There are a myriad of ways to monitor employees computers along with either their internet connections or any other thing that they are doing during their work day. Companies that have been wanting to increase both the performance and the efficiency of their employees have been pioneers in monitoring employees computers and reprimanding their employees for getting off track during their work day. This creates an overall more efficient work environment that performs much better than work environments that are not monitored at all.

Remote Tracking Device

Now there are many ways to go about monitoring employees computers, the most traditional is to link all of the employee’s computers to a remote tracking device. The remote tracking device can be thought of as almost the big-brother scenario where there is always a controller that is looking over the shoulder of you via your computer. So if an employee is goofing off or taking too long at a job or not doing their job, the remote controlling tracker can take control of their computer and put an end to whatever they’re doing.

Log IP and MAC Addresses

Another way to monitor an employee’s computer is to log their IP and MAC addresses. Since both of these are unique to each computer, they are extremely easy to track. Each website that an employee may visit logs the IP or MAC address according to the computer they’re using. This allows employers to go back through and to log and see where their employees have been going. If they have been going somewhere they shouldn’t have been going, then they can be reprimanded for that, as well.

Network Control

The last option for monitoring an employee’s computer is when an employer has complete control of the network that his employees are using. The employer can then control what websites that his employees are going to. This can happen by him either blocking or allowing specific sites. This can help him monitor employee’s computers in the way that he can completely control where they can go on the internet and where they can’t.

Keystroke Recognition Software

This type of surveillance has developed over the years so that, not only can employers detects which keys on a keyboard were pushed, but can now also detect which websites were visited using that computer, for each moment in time. Such computer monitoring software can log and record not only what your employees type, but who they talk to, what documents they open, print, or transfer, and what websites they visit, as well as what software titles they run, emails they receive or send, and can even record screenshots of their online activities in actual time. Many of these software also include content filtering tools in order to restrict employees from visiting certain websites, or running restricted software, as well as restrict them from chatting online or copying files to portable devices. Email alerts can even be sent to the employer or their surveillance team whenever an employee attempts to violate any of the computer usage rules, and logs of each computer or employee’s computer usage activity can be viewed from a central location remotely, so there is no need to visit each worker’s computer in person.

Overall, there are many different tried and true methods for employers who want to try and monitor their employee’s computer. Many of these methods have been tried and perfected over the course of years at this point, and sometimes over decades. If you’re an employer, you have many options in this field. If you are an employee however, it’s time to stop goofing off and get back to work.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sera Filson is a writer, entrepreneur and professional student who’s currently pursuing a B.A. in Business Management. She manages her busy life by staying organized with Outlook, which uses Intermedia’s Hosted Exchange.