Technology has made a great impact on business in terms of making tasks easier and faster. It contributes to the overall productivity of the company and helps bring in profit. However, as we rely more and more on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets for work, there is a great tendency that this technology can get abused. We all know the usual scenario in the office; employees tend to procrastinate, visiting social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, playing game apps or texting.

These activities in the workplace can very much affect an employee’s performance and productivity, therefore affecting the business’ investments and profits. To prevent these activities, many employees had spent thousands and thousands of dollars for barriers to keep their employees from doing the job they are paid to do. Time cards, thumb check-in, even security guards and cameras to monitor employees are some ways that most business owners do, but is it working? Somehow, irresponsible employees still find a way around these security measures.

However, dealing with productivity issues with employees is not the only thing that keeps them from delivering the targeted quota for the day. Each employee’s personal concerns can get in the way with delivering the results you are paying them for. Such examples are personal phone calls, text messages, company allowances used for personal purposes, visiting relatives, emotional distress that keeps their attention from the task at hand and so on and so forth. As a business owner, wouldn’t you wish you could control these activities?

How can you manage these kinds of employees? 

What can an entrepreneur do but to trust in the technology that he/she has? If you suspect your employees of not doing their job, then there are several advanced ways in doing so. First is to track what they have been up to online. You can set up a proxy server with a unique IP address to check what they have been up to and their page history. This applies to all web browsers such as Google Chrome, IE and Firefox.

If that doesn’t work, you can invest on a spyware app that would monitor your company mobile gadgets used by employees. If you want to take it to the next level, you can unknowingly install a malware on their phones to help you monitor their work productivity but it is against the professional code of ethics so we suggest you install these spywares on your company gadgets alone. Netspysoftware offers a highly advanced phone tracking app that lets you monitor your employee’s phone remotely. Everything that goes in and out of their phone is recorded.

Another way of controlling these activities in your workplace is to install a screen-capture application. There are many of these in the market such as TeamViewer, TimeDoctor, etc. It works by capturing a specific computer’s screen and is then delivered to the master computer (which you will have access to). What is great about it is the screen cap is done at random.

There are all sorts of ways to get around these employees using the technology that we have. Risking and wasting your company’s time and productivity is a major issue that should be dealt with accordingly. If you are having such problems, talk to your employees about it and work a way to meet halfway.