How To Know if Your Employees Work for Someone Else
The rise of remote work brought several advantages to companies and employees. However, the lack of monitoring also enabled employees to work for someone else, which can significantly affect their productivity. So, how can you find out if your employees work for someone else?
You can use checks and balances at work to find out if your employees work for someone else. This may include accepting anonymous tips or output reports from other employees. You can also use technology to track your employees and see if they are working for someone else.
There are several ways to track your employees, but some may be illegal in your area. This article will discuss some of the best ways to track your employees. However, you must consult a legal professional before implementing it in your company.
Checks and Balances at Work
If you’re worried about your employees working for someone else, you probably have remote work set up. Tracking your employees can be challenging without the help of technology. However, it’s still possible if you can implement checks and balances in your company.
By asking for anonymous tips from other employees, you can determine who is underperforming or isn’t doing the tasks they should do. Although it’s not definitive, employees who display a sudden drop in productivity or a lack of focus could mean they’re working for someone else.
The tips you’ll receive may also be inaccurate. However, doing this will help you narrow your monitoring to a few employees and ensure they only work for the company during normal working hours.
If your employees know their colleagues are looking at their output or productivity, they’re more likely to behave and do their work effectively. However, you should also be very careful when implementing it in your company because it can easily create a toxic environment.
Observe Employees Behavior
If you notice one of your employees showing any of these signs, it’s a good sign that they’re working for someone else:
- Showing signs of fatigue. Experiencing fatigue at work is normal, but if your employees seem more tired than usual or even burned out, it could mean they are working for someone else.
- Unnecessarily stressed. If your employees are easily agitated or irritated, they may be spending too much time working, stressing themselves. If the workload in your company has stayed the same, it could mean they’re working on another job.
- Seems distracted at work. If one of your employees seems distracted, disengaged, or unable to focus, they may have another job they’re thinking about that takes up mental space.
When employees manifest these signs, it doesn’t necessarily mean their productivity is affected. If their output remains the same, and they’re not working for someone else while on the job, it might be best to talk to them and see what you can do to help your employees.
Search for Your Employees’ Names
Suppose you notice that one of your employees seems distracted or disengaged while on the job. In that case, you might want to search for their names online and see what they’re doing. If they’re posting, promoting, or talking about another company, it could mean they’re working for someone else.
However, it’s also important to consider the boundaries when checking your employees’ online profiles. Seeing them talk or post about another company doesn’t necessarily mean they already work for someone else. However, if it significantly affects their productivity or output, you must start looking for a solution.
Monitor Computer Usage
Remote work setup enables employees to work at multiple jobs simultaneously without someone watching over what they’re doing. However, if you can have an arrangement with your employees to monitor their computer usage during work hours, it will be easy to track your employees.
Some monitoring programs can record keystrokes and mouse clicks at work, ensuring that your employees only work for your company during work hours. Others can even track and record internet usage and block access to other websites while working, which can help you increase productivity at work.
Using these tools will make it easier to set up remote work without worrying about your employees working for someone else. However, most of these programs can be costly for the company, and these metrics may not even be a surefire way to know that your employees are working on another job while at work.
Install Remote Viewing Applications
Having a manager or supervisor has been the most effective way to ensure that your employees only work for your company during work hours. Someone going through the employees’ workspaces to see what they’re doing helps improve productivity.
However, hiring someone to keep monitoring your employees’ activities can be costly, and it’s also not as efficient as monitoring your employees’ screens all the time. Aside from this, having a manager or supervisor in companies with a remote work setup is impossible.
That’s why using tracking software like Wolfeye Remote Screen is rapidly gaining popularity. It allows you to remotely view the screen of your employees without the need for a supervisor.
Aside from this, you can also see your employees’ screens all the time versus only seeing them whenever the manager or supervisor is close to or looking at their workspaces.
The best thing about remote tracking programs like Wolfeye is that you’ll definitely find out that your employees are working for someone else.
You don’t have to look through the keystrokes and mouse clicks, search for online profiles, and put pieces of the puzzle together to have the answer—if they’re working for someone else, you’ll see it on their screens.
Conclusion
It’s easy to know if your employees are working for someone else. However, there are some limitations to what you can do, especially if you have a remote work setup in your company. You also need to consider the boundaries of what you can and can’t do when monitoring your employees.
Using tracking programs will make it easier for you to monitor your employees. However, of all the available solutions, remotely viewing the screen remains one of the best, most definitive, and cost-effective solutions you can use for your company.