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

What do work and radishes have in common?


Hint: It has to do with willpower and distractions.


While you’re thinking about this, in order to get to the answer, we’re going to start off by stating the obvious - distractions inhibit productivity. Why is this such a big problem?


Well, take a look around you. If you’re in your office, there’s probably stuff on your desk, phone in your pocket and computer with internet access. At least. And your employees have all that plus other people around. Distractions are everywhere.

Human brain is simply not wired to stay on one task for too long. So, naturally, employees’ attention is constantly being shifted from work to the instant message they just got and back. And then to something else, and so on.


In this article, we’ll discuss what we can do to spot distractions and how to handle them with a little bit of help from employee activity tracking software.

Where Does All the Time Go?


A UK survey of about 2,000 office workers found some interesting data on workplace distractions. For example, 38% of employees admitted that they spend on average 40 minutes a day chatting with colleagues and the average employee spends almost 20 minutes daily just making coffee and tea.


But guess which were the two most common distractions? They were social media and news websites. Combined, they take up on average almost two hours a day.


You know what else? As much as 65% of employees stated that they wouldn’t be able to get through the working day without succumbing to distractions.


So it turns out distractions are a huge obstacle to a productive day in the office. But although it seems like a hopeless battle to fight, there are some things you can do and some tools to help you along.

Finding out What You’re up Against


The first thing you have to do is define the problem. Is it too many people in the office or CNN News? Phones ringing everywhere or overflowing Instagram feed? No point in blocking Facebook when nobody’s been using it in the first place, right?


So, what can you do that doesn’t involve camping next to an employee workstation and taking notes?


Enter user activity tracking. Employee tracking software has a bunch of features and functionalities, and one of them is categorizing different websites and apps as ‘unproductive’ and then tracking the use of those.


Activity tracking app, such as Insightful, allows you to see which employees are using which unproductive apps and how much time they’re wasting there. Or, if they’re away from their computers, tracker software will show it as inactivity.

Target, Block, Eradicate


Now, hold on a second. Before you start blocking websites left and right, there’s something you should know.


In a 1998 study by Baumeister, subjects were offered cookies and radishes. Some of them were asked to eat the radishes, while others were allowed cookies. After this, they were all given a difficult mental task. Results? The cookie-eaters were willing to spend more than twice as much time on attempting to solve the puzzle than those who had to resist the temptation. This phenomenon is called willpower depletion.


In the corporate context, this means that the employees will actually be less productive if they have to focus all their energy on staying away from news websites and funny cat videos than if they are allowed a little break every now and then.


Borderline is - willpower is a limited resource and if you force employees to use it all up on resisting temptations, they’ll underperform.

Give Them Cookies but Don’t Let Them Get Fat


In other words, breaks are good for overall productivity. So let employees indulge in a bit of forbidden fruit.


But be careful not to go overboard. You still need them to work and get the job done.


The key is in the balance - the optimal minimum amount of distractions. Activity tracking can give you a pretty good idea of how much that would be.


Use your employee tracking tool to regularly monitor employee activity so that you know that everyone is on track. For instance, allow them half an hour on social media and then talk to the employees who are constantly breaking this rule. In more radical cases, you might decide to block the problematic website.


And when your app tracking software shows a dip in productivity, it might be an indication that a break is needed.

Conclusion

Now let’s go back to our riddle from the beginning - what do work and radishes have in common? Well, they’re both (in most cases) our second choice. We’d rather eat cookies just as we’d rather enjoy all the fun stuff the internet has to offer. But eliminating temptations won’t do you any good.


Instead, bring the use of distracting unproductive apps to a minimum by using work tracking tools to boost productivity while still giving your employees an occasional sweet taste of distractions to recharge their willpower batteries. Just enough to get it out of their system and go back to being their own hard-working productive selves.

We’ve reserved a 7-day free trial for you….

Want your hybrid or remote team to be more productive?

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

Ready to Take Full Control Of Your Workplace?

Try the simplest solution today…

Start Free Trial
Productivity and Efficiency Improvements

Workplace Distractions and How to Deal with Them

Written by
Kristina Valjarevic
Published on
July 24, 2019

What do work and radishes have in common?


Hint: It has to do with willpower and distractions.


While you’re thinking about this, in order to get to the answer, we’re going to start off by stating the obvious - distractions inhibit productivity. Why is this such a big problem?


Well, take a look around you. If you’re in your office, there’s probably stuff on your desk, phone in your pocket and computer with internet access. At least. And your employees have all that plus other people around. Distractions are everywhere.

Human brain is simply not wired to stay on one task for too long. So, naturally, employees’ attention is constantly being shifted from work to the instant message they just got and back. And then to something else, and so on.


In this article, we’ll discuss what we can do to spot distractions and how to handle them with a little bit of help from employee activity tracking software.

Where Does All the Time Go?


A UK survey of about 2,000 office workers found some interesting data on workplace distractions. For example, 38% of employees admitted that they spend on average 40 minutes a day chatting with colleagues and the average employee spends almost 20 minutes daily just making coffee and tea.


But guess which were the two most common distractions? They were social media and news websites. Combined, they take up on average almost two hours a day.


You know what else? As much as 65% of employees stated that they wouldn’t be able to get through the working day without succumbing to distractions.


So it turns out distractions are a huge obstacle to a productive day in the office. But although it seems like a hopeless battle to fight, there are some things you can do and some tools to help you along.

Finding out What You’re up Against


The first thing you have to do is define the problem. Is it too many people in the office or CNN News? Phones ringing everywhere or overflowing Instagram feed? No point in blocking Facebook when nobody’s been using it in the first place, right?


So, what can you do that doesn’t involve camping next to an employee workstation and taking notes?


Enter user activity tracking. Employee tracking software has a bunch of features and functionalities, and one of them is categorizing different websites and apps as ‘unproductive’ and then tracking the use of those.


Activity tracking app, such as Insightful, allows you to see which employees are using which unproductive apps and how much time they’re wasting there. Or, if they’re away from their computers, tracker software will show it as inactivity.

Target, Block, Eradicate


Now, hold on a second. Before you start blocking websites left and right, there’s something you should know.


In a 1998 study by Baumeister, subjects were offered cookies and radishes. Some of them were asked to eat the radishes, while others were allowed cookies. After this, they were all given a difficult mental task. Results? The cookie-eaters were willing to spend more than twice as much time on attempting to solve the puzzle than those who had to resist the temptation. This phenomenon is called willpower depletion.


In the corporate context, this means that the employees will actually be less productive if they have to focus all their energy on staying away from news websites and funny cat videos than if they are allowed a little break every now and then.


Borderline is - willpower is a limited resource and if you force employees to use it all up on resisting temptations, they’ll underperform.

Give Them Cookies but Don’t Let Them Get Fat


In other words, breaks are good for overall productivity. So let employees indulge in a bit of forbidden fruit.


But be careful not to go overboard. You still need them to work and get the job done.


The key is in the balance - the optimal minimum amount of distractions. Activity tracking can give you a pretty good idea of how much that would be.


Use your employee tracking tool to regularly monitor employee activity so that you know that everyone is on track. For instance, allow them half an hour on social media and then talk to the employees who are constantly breaking this rule. In more radical cases, you might decide to block the problematic website.


And when your app tracking software shows a dip in productivity, it might be an indication that a break is needed.

Conclusion

Now let’s go back to our riddle from the beginning - what do work and radishes have in common? Well, they’re both (in most cases) our second choice. We’d rather eat cookies just as we’d rather enjoy all the fun stuff the internet has to offer. But eliminating temptations won’t do you any good.


Instead, bring the use of distracting unproductive apps to a minimum by using work tracking tools to boost productivity while still giving your employees an occasional sweet taste of distractions to recharge their willpower batteries. Just enough to get it out of their system and go back to being their own hard-working productive selves.