How to monitor employees work from home

To monitor your working at home employees, you can use third-party employee monitoring software. Such software automatically records what employees do on a computer during their working time.

The situation of monitoring employees' work from home might look a bit to difficult technically, but it all depends on how you organize it. For example: an employee works on its own home computer, how to track employee' work on it and nothing besides work?

How to organize monitoring:
1. Remote Desktop (Citrix, Terminal Server)
If your employees work at home, connecting to the company's working environment using Citrix/Terminal Server, you can simply install third-party time tracking software on the company's server side. And in this case the software will monitor employees under Citrix only (in company's environment only). So, under this environment employees have to work only and you, as an employer, have your right legally to monitor everything. And at the same time your employees are secured: if they want to access their web-banking from their home computers using their own Internet access - no problems, you will never even see it, as the time tracking software has no access to employees' home computers.

So, the solution in this case is:
- Installing employee monitoring software on the company's Citrix/ Terminal Server;
- Educating your employees, when working from home not to use Citrix environment for their personal needs.

How employee monitoring software works: it launches automatically in the background as an employee connects to the Citrix/Terminal Server environment, it works invisibly to the employee, automatically recording user name, applications, documents, Internet usage and times.

2. Company's laptop
If your employees work at home, using company's laptop, you also, as an employer, have your right to monitor your property usage. Just install third-party employee monitoring software on your laptops.

So, the solution in this case is:
- Installing employee monitoring software on company's laptops;
- Educating your employees when working from home not to use company's laptops for their personal needs.

How employee monitoring software works: it launches automatically and works invisibly to employees, automatically recording user name, applications, documents, monitoring Internet usage and times. When laptop is connected to the company's network, employee monitoring software automatically sends recorded data to the centralized location.


3. Employees' personal computer or laptop.
If your employees work at home using their own home computer or laptop (no Citrix or Terminal Sever), then you can request your employees to install third party time tracking software right on their home computer, laptop. To secure your employees privacy, you can educate employees to setup the software to track selected applications only or to start the software only when employees actually work for the company and stop it when doing other things.

So, the solution in this case is:
- Installing employee monitoring software on employees' personal home computers, laptops;
- Educating your employees as proposed above.

How employee monitoring software works: it automatically records user name, applications, documents, Internet usage and times. Then recorded data can be automatically sent to the centralized location using FTP connection or employees can simply generate reports and submit them to you over email.

NesterSoft Inc., Jan 19, 2010