Control of employees’ work at the workplace

Personnel control at enterprises takes place in different ways. Some managers limit themselves to reports and the results of work done, others invest in security services and video surveillance. Still others develop automation, preferring GPS trackers and remote CRM systems.

What is the purpose of such monitoring? Does it benefit the company or limit actions? What happens if employees are not monitored? And how best to automate the process of monitoring the work of employees? All the questions will be answered in today’s article.

Why control is needed

Monitoring staff performance is not only necessary for the manager or officer in charge of the project. But also the employees of the organization. In this case, the boss knows that he will definitely get results, loyalty and a reliable team. And the staff develops professionally, grows, can claim a higher and more stable salary. In addition, control makes the requirements and rules clear.

Proper organization of personnel activity control improves the following points:

• makes KPIs, responsibilities, and sanctions clear for employees, so that they produce predictable results and fail fewer tasks and projects;
• increases trust and confidence between business partners, counterparties, due to which the company does not disrupt deadlines;
• forms a stable quality of work, allowing the business to become competitive, to be highly valued in the market;
• improves the quality of crisis management, as the team is characterized by well-oiled management, reliability;
• identifies problems and errors at the first stages of project implementation, which makes it cheaper to correct deficiencies;
• increases employee loyalty as management is able to award bonuses in a fair manner;
• captures successes rather than failures, which helps to motivate the team and develop them professionally and personally.

Employee monitoring is a mutually beneficial cooperation between two parties, which is implemented for the common good of the team. Monitoring also helps to identify unscrupulous, dishonest, lazy and unmotivated employees who are not interested in their work and career. Timely detection of such persons allows to reduce the level of theft at the enterprise, notice untimely arrival and departure, prevent internal espionage, identify fraudsters, find the “weak link” among employees.

What happens if you don’t supervise your staff

Any job, even an interesting and highly paid one, continues to be an employee’s responsibility and implies serious efforts. Lack of control greatly relaxes the team and leads to poor results. Let’s analyze in more detail the main problems that will arise in the absence of discipline and low level of control in the company.

Employees stop working

Every living creature strives to save energy, it is a basic law of nature. Therefore, in the absence of real control, most employees gradually begin to follow the path of least resistance: they do tasks quickly and poorly, expending minimum effort, procrastinate, drink tea, and spend time in idle conversations.

Employees who are not coping are not visible

Some teammates do quite a lot but pay lip service. However, their abilities and capabilities may be severely limited. Without regular monitoring, it is impossible to keep track of which employees are missing deadlines due to lack of qualifications, skills, and motivation. Especially among outsourced team members.

Failing executives also get lost from view

Some supervisors have a fairly high level of knowledge, but may perform poorly due to employee bias, belittling, firing valuable employees. Some may withhold information valuable to the team and the company in order to receive high bonuses and look good in the eyes of top management.

Thus, properly organized monitoring of employees’ work is not a whim of employers, but a necessity, with the help of which team members work productively. With monitoring, employees have the opportunity to be objectively evaluated, as well as to independently analyze their personal contribution to the firm’s activities. This increases staff motivation and business productivity.

Types of personnel control

There are several types of employee activity control. Among them there are preliminary, final, stage-by-stage.

Preliminary

This monitoring should not be used too often, as constant monitoring puts pressure on the staff. But it can be useful in a number of cases. For example, when a new employee is being trained in the company. The manager just needs to make sure that the project is moving in the right direction.

Final

It is used in work to check the final results of labor activity, when an employee has already achieved a certain goal, solved a task. Such monitoring is carried out on the basis of a work report, project completion, won dispute in court, launched software.

The advantage of this type of control is that it gives the employee a certain degree of autonomy. It allows him to feel trust, thanks to which the employee tries to take responsibility for the fulfillment of the task, develops professionally. At the same time, the manager will be able to save resources, time, energy and will not be distracted from the implementation of direct affairs.

Among the disadvantages of this type of control is the significant risk of violating the deadlines of the assignment or the performance of low-quality work by the staff. Especially when it comes to tasks performed by a new or inexperienced employee. Therefore, this type of control is only suitable for proven, qualified employees.

Step-by-step

It is used when it is necessary to break down a task into specific stages. This type of control focuses the personnel on the result rather than on the processes of labor performance. This helps minimize the risk of failure to achieve the final goal.

How is phased personnel control applied to work activities? The administration or manager divides the task into several logical subtasks. For example, to collect data, analyze the problem, search for solutions, choose one of them, and then prepare documentation, submit documents to state authorities for registration. After completing the sub-stage, as well as the last stage, the supervisor conducts an inspection.

Step-by-step employee supervision is best suited for large tasks with long lead times. It is also useful when dealing with inattentive, process-oriented employees who require frequent supervisor support.

Methods of personnel control

Of course, in no case should you stand behind your own colleagues’ backs and rigidly control their every move. This will lead to tension in the team, stress and will even worsen the performance of the department and work to a disadvantage. The most effective methods of control include:

1. Creating an environment where team members watch out for each other.
2. Unobtrusive monitoring performed without the direct presence of management.

The most productive way is to combine both methods and apply them equally in the work of any department of the company. In this case, the result will not be long in coming.

How to organize control over employees’ work

Competent personnel monitoring is organized in accordance with the basic principles of effective monitoring. We have identified seven such rules.

Transparency

Every employee in an enterprise should be aware that his or her performance is monitored. He should also know what tools are used for this purpose, what key performance indicators are evaluated and what consequences await him as a result of effective or poor performance.

The most convenient way to do this is to use a clear regulation, i.e. a written manual or regulation for monitoring staff performance. All the key points of control are prescribed in it. Each employee should know its content and understand the working conditions.

Predictability

A sense of stability and security is the key to productive activity. The control system must be clear and not change too often. Whereas self-sabotaging supervisors only undermine their authority and reduce productivity.

Objectivity

The rules for monitoring employees should be the same for the whole team. Impartiality is the best assistant in monitoring. Whereas subjectivism and favorites have no place in business.

Imperceptibility

Keeping abreast of everything and getting involved in every project are two completely different, incompatible processes. A manager should only act according to a pre-approved plan, unless it is an emergency situation.

Permanence

A well-oiled system is a regular system. If the management starts supervising the activities of subordinates, it should do it on a regular basis, not abandon or weaken the supervision, bring it to a point.

Efficiency

Administrative staff, supervisors, managers and other top managers who supervise staff should not devote all their time to monitoring other staff. Otherwise, they will simply not have time to conduct their activities, which will affect the performance of the whole business.

Effectiveness

Monitoring just for the sake of monitoring does nothing. It is necessary to understand what to do with the results of monitoring: to identify effective employees or problem areas, to think about further actions, to unlock potential or to eliminate shortcomings.

Mistakes

No matter how much a manager strives to increase productivity and improve employee performance, he or she can always face the opposite effect. This is most often caused by common administrative shortcomings. There are only three of them:

• haphazard monitoring, which is concerned with identifying performance shortcomings, complete disregard for the team’s achievements and successes;
• controlling the activities of employees in which the supervisor does not understand or understand anything;
• formal monitoring leading to the same formal actions of employees.

In addition, unethical methods of monitoring the team are never allowed. These include listening to telephone conversations, reading messages, surveillance by mounting video cameras, monitoring employees through a webcam on a PC or its computer screen.

Tracking the work of the team should be done legally, correctly and systematically, without backlash and negative impact. In this case, employees will not be afraid of punishments, dismissals, but will begin to strive for high performance and fruitful activity. And personnel control in the company will turn into an obvious plus.

2 systems to monitor employee performance

One of the main factors of successful personnel management is the automation of work control. Its implementation has become possible with the help of modern remote programs, online services, time tracking systems, special CRM-systems. These solutions effectively ensure productivity, accountability of employees, allow to achieve compliance with the rules established in the company.

From the many best products on the market, we have selected the most reliable and convenient services that allow you to monitor the activities of your employees, especially in remote locations. Read the review carefully, familiarize yourself with the functionality, options and tasks to decide which program is right for your business.

1. LeaderTask

The unique assistant helps the team and individual employees to plan cases and activities, include important tasks in the day plan, monitor assignments, do not forget about projects, and quickly achieve goals. The program allows you to effectively save time and make the company more productive.

Ideal for teamwork, supervising subordinates. Its tools easily distribute and delegate tasks, create projects and customize work with them, provide individual or collaborative experience to execute and control the process.

Tools:

• the ability to create an endless list of tasks and subtasks, checklists, projects with colored labels from the standard set or created according to individual settings;
• automation, history, sorting, filtering tasks;
• individual access to tasks, “god mode” – view tasks of employees, team roles;
• kanban boards, visualizing goals, creating plans and schedules;
• client base, creating forms for collecting applications in the constructor, processing incoming applications;
• ability to send orders and reassignments, control, make edits, send tasks for revision;
• Employee productivity scale and task schedule;
• possibility to attach any attachments (photos, images, documentation, links, archives);
• built-in calendar, agenda, schedule, smart notifications, reminders;
• Focus” function, which allows you to concentrate on the most important things;
• intelligent search, customization of settings;
• widgets for browsers, creating tasks from emails;
• offline mode and synchronization.

2. Crocotime

A program that automatically records the hours of working time at the computer, meetings and calls. It helps managers keep track of managers’ PC activities, their location, what they used and what programs they used. Applications can be marked as efficient or inefficient.

Tools:

• monitoring of activity at the computer;
• a picture of the workday;
• automatic report cards;
• business process analytics, consulting services;
• integration with telephony, corporate calendars, turnstiles, HR systems;
• stable technical support and system updates;
• flexible customization of the software for a specific company and business area;
• cloud and local versions of the service.

Conclusion

Do not forget that before purchasing software, it should be tested. For this purpose, services offer either a trial period of 7 to 30 days or a free version with a limited set of functions.

Then you will definitely not make a mistake, you will make the right choice. The service will allow you to effectively monitor employees, increase labor productivity, improve sales of goods or services. We wish you good luck!