Employee monitoring is a powerful tool that can provide lots of benefits. However just like any powerful tool if you don’t use it right it could harm more than it helps – especially considering the privacy and ethics concerns that surround it.

If you want to make sure you are using employee monitoring the right way, here are 5 best practices you need to follow:

1. Choose the appropriate software

Employee monitoring software come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Finding one that is appropriate based on your needs will save you a lot of time, money, and effort.

A versatile option is Controlio which has time tracking and activity monitoring features as well as several other useful extras. Per the Controlio official site it can track attendance, work hours, active or idle time, as well as app and web usage, emails, IM messages, file transfers, and more.

2. Create a clear monitoring policy

Be upfront with your employees and come up with a clear policy that lays out how they’ll be monitored, what data will be collected (and what won’t), and why it is necessary. Not only will this be good for compliance, but it will help reassure employees that you’re not spying on them.

3. Focus on privacy

Make the privacy of employees your focus and try to restrict your monitoring to areas that are explicitly work related. Ideally it would be best if you avoid any type of monitoring that is too intrusive.

If you use employee monitoring software such as Controlio you may want to try to avoid using it to check personal emails, IM messages, and so on. Additionally some features such as its ability to capture keystrokes, screenshots or video recordings can be fairly intrusive as well seeing as you may end up capturing private information.

4. Get feedback from employees

Ask your employees what they think about your use of monitoring, and the monitoring policy that you’ve published. Be open to what they have to say, and consider whether you can make changes that would make them feel more comfortable.

5. Conduct regular reviews

From time to time you should make it a point to review your use of employee monitoring, the policy you created, and how you go about it. During these reviews you can assess whether or not it has been effective, and if there are any changes that would help as your business needs grow and shift.

As long as you implement these best practices, you’ll find that you’re able to minimize the risk of privacy and ethical issues. On top of that you’ll also set up a framework where you’re able to constantly make improvements to your monitoring based on employee feedback and the regular reviews you conduct.

Keep in mind that employee monitoring is still relatively new and has undergone rapid changes over the last few years. Because of that you need to stay up to date on the latest developments so you know what to expect.