How should I do?

[brownl 0]

Hello, I operate a small business and I have 16 employees in my company at present. I suspect some of my employees do not give their best performance, and access confidential company data and treat it without care. What can I do to monitor their activity on their PC or laptop without their knowledge? Thanks in advance.

[quade 4]

Firstly, realise that employees are simply reflections of management.

Rather than being a sneaky snoop like the NSA, you could always hold an "all hands" meeting where you discuss the issue like an adult. If you don't trust your employees and treat them like adults, that's maybe a big part of the problem.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[labrys 0]

Quote

What can I do to monitor their activity on their PC or laptop without their knowledge?

A laptop with enough memory to handle running Wireshark connected to a span port on a central switch for as long as you think it would take to see anything nefarious should do it.

In other words... if you think you have a huge problem that's costing you time or money or company secrets, how about just paying someone to help you out. No one who hasn't "had hands" on your network can give you meaningful help.

If you were an auto mechanic, would you take time to carefully explain to someone how to fix their car or would you expect them to bring the car to you and pay you to fix it?

Owned by Remi #?

[brownl 0]

Thanks for your advice, I think I should trust them

[hesterl 0]

brownl

Hello, I operate a small business and I have 16 employees in my company at present. I suspect some of my employees do not give their best performance, and access confidential company data and treat it without care. What can I do to monitor their activity on their PC or laptop without their knowledge? Thanks in advance.

I think your have two questions: 1.monitor their activity on their PC or laptop without their knowledge. 2.access confidential company dat and treat it without care.

To solve your problems, there are tools you can use. But perhaps the first thing to do is let people know that your IT folks will be monitoring their usage of company computers, etc. Here's an article that might give you a good place to start: http://www.anykeylogger.com/how-to-monitor-employee.html which tells you how to monitor employees' desk and alert when special files or folders accessed, copied and so on.

[brownl 0]

hesterl

I think your have two questions: 1.monitor their activity on their PC or laptop without their knowledge. 2.access confidential company dat and treat it without care.

To solve your problems, there are tools you can use. But perhaps the first thing to do is let people know that your IT folks will be monitoring their usage of company computers, etc. Here's an article that might give you a good place to start: http://www.anykeylogger.com/how-to-monitor-employee.html which tells you how to monitor employees' desk and alert when special files or folders accessed, copied and so on.

Thanks for your kindly reply, but I think I should trust them, because myself don't want to be monitored too...

[wmw999 2,589]

That's where Quade's point about modeling the conduct you want comes in. You have to act like you want your employees to act.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[brownl 0]

wmw999

That's where Quade's point about modeling the conduct you want comes in. You have to act like you want your employees to act.

Wendy P.

Yes, really thanks

[Rick 67]

quade

Firstly, realise that employees are simply reflections of management.

Rather than being a sneaky snoop like the NSA, you could always hold an "all hands" meeting where you discuss the issue like an adult. If you don't trust your employees and treat them like adults, that's maybe a big part of the problem.

That sounds great but not 100% true. Employees are people. People are all different and respond to different management techniques. I agree he should have a meeting and discuss company policy but you still need to be sure those policies are being adhered to.

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

[Bertt 0]

1. Do your employees earn enough to have a stake in making the company successful?
2. Do you and hesterl know each other?

You don't have to outrun the bear.

[quade 4]

Rick

***Firstly, realise that employees are simply reflections of management.

Rather than being a sneaky snoop like the NSA, you could always hold an "all hands" meeting where you discuss the issue like an adult. If you don't trust your employees and treat them like adults, that's maybe a big part of the problem.

That sounds great but not 100% true. Employees are people. People are all different and respond to different management techniques. I agree he should have a meeting and discuss company policy but you still need to be sure those policies are being adhered to.

Fair enough, but the policies need to be laid out for all to see and understand first. I don't mind being in a high security area with cameras and microphones recording my every move IF there is a legitimate reason AND I've been told about it before hand. Perfectly understandable for certain jobs.

However, if I'm working in a normal environment and the boss has decided to put key loggers on the computer to monitor my every keystroke, that's a violation of trust. Understand, I believe if the computers are theirs it might be perfectly within their right to do so, but it's still an unethical violation of trust to do it secretly.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Rick 67]

quade

******Firstly, realise that employees are simply reflections of management.

Rather than being a sneaky snoop like the NSA, you could always hold an "all hands" meeting where you discuss the issue like an adult. If you don't trust your employees and treat them like adults, that's maybe a big part of the problem.

That sounds great but not 100% true. Employees are people. People are all different and respond to different management techniques. I agree he should have a meeting and discuss company policy but you still need to be sure those policies are being adhered to.

Fair enough, but the policies need to be laid out for all to see and understand first. I don't mind being in a high security area with cameras and microphones recording my every move IF there is a legitimate reason AND I've been told about it before hand. Perfectly understandable for certain jobs.

However, if I'm working in a normal environment and the boss has decided to put key loggers on the computer to monitor my every keystroke, that's a violation of trust. Understand, I believe if the computers are theirs it might be perfectly within their right to do so, but it's still an unethical violation of trust to do it secretly.


gotcha and I agree. This is something that we have been struggling with as we grow. 10 years ago we had 5 or 6 employees it was not an issue. Now that we are up to 30 we are seeing that it could be an issue. Here's a "for instance".

We had a new phone system installed. It is a voice over ip system. Our internet kept crashing. between the phone company and the internet provider they could not figure out the issue. Well one of the internet guys realized we were crashing because of upload traffic. Turns out one of our guys was hosting a torrent site on his (our) work computer putting way more traffic than our provider could handle.

Does this mean we should have some monitoring software to watch for this?

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!