CleverControl Case: Improving Employee Accountability in a Remote Team

In this CleverControl case, the client is a marketing agency with a team of 50 employees distributed across several time zones.

While the team was capable and skilled, the organization faced several challenges with employee accountability:

1. Difficulties in assessing actual work output and time spent on billable tasks versus non-billable activities;
2. Uncertainty about employees working consistently during designated work hours;
3. Inconsistent performance: some employees exceeded expectations, while others constantly underperformed;
4. Limited visibility into work processes and individual contribution to projects.

Previous control methods turned out ineffective. This is why the company decided to try employee monitoring software.

The agency implemented CleverControl to overcome the described challenges. The download links were sent out to employees so that they could install the monitoring agent on company-issued laptops.

The management was surprised with how effortless the installation went: the team could install the agent without an IT specialist and encountered next to no difficulties.

With CleverControl, the management could check the employees' work in real time and have detailed activity logs for further review. The organization was particularly interested in the following information:

1. Work time: records of login/logout and active/inactive time;
2. Application usage: what apps were used and for how long;
3. Website history: visited websites and time spent on them;
4. Social media and messenger activity: what social media and chat apps were used and for how long;
5. Screenshots and screen recordings;
6. Live streams from the employees' screens.

This information provided insights into each employee's workflow, helped find reasons for inconsistent productivity, and revealed a few slackers.

For example, CleverControl revealed one employee's extended inactivity periods or personal browsing after clocking in. The employee might log in at 9:00 am but not show significant work-related activity until 10:30 am.

Another employee was caught on consistent early clock-outs and late clock-ins. Total weekly work hours, as tracked by CleverControl, were around 36 hours instead of the expected 40.

Although their contract did not include flexible work hours, some employees appropriated them on their own authority. They might work late into the night, while the rest worked the usual 9-5. The lack of overlapping work hours led to communication challenges and missed deadlines.

The analysis of program and website usage showed excessive use of social media and streaming platforms during designated work hours. Employees might have had work-related applications open, but the focus was clearly on other programs.

In other cases, the employee might have spent hours in a work-related program, but the output was minimal. That could indicate that the employee either was focused on something else outside the work laptop or their workflow was inefficient.

Based on the insight received from monitoring, the marketing agency took measures to improve employee accountability.

CleverControl logs allowed targeted addressing issues like time theft and consistent underperformance. Timely interference prevented performance issues from escalating and sent a clear message that employee accountability was taken seriously.

The organization implemented regular check-ins between managers and employees to discuss progress, address challenges, and provide feedback. The manager used CleverControl activity summaries in performance reviews, making the reviews less subjective and more objective and direct. Activity summaries provided the necessary concrete evidence of performance, both positive and negative. Based on the evidence, the manager could give targeted feedback and help develop improvement strategies.

Besides, the manager established clear expectations for work hours, task completion, and usage of unwanted/unproductive apps and websites. Monitoring with CleverControl ensured that the employees met those expectations.

As a result, the marketing agency saw a 14% increase in overall team productivity within two months of CleverControl's implementation. Data-driven insights into employee performance allowed for more objective and fair performance reviews and targeted support. Besides, CleverControl's time-tracking features acted as a deterrent to time theft, minimizing lost billable hours. Employees became more accountable and conscious of their time management. They spent significantly less time on non-work-related tasks.

"CleverControl transformed our remote work management. Its data gave us visibility into everyone's work process, identified problems with employee accountability, and helped improve overall team performance." - says the CEO of the agency.

This CleverControl case demonstrates how effective employee monitoring can be in managing a remote team. It reveals skill gaps, distractions, and idleness, allowing management to make informed decisions about improving the situation. If you would like to know more about CleverСontrol's features and how it can transform your team, learn more  here