Are your team actually working?
With the phased reopening of businesses over the new few weeks to months, many businesses are having to carry on with operating remotely. This means that many employers are faced with the challenge of managing and monitoring their employees who are working from home. It can be extremely challenging to keep track of remote workers, never mind their productivity, so here are our top tips (including software and tools) that you can use to do this effectively.
7 essential tips for monitoring employee performance
- Use communication apps like Zoom and Slack – video conferencing software and instant messaging apps can ensure quick and effective communication for everyone.
2. Assign deadlines to tasks – placing a time frame on a task increases motivation. Just make sure that these deadlines are realistic.
3. Check team activity regularly to manage projects – use project management software such as Monday.com, Mavenlink or Trello. These enable you to check progress and manage multiple projects efficiently.
4. Track the time spent on the internet – apps such as TimeDoctor will allow you to gain valuable insight into productivity vs procrastination based on the websites that your employee visits throughout the day.
5. Monitor when employees are actually working – track how much time your employees are working and how much time they are idle or away from their keyboard. Tools like Hubstaff do this by running in the background to monitor keyboard and mouse activity.
6. Supervise employees remotely – remote employee monitoring software (TimeDoctor, Hubstaff etc) allow you to gain insights into productivity as they take screenshots at fixed time intervals (e.g. every 5 minutes).
7. Get everyone to send you an end-of-day summary report – an end-of-day report not only allows you to see whether your employees are spending the appropriate amount of time on tasks that you set, but they also show your employees what they’ve achieved every day too.
Find the programmes that work best for you and your team
Using these tips and software recommendations will allow you to effectively manage your employees while they work from home for the next few weeks and months. To do so doesn’t involve micro-management, but rather engagement and accountability. That’s what communication tools, project management apps, and time-tracking software are for. If you can find the best ones that work for you and your team, then remote working will soon become as productive as working in the office.
