Our privacy promise

Unlike some time tracking tools, Timely has a strict anti-surveillance policy. We don’t support employee screenshots, keystroke monitoring, or any other spying tactics—and we never will.

If you’re looking for employee monitoring software, Timely simply isn’t the tool for you.

As a remote business, we know how difficult it is to unify a distributed workforce and support people you never see in person—ensuring work stays visible, business hours are accurately recorded, and everyone maintains a healthy workload.

But we also know that trust is central to every team. It’s why we’ve built a time tracking tool that helps keep teams connected without undermining their privacy and dignity. Timely places the power and benefits of time tracking directly into the hands of employees, giving people access to personal insights to help them better manage their time, create healthier schedules, and improve their work experience—and all without a creepy screenshot in sight.
Timely offers privacy by design
Every individual has the option to download our Timely app to their computer, which will automatically capture the time they spend in different apps and websites. All that data is recorded to a private timeline inside Timely, which they can use to log their timesheets. Crucially, only they can ever access that data.

Here’s how we’ve made Timely creep-proof:

No boss or colleague can see your data—your activity timeline is 100% private to you.

You can use your data to log your timesheet — but nothing goes public without your active involvement.

You own your data—download or delete it at any time.

Timely will never support spyware tactics—we don’t want to work with creepy businesses.

Why we don’t offer employee surveillance

It’s unethical

While employers in Europe are required to tell employees if they are being monitored, in the US there is no such requirement. In fact, only three states have passed bills allowing employees to deny their employers access to their personal Facebook pages.

As such, many employee monitoring tools are purposely designed to be incognito, often hidden from “Running Processes” so employees don’t know they’re being watched. We think this is a gross infringement of employee privacy and will never support such functionality in Timely.

It destroys culture

Trust lies at the heart of the psychological and social contract between managers and their people that holds organizations together. Since employee monitoring erodes trust, it eats away at the very foundations of company culture. We believe respect for personal boundaries and professional dignity is elementary.

Companies should lead with empathy, foster psychological safety, learn how to better support employee wellbeing and—above everything—continually work to earn and honor the trust of their people.

It doesn’t empower end-users

In fact, it actively harms them—sparking anxiety and stress, crushing creativity and lowering job satisfaction. Time tracking tools that support employee monitoring carry an inbuilt prejudice against employees.

They operate on a basis of suspicion, presuming that companies need to protect themselves against their own people. Within this context, time tracking can quickly become a means to police a mass of end-users instead empower them. We prefer the latter.

It doesn’t promote productivity

Research shows that when we feel trusted, we produce higher-quality work—people at high-trust companies report having 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 76% more engagement and 40% less burnout than people at low-trust companies.

Given there is very little evidence showing that employees are more productive when they’re monitored, we don’t buy into the performance-enhancing argument for employee surveillance. Fear tactics simply don’t motivate people to want to work for you.
More on our thinking
Time tracking

ClickUp Time Tracking: Pros, Cons & Alternatives (2026)

Read more ›
Time tracking

Clockify Pricing: How Much Does Clockify Cost in 2026

Read more ›
Time tracking

Asana Time Tracking: How to Track Time in Asana (2026)

Read more ›
Time tracking

Jira Time Tracking: How-to Guide for 2026

Read more ›
Time tracking

Monday Time Tracking: How-to Guide, Pros, Cons and More

Read more ›
Time tracking

Time Doctor vs Hubstaff: 2026 Time Tracking Tool Comparison

Read more ›
What is Timely?

Timely is an automatic time tracking tool that teams can actually trust. We help over 5,000 teams track time, manage projects, balance resources and coordinate work while protecting everyone’s right to privacy.