How Spyrix Helps Reveal Reasons for Unproductivity

2023-02-01

In 2020, a small design company had to switch to working on a remote basis due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At first, the work continued as usual. The employees stayed productive and completed all the tasks well and on time. But over the year, their productivity began declining. It collapsed to the point when the designers required twice as much time for a task than before the pandemic. The company started losing clients who were not happy about the extended deadlines and poor communication. At that point, the head of the company decided to implement a monitoring system that would show how the employees spent their work hours and why their productivity was declining.

The company reached out to Spyrix. One of the main advantages of our solution is Live Viewing which allows monitoring of the screen of the employee's computer in real-time. This way, the manager can check how the work is going on and if the employees are as committed as they say.

In the case of the design company, the reason for the unproductivity was found almost immediately. The designers worked on freelance projects alongside their work tasks, thus the missed deadlines. Their browser history, backed with screenshots, showed that they frequently visited freelance platforms and discussed details of projects with their clients. Screenshots also proved that the employees worked on side projects during their work time. More than that, the manager caught them red-handed with the help of Live Viewing. Apparently, the lack of strict control on the remote created an illusion that the employees were free to do whatever they wanted while formally being at work.

By the manager's observations, the designers spent from 30 to 50% of their workday on freelance. It was unacceptable, and he invited his colleagues to an honest talk. As a result of the conversation, three designers decided to leave the company and go freelance. The rest of the employees received strict warnings. If they continued freelancing during work hours, they would lose their jobs.