The greatest strength of the modern workforce is also its greatest weakness: flexibility. Privacy-first monitoring software helps businesses gain tangible workforce data that supports productivity while allowing teams the freedom to work from anywhere.

Employee monitoring is a necessary evil for most hybrid and remote teams, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be intrusive or overbearing. While this software is helpful for keeping up with your team’s output, some prioritize vanity metrics and lose sight of important factors like: 

• Legal and compliance needs. Monitoring often carries connotations of micromanagement, but sometimes it’s more about data protection best practices. High-compliance legal, government, and medical teams often look to employee monitoring software to help them maintain GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 compliance.  
  
  
• Trust and transparency. Employee monitoring tools can help provide insight into the needs of remote, hybrid, and global teams with limited face time. Instead of balancing asynchronous schedules for unnecessary meetings, tools like Hubstaff help you spot bottlenecks, prevent burnout, and ensure work is getting done from afar while providing trust and transparency in manager-employee relationships.
  
  
• Useful productivity insights. Whether someone is working is a small aspect of productivity. The best tools offer advanced workforce analytics and provide insights on meeting time, utilization rates, and other valuable, big-picture data. 
  
  
• Respect for personal data. Employee monitoring tools aren’t perfect, so it’s important to look for the ones that take a privacy-first approach. Tools like Hubstaff allow users to have access to apps and URLs, optional screenshots, and other sensitive data. In the event of a tracking error, users can delete sensitive data.
  

When it comes to privacy-first monitoring, one of the most important factors is access to personal data. Let’s take a closer look at how tools like Hubstaff allow users to manage screenshots and other sensitive data.

With the screenshot feature, users can track time to tasks and projects while Hubstaff takes random screenshots in 10-minute intervals. The idea is to provide both managers and employees with screenshot data to serve as a record of work, spot bottlenecks, and ensure adherence in high-compliance fields like legal, health care, and data security.

Here’s how it works: 

1. Configure screenshots. Before having teams track time, set up screenshots in the settings menu. Apply screenshots to the entire organization or to specific users and job types, and adjust the frequency to 1, 2, or 3 times every 10 minutes.
   
   
2. Track time. Have teams start tracking time to tasks and projects in Hubstaff as you normally would. You can even configure screenshots only for specific projects and tasks.
   
   
3. Automatic capture. After 10 minutes of tracking time, managers can see screenshots begin to populate in real time.
   
   
4. Review screenshot data. Depending on permissions, both users and managers can see screenshots based on the project, task, or user in question.
   
   
5. Export data. As needed, you can download and export screenshots for a record of work, performance reviews, or to meet compliance needs in highly regulated environments like finance, legal, health care, or IT. 

Now that you understand the basics of screenshot capture in Hubstaff, let’s delve deeper into the privacy-first configuration options you can utilize for better compliance and employee experience.

For many tools, screenshot capture is pretty black-and-white: you either have the feature, or you don’t. With Hubstaff’s privacy-first employee monitoring features, managers can enable screenshots to capture what their team is working on while the timer is running. They can also tweak settings to their liking: 

• Adjust screenshot frequency. Configure settings to adjust screenshot frequency. Hubstaff takes screenshots randomly up to 3 times per 10-minute period, with the ability to opt for a higher frequency with the more screenshots add-on. 
  
  
• Blur screenshots. In the settings menu, Hubstaff users can blur screenshots for their entire organization or specific users and job types. Once blurring is applied to images, it cannot be reversed.
  
  
• Encrypt and store screenshots. Hubstaff screenshots are encrypted using SSL and can be downloaded and exported as needed.
  
  
• Disable screenshots. Screenshots can be turned off at any time from the settings menu for the entire organization or on a per-user basis. Learn more about how to disable screenshots in Hubstaff here.

Furthermore, users can access their screenshot data at any time. In the event of a mistake (i.e., forgetting to stop the timer), users can delete screenshots to protect sensitive data. Screenshot data is securely stored, and screenshots can be downloaded and exported for compliance purposes.

Access to screenshots is a level of transparency that can put sensitive data at risk if not managed properly. Tools like Hubstaff utilize backend safeguards and enterprise-grade infrastructure to ensure screenshots are protected, like:

• Secure upload via HTTPS. All Hubstaff data (including screenshots) gets uploaded via SSL over HTTPS for heightened security. Hubstaff utilizes TLS 1.2+ for all encrypted tunnels.
  
  
• Storage in Amazon S3. Hubstaff uses Amazon S3 for screenshots and other captured data for secure, scalable, and encrypted storage. Screenshots and other data are never public and are accessible via expiring signed URLs.
  
  
• Access restrictions using expiring signed URLs. Expiring signed URLs ensure restricted access to sensitive employee data like screenshots. Because URLs are valid for only a short period, data is not publicly accessible to unauthorized users.
  
  
• Access control. Hubstaff protects screenshots under the principle of least privilege, ensuring access is restricted to authorized personnel only (and limited to what is necessary for said role). Access to sensitive data (including screenshots) is governed by strict internal controls aligned with our HIPAA compliance obligations.
  
  
• Data retention. If needed, Hubstaff offers a paid data retention add-on for screenshots, time logs, and other data beyond the standard policy. Instead of retaining detailed activity retention from 2 weeks to 6 months, and time logs from 3 years to 6 years.

Now that you’re up to speed on how privacy-first employee monitoring solutions protect sensitive data, let’s take a look at some best practices for implementation.

Monitoring software can help businesses increase productivity while enabling employees to work remotely, embrace asynchronous schedules, and achieve better work-life balance. That said, the privacy-first component helps keep connotations of monitoring centered on autonomy rather than micromanagement. 

Here are some steps you can take to implement privacy-first monitoring policies in the workplace for better adoption: 

• Communicate monitoring policies clearly. Create and clearly articulate your employee monitoring policy. We highly recommend inviting employee feedback early and often and iterating on your policy as needed.
  
  
• Use screenshot blur for sensitive roles. In compliance-heavy environments, look to the screenshot blur feature to hide sensitive data. Like most Hubstaff features, you can apply it only to the specific roles or projects you need.
  
  
• Adjust frequency based on team needs. Adjust the frequency of screenshots (or use the screenshots add-on) to tweak the feature to your team’s unique needs.
  
  
• Give employees visibility into tracking practices. When tracking employee time and activity and utilizing the screenshots feature, we highly recommend getting buy-in from your team and providing them with visibility into what you plan to track. Hubstaff’s real-time dashboards can help here. 

At the end of the day, getting buy-in for employee monitoring is about creating a culture of trust and transparency. Let’s explore how you can better strike that balance. 

Fostering a healthy culture around monitoring is no easy feat. At Hubstaff, our privacy-first philosophy is rooted in our guiding principles of transparency, access, and control. But, beyond our basic principles, we generally subscribe to the belief that: 

• Monitoring should empower, not micromanage. Monitoring features are intended to meet compliance standards, ensure employees are accurately utilized, and sustain productivity. They’re not designed to micromanage employees, create a culture of fear, or invite productivity panic. 
  
  
• Privacy-first configuration supports a healthy workplace culture. The way you protect sensitive data can significantly impact company culture. We recommend keeping your team informed and allowing for input on how you configure monitoring features like screenshots.
  
  
• Employee monitoring tools should only track what’s necessary. Hubstaff’s mission is to offer privacy-based employee monitoring features that prioritize tangible workforce analytics data. While the tool can collect screenshots, apps and URLs, and keyboard and mouse activity, it never logs keystrokes or records video or webcam footage. 

If you’re interested in taking a privacy-first approach to monitoring, start a 14-day free trial of Hubstaff and see how your team can benefit.