subject: MONITORING YOUR EMPLOYEE'S COMPUTER USAGE [print this page] MONITORING YOUR EMPLOYEE'S COMPUTER USAGE
Every company hopes that their employees are honest, diligent and focused workers. But experience has shown that this is not always the case. Especially in large organisations, where one cannot individually keep an eye on employee activities, installing a computer monitoring software which includes Internet monitoring could be an important step towards increasing productivity and preventing sharing of confidential company material.
How to implement a monitoring programme
The first step is to create a company policy on employees' computer and internet usage that can be clearly understood. This should be distributed among employees so that they are aware of what is and isn't allowed. Investigate several computer and Internet monitoring software options and choose one that will suit your company's particular needs. Decide who is going to be monitored. Internet monitoring software can be used to monitor activities of all employees or just a few individuals, for example, those who are performing poorly or have been suspected of sharing confidential information. There should also be clear guidelines as to who this information will be revealed to and what actions will be taken if somebody is found violating company policy.
What can be revealed?
Software can reveal information about all the activity being carried out on a particular computer or it can be limited to just Internet monitoring, depending on what your company's particular needs are. Here are a few examples of what computer surveillance can reveal about your employees:
- How much time they spend on the internet
- Content of emails they send and how many attachments are being sent
- Which web sites they frequently visit
- What time they log in and log out
- What files they download and transfer
- What keystrokes they type
- Who is using instant messenger services and how much time they spend on it
How can you access this information?
Internet monitoring software allows you to access its data via snapshot alerts, monthly reports, graphs, email or whenever a review is required. Email alerts can also be created when certain phrases or words are typed by an employee.
