How to Know if Your Staff Work Well When You're Not There: Cameras vs. Asking the Team

By the Wevree team · Updated October 31, 2026

Short answer: To know if your staff work well when you're not there, combine two kinds of information: what happened (checklists, sales, cameras) and how people worked (input from the coworkers on that shift). Records show the result; coworkers see the effort and teamwork behind it.

Approach 1: records and cameras

Checklists, sales reports and cameras show what happened on a shift. They are good for answering questions like 'was the store opened on time' or 'was the cooler checked'.

They are weak at showing who carried the rush, who helped a new hire, or who left work for the next shift.

Approach 2: asking the team

The coworkers next to each person see the most of their work. Their input shows effort, reliability and teamwork that records miss.

It works best when it is anonymous, uses the same questions for everyone, and combines several people's views, so one friendship or grudge does not decide the result.

Using both together

Records tell you whether the job got done. The team tells you how it got done and by whom. Together they give a fairer picture than either one alone.

Where Wevree fits

Wevree is a peer evaluation app: it shows the owner how coworkers rate each other's work.

The owner picks the Topics that matter in their business, such as Quality of work or Helping others.
Each Round, staff rate their coworkers from 1 to 10, alone and anonymously. Rounds run every week, or on whatever schedule you choose.
Rule: 4 or more staff, each result needs at least 3 coworker ratings. Until then the app shows that there is not enough data.
An Observer can see team updates, and the team can vote to move an Observer to Evaluator.
Owners with more than one store can add another store and switch between stores in the app.
Wevree does not do scheduling, time clocks or payroll, and it does not decide hiring, firing or raises. The owner does.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my staff work well when I'm not there?

Use records like checklists and sales for what happened, and anonymous input from coworkers for how people worked together on that shift.

What is the best way to check employee performance without cameras?

Ask the people who work with each employee. Anonymous coworker ratings on a few clear Topics show reliability and teamwork that cameras miss.

Is anonymous coworker feedback fair?

It is fairer when several people rate, everyone uses the same Topics and scale, and no single rating can be traced back to one person.

Sources

Checked October 31, 2026. How Wevree works was checked against the current Wevree app code.