Are your employees completely trustworthy? Are they someone you couldn’t ever see hurting our business no matter what the circumstance? Chances are unless you’re your own boss you probably have some concerns about your employees. Whether it be stealing, sharing sensitive corporate information or not doing their job to the best of their abilities, as an employer you have a right to know if your business is in jeopardy. Not many employers have millions of dollars at their disposal to spend on expensive monitoring software. So how do you monitor on a budget? This article from Charter’s Management Institute will give you a couple of important tips to tracking your employees without having to break the bank.
Reference Checks
This step comes before the individual is even truly your employee, but is still essential to the health of your company. Bringing on a new employee is a multi-step process that extends far outside just the interview process. First you would obviously make sure they’re qualified for the job at hand, but you have to make sure they’re actually being truthful. Through reference checks you will get a clearer picture of the job they’re capable of as well as their personality and how they’ll mesh with your existing staff and working environment.
Be Observant
You can tell a lot about someone just by paying attention to what they do on a normal day-to-day basis. Does Sally always eat her lunch at her desk? Does Bob always stay a half hour late? Does Brenda always come in an hour early? What if one day you notice they change their habits completely? While this could be completely benign it could also signal an untrustworthy employee. Just keep it in mine to have a watchful eye.
Social Media Policy
Establish a set of rules that are both strict and fair. Clearly outline the rules and regulations to every employee, giving them ample notice of what is and isn’t accepted and the consequences if you disobey those rules. With the extreme growth of social media has come the growing number of distractions for employees.
Hold Regular 1 on 1 Meetings
Managers and employers should conduct regular face-to-face meetings with their employees to make sure the lines of communication remain as open as possible. Nothing ruins a business more than disgruntled employees complaining to the public. By allowing employees the opportunity to speak openly with management about their issues it allows you to fix them as well as understand the pitfalls of your business model.
Monitoring Software
Not to sound pessimistic, but your employees could always just be telling you what to hear and pulling the wool over your eyes. But, by using online monitoring software such as Auto Forward to track all of their online activities. This way you are able to double check if everything your employees are saying they’re doing is the truth. You will be able to tell if your employee is texting, calling, Facebook messaging, tweeting, posting on Instagram and many other things. This will allow you to tell if Sally got that high score on Candy Crush instead of posting her latest report. While you can congratulate Sally on that Candy Crush accomplishment, you will also be able to remind her of that social media policy and the consequences for that high score.
With Auto Forward cell phone monitoring you can keep all your employees on track and help foster as much growth within your company as possible.