Workpuls Teramind ActivTrak Hubstaff DeskTime Time Doctor RescueTime Kickidler Veriato Work Examiner
OVERVIEW
Price $6/user/month $6/user/month $7.20/user/month $7/user/month $7/user/month $9.99/user/month $6/user/month $9.99/user/month $150/licence/year $60/licence (lifetime)
Free trial 7 days 7 days No 14 days 14 days 14 days 30 days 7 days Yes 30 days
Ease of use Very easy Difficult Very easy Easy Easy Very easy Very easy Very easy Very difficult Easy
TRACKING METHODS
Unlimited (tracker working 24/7)
Fixed (defined working hours)
Automatic (when computer is connected to a specified network)
Manual (start/stop)
Project based (track time only on projects)
GENERAL MONITORING FEATURES
Stealth mode
App and website usage
Real-time monitoring
Offline time tracking
Attendance
Activity levels
Keylogger
Geolocation
Remote desktop control
Website/activity blocking
SCREENSHOTS AND RECORDING
Screenshots
Screenshots on demand
Screen recording
PRODUCTIVITY FEATURES
Productivity trends
Websites and apps labeling
Category labeling
Productivity alerts
ADVANCED SECURITY FEATURES
User behavior analytics
Data loss prevention
Advanced file and web monitoring
REPORTING
Productivity reports
Team reports
Timelines
Email reports
Access management
PLATFORMS
Web
Mac desktop app
Windows desktop app
Linux desktop app
Mobile app iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android Android
Browser extension Chrome Chrome Chrome
Other Citrix, VMware Chrome OS
OTHER
Support Phone, email, online Phone, email, online Phone, email, online Email, online Phone, email, online, in-person Online Phone, email, online Email, online, Viber, Whatsapp Phone, email, online, support ticket Phone, email, online
Knowledge base
Video tutorials
Integrations comming soon
API
Deployment cloud, on-premise cloud, on-premise, AWS, Azure cloud cloud cloud cloud cloud on-premise cloud, on-premise on-premise
Kronos Humanity Timeclockplus Tsheets Wheniwork Deputy Replicon Jibble EbilityTimeTracker OnTheClock BeeBole
OVERVIEW
Price(per month)Available upon requestFrom $2 per userAvailable upon requestFrom $6.40 per user+$16Free for up to 75 usersFrom $2.50 per userBasic plan:$30 for 5 users+$5 per additional userFrom $1.50 per employeeFrom $4 per user+$8From $2.20 per user$5.99 per user per month
Free trial30 days14 daysYes14 days14 days14 days30 days30 days,no credit card required
Ease of useDifficultEasyDifficultVery easyEasyEasyDifficultVery easyEasyEasyEasy
FEATURES
Timecard management
Scheduling
Shift Trading
Timesheets
Break time management
Real-time tracking
PTO Management
Payroll
Invoicing
Client billing
GPS tracking
Clock out reminders
Alerts
Manual time
PUNCH-IN METHODS
Web app
Mobile app
Time clock device
Time clock kiosk
Facial recognition
Fingerprint scanning
Geofencing
Group punch-in
REPORTING
Visual reports
Email reports
Time rounding
MANAGEMENT
Permissions
Manager approvals
Add time for others
Integrations
PLATFORMS
Web
Android app
iOS app
Mac desktop app
Windows desktop app
Linux desktop app
OTHER
SupportPhone and onlinePhone and onlinePhone,chat and onlinePhone and chatEmail and onlineChat and phonePhone,email,chat and onlinePhone and onlinePhone,email,chat and onlinePhone and onlineOnline chat and video support in English,French,and Spanish
Knowledge base
Video tutorials
Community forum
API
Workpuls Hubstaff Toggl TimeDoctor Harvest TimeCamp Timely Everhour Tick TMetric
OVERVIEW
Price (per month) $6 per user $5.83 per user $9 per user $9.99 per user $10.80 per user $5.25 per user $99 for 5 users $7 per user $19 for 10 projects $5 per user
Free trial 7 days 14 days 30 days 14 days 30 days Yes 14 days 14 days 30 days 30 days
Ease of use Very easy Difficult Difficult Very easy Easy Very easy Easy Difficult Very easy Difficult
TIME TRACKING METHODS
Manual
Start/stop buttons
Automatic time mapping
IN-DEPTH TASK AND PROJECT ANALYSIS
Screenshots
App and website usage
Activity levels coming soon
Real-time tracking
TASK AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project adding
Project templates
Project status
Task assignment
Task priorities
Budgeting coming soon
Mark billable/non-billable hours
Payroll calculation
Invoicing
ALERTS
Idle time reminders
Deadline alerts coming soon
Budget alerts coming soon
REPORTING
Client login
Productivity analysis
Email reports coming soon
PLATFORMS
Web
Mac desktop app
Windows desktop app
Linux desktop app coming soon
iOS app Beta
Android app
Browser extension Chrome Chrome, Firefox Chrome Chrome Chrome, Firefox Chrome Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge
OTHER
Support Phone and online Email and online Email and online Online Online, email and phone Email, online and support ticket Email and chat Email and chat Email Chat
Knowledge base
Video tutorials
Integrations coming soon
API
On-premise hosting

During the Great Recession, there was a job loss rate of 16% in the US, as many companies had little choice but to downsize with the rapid downturn in the global economy.

Profit margins were squeezed, and financial outcomes were bleak in the Great Recession - and now, close to 15 years later, we’re likely heading for another recession. Some sources believe that there’s as much as a 64% chance of an economic recession in 2023.

To avoid the costly drain of financial resources, time, and reputation, you might find that downsizing is one of the most viable options for your business. 

Downsizing brings with it myriad challenges, which is why we’ve dedicated this guide to addressing and proposing remedies to the most common and costly downsizing mistakes.

Lack of Transparency

Opening discussions about the possibility of letting employees go without engaging with the workforce often results in a toxic work environment.

Why?

Because by having these conversations behind closed doors, you’ll likely inadvertently send shockwaves of panic through the ranks. If word gets out, employees will feel as if you have betrayed their trust and gone behind their backs with their livelihoods on the line.

As you can imagine, this, more often than not, is a huge misstep.

Beyond being a PR disaster that it might be hard to recover from in the eyes of stakeholders, you open the doors to widespread criticism. What’s more, letting employees go en masse in such a fashion is likely to deter top talent from choosing your company after you stabilize post-recession.

There’s also a risk that by dismissing employees without proper notice, you could face backlash from those that remain, and it’s even possible that key players in the company would step down from their roles.

Recently, many of the tech giants have been guilty of laying off thousands of employees without so much as a conversation. In some cases, the only way employees knew they were laid off is through an email they received the day of their termination.

This is a bad look for any company and can irreparably harm its reputation when there was a much simpler solution for downsizing without antagonizing the workforce.

Solution: Transparency with employees

Communication goes a long way when you’re facing turbulent times.

Keeping employees in the loop about what’s happening in the company is essential if you want to keep them on board. While it may seem counterintuitive to disclose the news that you’re downsizing as it might affect morale, in most cases, employees will find this honesty refreshing.

In many corporate environments, honesty may appear to be lacking, so by being truthful with your employees, you can create an environment that employees want to be a part of.

Getting ahead of rumors is always a good idea, and it avoids any potential fallout as a result of employees feeling lied to.

Excluding Employees

Not only is it a bad idea to cut off communication with employees during a period of downsizing, but it’s also a problem to exclude employees from the problem-solving process.

It’s all too easy to brush aside the concerns of employees and silence their voice as a workforce when there are big decisions to be made. But this is a mistake. 

The more you suppress or ignore the voices of your employees during the downsizing process and beyond, the less aligned you’ll be as a company. If you want to take the best steps forward, it’s important to make moves as a whole.

Solution: Invite employee input

The employees are the lifeblood of the company, so it would be wise to consult them on major decisions that could affect their livelihoods.

This applies both to the downsizing process and what happens next.

If you involve employees in conversations about layoffs you could build trust, but there’s a chance you could reach an alternative arrangement, such as voluntary salary reductions.

After downsizing, there’ll be significant decisions to be made regarding a potential restructuring of the company, individual and collective responsibilities, and the company values and priorities moving forward.

Creating Skill Gaps

Once the dust has settled after the downsizing process, there’s a chance that you’re left with skill gaps in your company.

This is ironic since many companies dedicate a lot of resources to sourcing the right talent to plug skill gaps whenever they appear. Yet it’s inevitable: if you lay off a large number of employees, you could be reducing the skill range within your company.

The worst thing you can do when downsizing is rush through the process and end up in a more precarious position than you were in before. Failure to recognize what skills and talent you might be casting away when downsizing could be a huge mistake.

Solution: Future planning

Downsizing shouldn’t be seen as just a response to a recession or a short-term solution for financial struggles. It can determine the future direction of your business, and as such, it’s important that you spend time planning what’s next for optimal workforce optimization.

One of the best ways to have the foresight to avoid issues such as a skill shortage in your ranks is to carry out extensive future planning before downsizing. Granted, you may not have much time before you have to be decisive with your actions, but it’s still worth plotting out what the next few weeks, months, and years might hold for your company.

Use Employee Monitoring to Manage Productivity Levels

One last step you can take to offset some of the costs of downsizing is to invest in an app to track hours worked like Insightful.

When you use the best internet monitoring software, you can monitor productivity levels throughout the downsizing process, which can inform everything from resource allocation to capacity planning. 

By monitoring work from home employees and accessing workforce analytics, you’ll be able to make key strategic decisions backed up by data. 

Pc monitor software Insightful allows you to:

  • Automatically track time
  • Gain access to real-time insights
  • Track app usage
  • Monitor attendance
  • Create productivity reports
  • Utilize a screenshot monitor

And much more.

Employees monitoring solutions can help you stay the course as you navigate challenging times, and through the process of monitoring and tracking performance, you can create benchmarks and analyze trends.

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Claim your free 7-Day full feature trial of Insightful today. Insightful’s actionable work insights make your team more productive, efficient and accountable.

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Employee Monitoring

Common (Costly) Downsizing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Written by
Kendra Gaffin
Published on
February 20, 2023

During the Great Recession, there was a job loss rate of 16% in the US, as many companies had little choice but to downsize with the rapid downturn in the global economy.

Profit margins were squeezed, and financial outcomes were bleak in the Great Recession - and now, close to 15 years later, we’re likely heading for another recession. Some sources believe that there’s as much as a 64% chance of an economic recession in 2023.

To avoid the costly drain of financial resources, time, and reputation, you might find that downsizing is one of the most viable options for your business. 

Downsizing brings with it myriad challenges, which is why we’ve dedicated this guide to addressing and proposing remedies to the most common and costly downsizing mistakes.

Lack of Transparency

Opening discussions about the possibility of letting employees go without engaging with the workforce often results in a toxic work environment.

Why?

Because by having these conversations behind closed doors, you’ll likely inadvertently send shockwaves of panic through the ranks. If word gets out, employees will feel as if you have betrayed their trust and gone behind their backs with their livelihoods on the line.

As you can imagine, this, more often than not, is a huge misstep.

Beyond being a PR disaster that it might be hard to recover from in the eyes of stakeholders, you open the doors to widespread criticism. What’s more, letting employees go en masse in such a fashion is likely to deter top talent from choosing your company after you stabilize post-recession.

There’s also a risk that by dismissing employees without proper notice, you could face backlash from those that remain, and it’s even possible that key players in the company would step down from their roles.

Recently, many of the tech giants have been guilty of laying off thousands of employees without so much as a conversation. In some cases, the only way employees knew they were laid off is through an email they received the day of their termination.

This is a bad look for any company and can irreparably harm its reputation when there was a much simpler solution for downsizing without antagonizing the workforce.

Solution: Transparency with employees

Communication goes a long way when you’re facing turbulent times.

Keeping employees in the loop about what’s happening in the company is essential if you want to keep them on board. While it may seem counterintuitive to disclose the news that you’re downsizing as it might affect morale, in most cases, employees will find this honesty refreshing.

In many corporate environments, honesty may appear to be lacking, so by being truthful with your employees, you can create an environment that employees want to be a part of.

Getting ahead of rumors is always a good idea, and it avoids any potential fallout as a result of employees feeling lied to.

Excluding Employees

Not only is it a bad idea to cut off communication with employees during a period of downsizing, but it’s also a problem to exclude employees from the problem-solving process.

It’s all too easy to brush aside the concerns of employees and silence their voice as a workforce when there are big decisions to be made. But this is a mistake. 

The more you suppress or ignore the voices of your employees during the downsizing process and beyond, the less aligned you’ll be as a company. If you want to take the best steps forward, it’s important to make moves as a whole.

Solution: Invite employee input

The employees are the lifeblood of the company, so it would be wise to consult them on major decisions that could affect their livelihoods.

This applies both to the downsizing process and what happens next.

If you involve employees in conversations about layoffs you could build trust, but there’s a chance you could reach an alternative arrangement, such as voluntary salary reductions.

After downsizing, there’ll be significant decisions to be made regarding a potential restructuring of the company, individual and collective responsibilities, and the company values and priorities moving forward.

Creating Skill Gaps

Once the dust has settled after the downsizing process, there’s a chance that you’re left with skill gaps in your company.

This is ironic since many companies dedicate a lot of resources to sourcing the right talent to plug skill gaps whenever they appear. Yet it’s inevitable: if you lay off a large number of employees, you could be reducing the skill range within your company.

The worst thing you can do when downsizing is rush through the process and end up in a more precarious position than you were in before. Failure to recognize what skills and talent you might be casting away when downsizing could be a huge mistake.

Solution: Future planning

Downsizing shouldn’t be seen as just a response to a recession or a short-term solution for financial struggles. It can determine the future direction of your business, and as such, it’s important that you spend time planning what’s next for optimal workforce optimization.

One of the best ways to have the foresight to avoid issues such as a skill shortage in your ranks is to carry out extensive future planning before downsizing. Granted, you may not have much time before you have to be decisive with your actions, but it’s still worth plotting out what the next few weeks, months, and years might hold for your company.

Use Employee Monitoring to Manage Productivity Levels

One last step you can take to offset some of the costs of downsizing is to invest in an app to track hours worked like Insightful.

When you use the best internet monitoring software, you can monitor productivity levels throughout the downsizing process, which can inform everything from resource allocation to capacity planning. 

By monitoring work from home employees and accessing workforce analytics, you’ll be able to make key strategic decisions backed up by data. 

Pc monitor software Insightful allows you to:

  • Automatically track time
  • Gain access to real-time insights
  • Track app usage
  • Monitor attendance
  • Create productivity reports
  • Utilize a screenshot monitor

And much more.

Employees monitoring solutions can help you stay the course as you navigate challenging times, and through the process of monitoring and tracking performance, you can create benchmarks and analyze trends.