How to Track Employees Working from Home: An In-Depth Guide

Employees hate being constantly monitored, as it often leads to micromanagement.

This makes people feel uneasy, stressed, and less trusted—like they’re always under a microscope. When your team feels this way, staying motivated and doing their best work is hard.

Instead of invasive monitoring, try using time tracking.

It’s a simple way to see what’s getting done without breathing down their necks. Time tracking helps everyone stay on track while keeping things relaxed and fair.

In this article, explore how it can work for your remote team.

But first, let’s understand what is employee monitoring and why it doesn’t work. 

What is remote employee monitoring?

Remote employee productivity monitoring involves tracking employee activity data gathered through software. 

The remote employee monitoring software is installed on the employee’s computer to understand their productivity and track website and app usage.

The idea is to ensure employee productivity by identifying activities that waste employee time. 

However, monitoring is an invasive tool that incentivizes micromanaging remote workers.

Remote employee monitoring methods

There are a few different methods of employee activity monitoring during work hours, including:

• Screenshot capturing
• Screen recording
• Tracking apps and websites
• Webcam screenshots
• Computer activity monitoring
• Tracking mouse and keyboard activity
• Monitoring keystrokes

While these methods can give you a peek into what your employees do during work hours, studies show that they have a detrimental influence, negatively impacting job satisfaction and increasing employee stress levels.

Why does remote work monitoring go bad for people and businesses?

Generally speaking, the intention behind monitoring remote team members is to ensure that employees work their full hours. 

But, regardless of how or why the data is gathered, most employees are not comfortable with an employee monitoring software.

A survey conducted by ExpressVPN found that 59% of surveyed employees reported feeling stress and/or anxiety about their online activity being monitored.

Employees reported feeling increased pressure to be actively online doing productive work, to work longer hours, or to work more than their colleagues. They also reported taking fewer breaks, constantly worrying about being watched, and even feeling dehumanized as a result.

Additionally, 43% of employees said they felt employee surveillance violated trust. A further 28% said they felt unappreciated, and 26% said they felt resentment toward their employer.

Let’s look in more detail at why monitoring a remote workforce can go wrong.

Fosters a culture of busyness instead of business growth

First, remote employee monitoring tools encourage employees to spend more time at their computers, faking ‘busyness,’ even after completing tasks.

They could instead spend this time with their family, pursuing hobbies and interests, or learning new skills, leading to a better work-life balance and a more fulfilling career.

Harvard Business Review even found that monitoring employees leads to more time theft, such as purposefully working slowly. This was because monitored employees subconsciously felt less responsible for their behavior.

Second, when employees feel they need to pad their time entries because their activity is monitored, the time data is skewed. Businesses don’t know how long it really took to complete a project, so future quotes are less competitive, and profitability is affected.

This eventually affects the business’s growth rate.

Employees don’t feel trusted

Employee surveillance breeds a culture of distrust. By tracking activity and productivity during an employee’s workday, you basically tell them that you think they’re incapable of managing their work, time, and tasks

This distrust fosters stress, makes work less enjoyable, and makes employees feel belittled, as employees surveyed by ExpressVPN reported.

Many companies today focus on the outcomes rather than on the time spent pursuing them.

Our head of people ops, Dajana Berisavljević Đakonović, says, “Once you hire a team of A players, you want to give them full freedom and trust [them] to do their best work.”

That’s why we prioritize results.

Jessica Zwaan, COO at Talentful, echos Dajana’s sentiment: “Ultimately, by treating employees as adults capable of managing significant life decisions, remote-first companies can encourage a faster, higher agency, and responsible approach to work.”

Managers use time monitoring data to evaluate employees instead of improving productivity

Employees, both in-office and remote, are susceptible to distractions that could be emotional, physical, or environmental.

Expecting every employee to work full hours at a peak productivity level is expecting too much. They are people, no machines.

Judging employee performance by unrealistic standards is harmful in the long run. It allows managers to unfairly target people, which is bad for the workplace atmosphere and can lead to legal issues and harm to the company’s reputation.

Thankfully, there’s a better method of employee tracking that avoids all these issues.

A better way to track remote employees

Instead of monitoring individuals and excessive micromanagement, use time tracking data to improve the productivity of your company or team.

Here’s how:

• Focus on outcomes: At Toggl, we employ something called Results and Accountability First at Toggl (RAFT). That means we focus on the outcome rather than how long an employee takes to complete a task, giving our team more control over their work.
• Encourage employees to use their time data to improve efficiency and create a better work-life balance.
• Stick to macro-level data: Screenshots and device activity data are meaningless in the grand scheme. Instead, focus on macro data like billable vs. non-billable hours and estimated vs. actual time spent to reduce admin overhead and weed out bottlenecks in your workflow.
• Use data to improve project and business profitability instead of individual monitoring.
• Foster a culture of individual accountability: Set time tracking goals at the company or team level to give everyone something to work toward as a team.

Next, let’s look at the best way to track remote employees’ time.

How to track employees working from home the right way

The best method of tracking employees working from home is simple: time tracking software.

Here’s how you can implement it effectively:

1. Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) goals for metrics like tracked time, estimated vs. actual variance, utilization, and billable utilization. Tie them to your business performance instead of individual performance.
2. Use time tracking software to track the time spent on tasks and projects. Toggl Track is an intuitive time tracking tool, with no computer monitoring or employee surveillance features, that lets users track time automatically, manually, or using a start/stop timer.

Past time data can be used to estimate project durations. This is valuable information for project managers, helping them make accurate time and cost estimates.

3. Use time data reports to track progress against goals. Toggl Track has various methods of monitoring insights, including:
   • Project insights that show you the status of a project in relation to a project time estimate.
   • Weekly, Summary, and Detailed reports break down time spent on tasks according to billable and non-billable time and can be filtered by team, user, project, and more.
   • Project dashboards that detail the project forecast, time tracking chart, billing amounts chart, and clocked hours.
   • Custom time analytics reports to break down and share data in different ways 
4. Set up 1:1 check-in meetings with low-performing individuals to get feedback and understand how you can help them. It’s worthwhile speaking to high-performing individuals, too, to understand their processes and what is going right for them.
5. Set up timesheet approvals for employees who consistently underperform. In Toggl Track, all time entries are added to an employee timesheet that can be shared with managers for approval before going to payroll for processing.

There are many time tracking apps available today.

How do you choose the best one for your needs?

In our next section, we will discuss what to look for in a time tracking tool to ensure you choose the right tool for your business.

How to choose the right remote work time tracking software

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to employee time tracking, but there are a few key features you should look out for when considering time tracking tools.

They are:

• Time tracking methods: Look for a tool that offers multiple time tracking options to suit individual employee needs, like automatic real-time time tracking that starts when they clock in, manual time entries, or a simple timer. Idle time tracking helps ensure accuracy.
• Project and task tracking: Time data is more beneficial when you know what project it is associated with. Choose a tool that lets you assign time entries to specific tasks and not just projects for deeper insight into employee time usage.
• Intuitive interface: Your chosen time tracking tool will be used by every employee at your company, so make sure it is easy to use and has an intuitive interface to streamline the onboarding process.
• Reporting and analytics: To make the most of your employee time data, you need a tool that provides robust reporting and analytics. Opt for software with detailed, summary, and custom time data reports that can be broken down and filtered differently.
• Integrations: To simplify time tracking, look for a time tracking tool that integrates with the tools your company uses daily, such as Slack, Asana, Jira, Google Calendar, and Salesforce.
• Mobile Accessibility: A time tracking tool with a mobile app for Android and iOS allows your employees to track their time wherever they are. Toggl Track’s mobile app syncs time across devices for more accurate tracking even when employees are on the move.

• Offline Tracking: Most employees can complete at least some of their work without an internet connection, so choose a time tracking platform that supports offline time tracking. Toggl Track has offline tracking capabilities that sync time when reconnected to the internet.
• Compliance: Ensure your chosen tool complies with local, state, and federal labor laws regarding data security and stores employee time data for the required time.

Above all, make sure you opt for an anti-surveillance time tracking tool.

What are some great time tracking apps?

Here are some great time tracking apps that don’t monitor employees.

Toggl Track	Paymo	Harvest
Best for individuals or teams looking for productivity insights, advanced time analytics, and third-party integrations.	Best for integrating time tracking and project management.	Best for freelancers and small businesses that need simplified time tracking and billing and payment capabilities.
Priced from $10/user/month	Priced from $9.90/user/month	Priced from $12/user/month

The bottom line

Tracking and monitoring your remote employees is a detrimental practice that increases stress, decreases job satisfaction and enjoyment, and harbors distrust and resentment. When implemented wrong, it can even be an invasion of privacy that risks sensitive information exposure. 

A time tracking tool like Toggl Track, which has a firm anti-surveillance stance, is a much better way of harnessing employee time data while remaining ethical and fair and giving employees agency and autonomy over their work.

Sign up for Toggl Track for free and see how you can track employee time the right way.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We’ve gathered the answers to some FAQs to shed more light on tracking employees who work from home. Check them out 👇

Is tracking employees working from home illegal?

No. Employee monitoring software is legally permitted under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA). However, some states may have specific additional guidelines that employers must follow.

Is tracking employees working from home ethical?

It depends. If you monitor employees on their personal devices without their knowledge or consent, you’re committing a severe breach of trust and privacy that isn’t just unethical—it could result in legal action.

Monitoring activity on company-owned devices with clear prior consent from employees is ethical, provided the information is used purely for work-related monitoring and not for keeping tabs or micromanaging. 

How do I set clear expectations and goals for remote employees?

Here are some key methods:

• Clear communication
• Ensure all employees are aware of and understand their roles and responsibilities
• Set SMART goals for your team and break down large goals into smaller milestones
• Foster a culture of regular feedback

What are the signs that an employee might be struggling with remote work?

A few signs to look out for that could signal a team member is struggling:

• Lack of engagement in chat systems and meetings, including joining with the camera off.
• Going quiet, not responding to messages or emails, and canceling meetings.
• Decreased work quality or output.
• Increased unwarranted pushback.
• Sudden changes in how they operate.
• Absenteeism.

How do I ensure employee privacy while tracking their work?

The best way to track employee work while ensuring privacy is to track their time and output instead of monitoring their activity.

Some other methods include:

• Ensure all staff are aware their activity and/or time is monitored, and they consent to it.
• Create an Acceptable Use Policy for company-owned devices.
• Don’t share personal data.
• Don’t use monitoring data to micromanage.
• Regularly update policies.