How to Track Remote Employees Fairly in Egypt

The fair way to track remote employees is to record when the working day starts and ends, agree a short list of weekly results, and write down how and when people are expected to respond. Keystroke loggers, mouse trackers and all-day location tracking measure activity, not output, and they damage trust. In Egypt, remote work now has an explicit basis in Labour Law No. 14 of 2025.

Most owners who ask us about this have the same worry: "How do I know the person at home is actually working?" The answer is rarely more surveillance. It is a system where commitment is visible to both sides, the manager and the employee, at the same time.

Short answer: Article 96 of Egypt's Labour Law defines remote work as work done away from the employer's usual premises through technological means. Article 97 gives remote workers the same rights and duties as traditional employees. Article 99 requires a written contract, on paper or electronic. The ILO's practical guide to teleworking recommends management by results and calls tools that track keystrokes, mouse movements or physical location intrusive and not recommended. This article is general information, not legal advice.

Remote work under Egypt's labour law

Start with the legal frame, because it changes what "tracking" should mean. The full law is published as an Arabic PDF by the Ministry of Labour. The chapter on new patterns of work begins at Article 96.

Article	What it says	What it means for tracking
96	Remote work, part-time work, flexible work and job-sharing are recognised "new patterns of work"	A home-based employee is an employee, not a contractor
97	These patterns carry the same rights and duties as traditional work, taking the nature of each job into account	Working-hour and rest limits still apply at home
98	By agreement, the worker may work for more than one employer, keeping work secrets confidential	Say in the contract whether side work is allowed
99	The relationship must be set out in a written contract, on paper or electronic	Put attendance and communication rules in the contract or an annex
100	The minister issues decrees regulating new work patterns, model contracts and policies	Watch for ministerial decrees and review them with counsel

Article 97 matters most. Article 117 caps actual work at eight hours a day or 48 hours a week, and Article 118 requires breaks totalling at least an hour. An employee answering messages until midnight is not "extra committed"; they may be working overtime nobody is recording.

If you also manage staff in Saudi Arabia or the UAE, check their local rules separately. This article covers Egypt only.

Monitor employees working from home without surveillance

In 2020 the International Labour Organization published Teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A Practical Guide. Its core recommendation is management by results: manager and employee agree objectives, tasks and milestones, then discuss progress without burdensome reporting.

The guide is blunt about monitoring software. It describes tools that track keystrokes, mouse movements or a worker's physical location as intrusive and not recommended, and says they should not replace a clear statement of what work is expected and by when. Here is how common methods compare:

Tracking method	What it actually proves	Intrusiveness	Verdict
Start and end-of-day check-in	The person started and finished on time	Low	Use it
Weekly results with due dates	What was delivered	Low	The foundation
Short, fixed stand-up	Blockers and priorities	Low	Use sparingly
Periodic screenshots	A screen was open	High	Avoid
Keystroke and mouse tracking	Movement, not output	High	Not recommended
All-day location tracking	Where a phone is, not the work	High	Not recommended

Note the difference between recording a location at the moment of check-in and following someone's location all day. The first is a timestamp, the digital version of signing the attendance book. The second follows an employee around their own home.

A hybrid work attendance policy in six steps

1. Write it into the contract. Article 99 requires a written contract. Specify the remote days, the core hours and how attendance is recorded.
2. Set core hours, not full surveillance hours. For example, everyone is reachable from 11:00 to 15:00. The rest of the day is flexible within the legal limits.
3. Record start and finish. One check-in at the start and one at the end gives you actual hours and protects you when overtime is calculated.
4. Agree weekly results. Three to five measurable outcomes per person, reviewed once a week.
5. Define response times and a disconnect window. When a reply is expected within the hour, and when no reply is expected at all. The ILO guide stresses that workers should be able to disconnect at specified times without career consequences.
6. Tell people what you record. What data, when, and why. Check your data-protection obligations with your lawyer.

Hybrid teams: one source of truth

Hybrid schedules are the hardest to total. The fix is a single attendance source for every day: staff check in the same way whether at the office or at home, and the record notes which kind of day it was.

That way a week's hours come from one record, not two files stitched together at month end. For turning that record into hours and overtime, see our guide to calculating working hours.

Remote employee attendance tracking: what to ask of software

If you decide to use a tool, ask these questions before you ask about price:

• Mobile check-in without a fingerprint device. Remote staff are not near one.
• An audit trail. Every correction should carry a reason and the name of whoever approved it.
• Tasks with due dates that employee and manager see in the same state.
• Team-level reporting rather than minute-by-minute screenshots.
• Control over location data. Is location captured at check-in only, or continuously? Check-in only is enough for most companies.

Field teams who move between client sites face a different problem. Our guide to GPS attendance for field teams covers that case, and our piece on task management for sales and field teams covers daily reporting.

Mistakes that make remote tracking unfair

• Measuring screen time instead of results. Ten hours online with nothing shipped is not better than seven productive hours.
• Long daily check-in calls. Supervision turns into extra work for everyone.
• Unwritten rules. "Always be online" without defined hours invites disputes.
• Ignoring after-hours work. Messages you request after hours are working time.
• Starting a new hire remotely with no plan. Someone who has never met the team needs a named buddy and written first tasks even more than office staff; see our new employee onboarding checklist.
• Pushing costs onto the employee. The ILO guide says workers should not bear additional costs for working from home. Agree equipment and internet support in advance.

How Yawmy helps

Yawmy is an attendance and task app for small and mid-sized businesses. Based on what is published on the Yawmy website:

• Staff clock in and out from Telegram, which they already have, or from the free iOS and Android app, with no fingerprint devices.
• Check-ins are recorded with GPS location, and you can set an office geofence.
• Managers distribute tasks and follow completion, and sales reps upload visit reports.
• A live dashboard shows working hours, lateness and adherence per employee and per department, organised by branch and department.
• You can start Yawmy free, and a paid plan covers unlimited employees.

For home-based days, what matters is the start and end record and the agreed tasks. Whether location is relied on for work-from-home days is a policy choice to put in the contract and explain to staff. To see the whole team in one view, read our piece on the HR dashboard for SMB owners, and to compare tools start with our guide to employee attendance software in Egypt.

FAQ

Is remote work recognised under Egyptian labour law?

Yes. Article 96 of Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 lists remote work as a new pattern of work, defined as work performed away from the employer's usual premises through technological means. Article 97 applies the rights and duties of traditional employment to it.

Can I track a remote employee's location all day?

The ILO's practical guide to teleworking describes tracking physical location, keystrokes and mouse movements as intrusive and not recommended. Recording check-in and check-out and managing by results is the fairer approach. Tell staff what you record and confirm your obligations with a lawyer.

Do working-hour and overtime rules apply to remote staff in Egypt?

Article 97 extends the rights and duties of traditional work to new patterns of work, taking the nature of the job into account. Record start and finish times, and approve overtime in advance just as you would for office staff.

Do I need a separate contract for remote work?

Article 99 requires the relationship in new work patterns to be clear and set out in a written contract, on paper or electronically. Add the remote days, core hours and attendance method to it.

What is the best way to measure remote employee productivity?

Management by results: agreed objectives and tasks with due dates, a weekly review and regular feedback. That is what the ILO guide recommends instead of counting hours in front of a screen.

Written by Nada Hassan, HR-Tech Strategist, Yawmy. This article is general information, not legal advice.

Want one attendance and task record for office and home days alike? See how Yawmy works and start free.