Forget invasive "Bossware": 5 Alternatives to remote working monitoring software that actually work

These digital solutions are automated software that tracks keystrokes, takes random screenshots, and monitors mouse movements of employees’ work devices. These actions are not just invasive but extremely counterproductive. Wrong implementation would measure the ineffective metrics, such as focusing on activity and time spent instead of impactful outcomes. This erodes the mutual trust in a workspace, fundamentally undermining the very principles of effective remote work.

A more effective solution? Rather than using the software to track and police your employees’ minute actions, you can build a culture of accountability, clarity, and high performance. Here are five proven, human-centric alternatives to traditional remote working monitoring software that actually generate results.

1. Embrace outcome-based management

Before incorporating any new system into your business workflow, consider its purpose and intent rightfully. Outcome-based management is the philosophical opposite of surveillance. Instead of emphasizing where your employees are spending their time, it is more effective to obtain insights on achievement at the end of the day. Instead of valuing an ‘always-green’ employee, focus more on those who consistently deliver high-quality work on time, irrespective of a focused three-hour sprint or a standard nine-to-five day timeline.

Here’s how you can implement this:

• Define clear deliverables: When assigning a project or task, be explicit about the expected outcome.
• Empower with autonomy: After task allocation, give your team the autonomy to choose how and when they achieve these outcomes. When they get to self-design their workflow, it conveys that you respect their individual work styles, encouraging innovation.
• Measure output, not input: When assessing the success of the project and overall productivity, focus on the completion and quality of the deliverable, not the number of hours logged.

2. Implement Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for strategic alignment

Popularized by Google, the OKR framework is a goal-setting strategy that creates transparency and alignment across the entire organization. It ensures that everyone in the organization is actively working with the same goal, making constant surveillance redundant.

• Objectives? Set ambitious, inspirational, and attainable qualitative goals.
• Key results? These are the measurable, quantitative counterparts of the outcomes, signaling that the objectives have been met. (e.g., "Increase organic traffic to our remote work blog by 30%," "Achieve a 20% increase in newsletter sign-ups from our guide pages.")

Why does the OKR framework work?

OKRs make business goals known across the organization, bringing transparency to the workflow and progress. Everyone can see what others are working on and how it contributes to the company's ultimate mission. This visibility fosters accountability among the workforce, empowering managers to see progress based on tangible results, not screen time or activity.

3. Leverage project management tools for visibility, not surveillance

Integrating trusted business tools, like Asana, Trello, and Monday.com, makes remote work monitoring transparent. They deflect the notion of bossware since their purpose is not to spy but to make workflow and progress visible to the entire team.

To use them efficiently, you need to:

• Centralize everything: Every project, task, and deadline should be displayed in the platform.
• Visualize workflows: Use boards (Trello) or lists (Asana) to outline a task or project's journey from "To Do" to "Doing" to "Done."
• Clarify ownership: Clarify task allocation to eliminate confusion about responsibility.
• Facilitate Communication: Establish formal communication channels for teams to discuss projects, keeping context and decisions searchable and accessible.

4. Cultivate a culture of regular check-ins and async updates

Even with a remote workforce, intentional and proactive communication is essential. Instead of constant monitoring, institute rhythmic, purposeful check-ins, involving:

• Daily stand-ups: Think of a quick 15-minute video call (or an async post in a Slack/Teams channel) where each team member shares their work routine and accomplishments, like:
• What they did yesterday, 
• What they're working on today, 
• Any blockers they're facing.
• Weekly one-on-ones: These can be dedicated meetings between a manager and an employee where they discuss career growth, work challenges, feedback, and well-being. This approach is intended to strengthen bonds and trust, not micromanagement tactics
• Async video updates: If you manage a larger workforce across time zones, encourage employees to share short, recorded videos to share progress on complex projects. It’s more efficient than scheduling a meeting.

These regular check-ins provide natural opportunities for course correction and support without the need for digital control.

5. Foster psychological safety and radical trust

This is the most powerful "alternative" in this list. Psychological safety is a workplace belief that empowers one to voice their thoughts, questions, concerns, or mistakes without the fear of punishment or humiliation. According to extensive research from Google and Harvard's Amy Edmondson, it is one of the fundamentals of high-performing employees.

How to build it?

• Instead of criticizing employees for everything, employers should also admit their own mistakes and what they’ve learned from them. 
• Optimize work as a learning process by encouraging experimentation and treating failures as learning opportunities, not reasons for blame.
• Actively solicit feedback; do not wait for routine meetings. Ask them about their struggles and then act on the suggestions.

When employees feel supported, trusted, and valued, they become motivated, innovative, and intrinsically engaged to do their best work. They don't need continuous monitoring.

Wrapping up

When monitoring turns invasive, it damages employees' morale, increases turnover, and drives the very disengagement it seeks to prevent. The alternatives outlined here, however, require upfront efforts from the organization, where managers act as coaches. The payoff? A resilient, adaptive, and highly motivated remote workforce that delivers exceptional results because they want to, not because they're being watched and pressured.

When organizations shift their priority from activity to outcome-based, it fosters a comprehensive work dynamic that treats the remote working monitoring system as an empowering tool.