company? The CurrentWare team has prepared a guide that will provide you with the insights you need to manage a distributed, hybrid or remote workforce. | Read the Guide
How is the CurrentWare Suite Secured?
CurrentWare is committed to the security of its platform, its users and their data.
- All of the data collected by CurrentWare’s solutions is stored in your organization’s data center or cloud service provider; the data is not sent to CurrentWare.
- The web console cannot be accessed without a username and password. For an added layer of authentication security you can enable two-factor authentication.
- You can selectively enable/disable what data is tracked and delete old records automatically.
For a complete overview of the security measures that CurrentWare has in place, check out the CurrentWare platform security overview page.
1 We Forum – 6 charts that show what employers and employees really think about remote working https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/coronavirus-covid19-remote-working-office-employees-employers. Accessed 4 Jun. 2021.
2 Gallup – State of the American Workplace 2017 Report https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238085/state-american-workplace-report-2017.aspx. Accessed 4 Jun. 2021.
3 Deloitte – Cyber crime – the risks of working from home https://www2.deloitte.com/ch/en/pages/risk/articles/covid-19-cyber-crime-working-from-home.html. Accessed 4 Jun. 2021.
4 CityAM – Remote working is causing employees to feel overworked https://www.cityam.com/remote-working-is-causing-employees-to-feel-overworked/. Accessed 4 Jun. 2021.
5 Forbes – How To Insure Against Time Theft https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashikahmed/2018/01/19/how-to-insure-against-time-theft/