Pros and Cons of User Productivity Software
You trust your employees to work hard for you, but without productivity monitoring, you have no way of knowing if they actually are.
Poor productivity in the workplace can cut into your bottom line. But luckily user productivity software can improve productivity and make for a better overall workplace.
To help you understand this software, we’ve broken down the pros and cons of user productivity software.
What is User Productivity Software?
User productivity software is a set of software tools to monitor employee behaviors and collect metrics for performance improvement. Also referred to as employee monitoring software and user activity tracking, these tools contain features such as:
- Time tracking
- Project management
- Task management
- Delegation
- Time wasting track
- Sending reports
- User behavior analytics
- Keystroke logging
- And much
There are different types of software that can do this, and each software will monitor different types of employee computer activity. From pure project management software to time tracking software, you can implement a tool that works for your team.
PRO: Productivity Metrics
The biggest advantage of implementing a monitoring tool is the ability to collect productivity metrics. These include the projects that users work on, the tasks that each person completed, the date and time these things were completed, and even the websites and applications used.
With these metrics, managers can see if the time was spent well and verify that these tasks were worked on and completed. Managers can cross-reference time tracking and project management to ensure that projects were completed. Time tracking software can often be synced with other project management software too so it is very simple to do so.
Managers and employees can meet to discuss these metrics and create a plan. This helps provide common ground when describing productivity and efficiency. Without these metrics, it can be difficult to identify time spent on projects, ways of improving productivity, and problem areas. But with objective measures, managers can see distinct changes in employee performance.
CON: Human Error
Human error is a big disadvantage of user productivity software. To complete time tracking and project tracking, each user will need to click on the project to start time tracking and to end it.
So, unfortunately, the fact that humans have to manually track can be a problem. Your users might forget to track, track the wrong project, or track inaccurately.
Human error can be difficult to mitigate. After all, you have to follow up with your employees and educate them on what their human error means. Some employees won’t understand what they are doing to make their tracking better/worse.
PRO: Improve Employee Morale
Over $190 billion is spent each year to address the physical and psychological effects of burnout. Therefore, businesses might want to consider low productivity as a symptom of burnout.
Individual symptoms of burnout can include:
- Feelings of depleted energy
- Increased mental distance from the job
- Reduced efficiency
Sometimes low productivity can come about due to low employee morale. Implementing productivity software can provide a more tangible way of tracking time and in turn, boost employee engagement and morale.
Luckily employee monitoring can help prevent employee burnout and improve employee morale.
PRO: Time and Management Tracking
With employee monitoring software, managers can see time well spent and provide tips for eliminating wasted time. This is an objective way to measure time management.
Over 70% of employees worry about stressors during their work time. If they are worried about life stressors while on the job, this could cut into productivity. And some employees might not even realize that these stressors are cutting into their productivity.
Once implemented, users and managers can use this software for time and time management tracking. Managers can estimate how long projects are taking and then estimate their profit margins.
Without tracking or paying attention to how much time is spent actually working on projects or procrastinating, your employees might not have a good idea of how they are spending their time.
CON: Another Software to Manage
Some businesses won’t want user productivity software because it’s another software to manage. Managers will have to investigate this software, understand what it does, pay for this, install it, configure it, and manage it.
This can be difficult to manage and keep up with. After all, if you don’t use the software then you are wasting this service. However, if you properly train your managers and employees, then this software can be extremely useful.
PRO: Project Management, Tracking, and Estimates
Aside from all the cons, user productivity software provides both users and managers with a tool for project management, tracking, and estimates. This is one of the most important benefits.
This software will give you project time estimates and averages so that this information can be used for managing your team and providing better estimates for sales calls.
PRO: Less Time Consuming
A productivity app makes it easier to track and is less time-consuming than manually reporting attendance and projects worked on. In fact, most employee monitoring software will save time tracking multiple projects, tracking team communication, and automation tools.
Instead of asking your remote workers about their productivity constantly, you can easily pop in the project management tool and easily see what they do during working hours.
PRO: Manage Remote Teams
It can be difficult to manage employee productivity with remote work. Employers can’t always see the goings-on with each remote employee, but employee monitoring software can give managers a glimpse into their work progress.
While some believe that working remotely can improve efficiency, you still need a monitoring tool to ensure that workers are productive.
If you have remote employees or any hybrid work situation, then you should consider a computer monitoring software to monitor your employees during work hours.
Tips for Implementing Productivity Software
Implementing a productivity tool in your workplace is relatively simple, but there are some steps that should be taken. Here are some tips to consider when implementing:
- Be sure to research the productivity software to make sure that it has the features you want.
- You’ll need a software package large enough for your employee workforce.
- Productivity software can be installed and configured from a single console to workspaces on a network.
- Be sure to educate your employees on what the software does and how it works so that they do it properly.
- Regularly check in on your employees to ensure that the tracking software works and to provide tips for improving productivity.
Ready to start employee monitoring? Reach out to SoftActivity monitor today.