The concept of work behind walls and closed workstations has shifted to hybrid and remote workspaces. Employees ask for accountability, productivity, and innovation. They’re asking how employee monitoring could be beneficial to them, especially when there is plenty of software available to use as a tracker. But what do employee monitoring statistics say about these trending technology challenges?
Well, 2025 has arrived with amazing technological interfaces, and among them, tracking everything from your desktop system or mobile apps is now a handy way to monitor employees and track their activity. Not only this, but integrated apps, AI interpretations, and end-to-end encryption gave them room to lead.
In the U.S., where the economy is booming, companies opted for a better solution to perform more tasks but in less space. They do so by hiring freelancers or outsourcing projects to agencies. This helps them improve efficiency, work smart, deliver on time, and track work performance. Meanwhile, remote workers are performing their assigned tasks, and employers manage to handle other projects. Let’s uncover employers’/employees’ approach towards time-tracking apps, the latest stats and trends, and best practices to improve productivity metrics in this blog.
Statistical Figures of Employee Monitoring Apps
Time-tracking software or employee tracking is now fundamental to any new or old business. In 2025, a report published states that
- Employers are more involved in observing employees’ activity during working hours. An estimated 73% of U.S. companies track, record, and check browser activities of their remote, hybrid, and onsite workers.
- According to Business Insider, “Demand for employee surveillance software increased by 54% from March 2020 to June 2023, a study found.” But in 2025, the figure changed to 75% of the workforce being monitored through videos, cameras, keycard logs, time-tracking software, screenshots, and data access.
- In March 2025, 42.8% of advanced degree-holding American workers worked remotely.
- Employee tracking tools are highly preferable in the information and technology sector, where 49% of employees are hybrid, 22% are remote, and 28% are fully onsite. So, surveillance is figured at 70% at executive levels.
- The majority of employee monitoring software records real-time activities and site check-ins and check-outs, while 78% have a built-in screenshot feature that helps employers increase growth.
- According to The Business Research Company, employee monitoring tools will reach a peak of $7.61 billion globally by 2029.
So, folks, clearly the trends are shifting from confined spaces to relaxing yet homey spaces, but this isn’t easy when employers are tracking you through work hours.
Best Practices to Adopt In Employee Monitoring
As the statistics are changing in the coming years for employee monitoring, they also need to understand how they can make the best out of these surveillance tools.
You’ll find plenty of time trackers with many paid and unpaid features, such as Hubstaff, Clockify, Time Doctor, StaffWatcher, etc. I suggest trying to knock out the paid version with the free, accessible tool offering detailed analytics, screenshot tracking, timesheets, hourly, daily, and weekly reports, and signaling workloads. Such as StaffWatcher, where you can get automated AI alerts and a simplified dashboard to manage and act rather than relying on raw data.
Accept these features to bring innovation to your company:
- AI-driven attention detection
- Idle time reporting
- Application usage tracking
- Productivity scoring
- Payroll or Invoicing
- Privacy and Transparency
- End-to-End Data Encryption
- Screenshot Tracking
How Employees Oversee Monitoring Apps
Being an employee, you may be thinking, Is this a good strategy? Well, there are risks to privacy and security in this. More strikingly, employees say these apps have increased pressures with a continuous sense of being watched. They believe this makes employers more upfront during break hours or tracks them after working hours by keeping them in the dark. Well, better practices must be adopted in these scenarios:
- Employers must remain clear and precise about their strategies for employee tracking
- Clear communication and policies to support employees must be designed.
- Agreement not to monitor them, standing with legal and ethical considerations.
- Agreed on limited data access, ensuring employees can view what employers are watching on them.
Downside of Employee Monitoring Software
- Fifty-five percent of employees believe that the company’s monitoring tools are not fully transparent.
- Similar to growing attitudes in the United States, 71% of workers in the United Kingdom (a comparable Western workforce) believe that continuous tracking is unethical.
Conclusion
Almost every business in the U.S. has planned to transition towards outsourcing or hiring remote teams to manage their daily tasks. The outlook for employee monitoring statistics has changed from 2019 to 2025, which is expected to increase by 2029. Overall, employers are relying on time trackers, but they need to make protected policies. Instead of catching workers in surveillance, transparency, careful consideration of moral and legal requirements, and astute leadership can foster trust among staff members.
