Employee monitoring is the practice of collecting information about how employees work, usually through software on work computers. The most common forms are time tracking, application and website tracking, screenshots and attendance records. Companies use it to verify hours, bill clients, protect data and manage remote teams.
Key takeaways
- Monitoring ranges from light, such as hours and attendance, to invasive, such as keystroke logging and continuous screen recording.
- About half of US workers say their employer monitors them with technology, according to the American Psychological Association.
- Monitoring work devices is generally lawful in the United States, but some states require written notice and the EU requires proportionality.
- The approaches that last are visible to employees, limited to working hours and tied to a clear purpose.
What does employee monitoring mean?
Employee monitoring means any method an employer uses to observe or record what employees do at work. Today that mostly means software. A small program on the work computer records activity, and managers read the results in a dashboard.
It is common. Two widely cited figures show how common.
- 51%
of US workers knew their employer used technology to monitor them
American Psychological Association, Work in America 2023 - 60%
of large employers used tools to track workers in 2022, double the share at the start of the pandemic
Gartner, 2022
The term covers very different things. A timesheet that fills itself in and a tool that records every keystroke are both called monitoring. The difference between them is what this guide is about.
What are the main types of employee monitoring?
| Type | What it records | Typical use | Intrusion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time and attendance tracking | Start, stop, breaks and total hours | Payroll and working time records | Low |
| Application and website tracking | The active application, window title and site visited | Productivity analysis and client billing | Low to medium |
| Idle detection | Periods with no keyboard or mouse input | Keeping timesheets accurate | Low to medium |
| Screenshots or screen recording | Images or video of the screen | Proof of work and audits | Medium to high |
| Keystroke logging | Every key typed | Security investigations | High |
| Email and chat monitoring | Message content or metadata | Compliance and data loss prevention | High |
| Webcam capture | Images of the person at the desk | Identity checks | High |
| Location tracking | Where a phone or vehicle is | Field teams and fleets | Medium to high |
Most companies need only the first three or four rows. The lower rows belong to security and compliance programs, and they carry more legal and cultural risk.
How does employee monitoring software work?
Most products follow the same pattern.
Set the rules
An administrator sets working hours, what is captured and how often.
Install the agent
Each employee installs a desktop agent and signs in.
Record during working hours
The agent records activity during the configured hours and sends it to a server.
Review the results
Managers see live status, timesheets and reports in a web dashboard.
Products differ in whether the employee can see the agent. Some run in a visible mode that shows the person what is recorded. Others offer a hidden mode. Hidden monitoring is where most legal and trust problems start.
Why do companies monitor employees?
Accurate hours
US employers must keep records of hours worked for non-exempt staff. The Department of Labor says any timekeeping method is acceptable as long as it is complete and accurate.
Client billing
Agencies and consultancies need hours attributed to clients and projects before an invoice goes out.
Remote and hybrid work
Microsoft's 2022 Work Trend Index found that 85% of leaders said hybrid work made it hard to be confident employees were productive, while 87% of employees said they were productive.
Security and compliance
Regulated industries must show who accessed what.
Workload planning
Activity data shows who is overloaded before they burn out.
What are the risks of employee monitoring?
Stress. In the same APA survey, 56% of monitored workers said they typically felt tense or stressed at work, compared with 40% of workers who were not monitored.
Legal exposure. New York, Connecticut and Delaware require written notice. In Europe, regulators have fined employers for monitoring that was excessive or hidden. See Is employee monitoring legal? and Employee monitoring under GDPR.
Gaming. When people are judged on activity alone, some fake activity. See Mouse jigglers and fake activity.
Measuring the wrong thing. Activity is an input. It tells you someone was at the keyboard. It does not tell you the work was good.
What does good employee monitoring look like?
- Employees are told what is recorded before it starts.
- Recording happens only during working hours.
- The data collected matches a stated purpose and nothing more.
- Managers see only their own teams.
- Employees can see their own data.
- Data is deleted on a schedule.
The ethical employee monitoring guide covers each rule in detail, and the policy template turns them into a document you can use.
How does BirdsEye approach employee monitoring?
BirdsEye records the active application and window title, the domain of the website in the active tab, idle time and screenshots at random intervals that can be blurred. Webcam capture is optional. Tracking runs only inside the working hours and days the company sets, and every employee can open the agent to see the rules applied to them. The full list is on the features page, and the boundaries are on the security and privacy page.
Frequently asked questions
Is employee monitoring legal?
In the United States, monitoring company devices for business reasons is generally legal, and New York, Connecticut and Delaware require written notice. In the EU and UK it must be lawful, transparent and proportionate. Read the US guide or the GDPR guide.
What is the difference between employee monitoring and time tracking?
Time tracking records when and how long someone worked. Employee monitoring is broader and can include which applications were used, screenshots and more. Many products, BirdsEye included, do both.
Can employees tell if they are being monitored?
It depends on the product and its settings. Visible agents show an icon and often the rules in force. Some products can run hidden. Several US states and all EU countries require employers to tell employees about monitoring.
What is the least invasive form of employee monitoring?
Time and attendance tracking. It records hours and nothing about the content of the work.
Sources
- American Psychological Association: 2023 Work in America survey, workplace monitoring
- Gartner: The Right Way to Monitor Your Employee Productivity
- US Department of Labor: Fact Sheet 21, Recordkeeping Requirements under the FLSA
- Silicon Republic: Microsoft report on hybrid work and productivity paranoia