Remote work is not merely a big part of the future. It represents the beginnings of a revolution in how businesses can have workforces around geographies even without meeting them in person or accommodating them in real office spaces.
Home offices and comfy couches have started contributing to happy and high-performing employees. However, hiring remote employees and managing a workforce dispersed across locations comes with its own kind of challenges. Not denying the fact that employees’ decisions on working post-pandemic have been affected. They demand flexibility in shift hours and working conditions. Thus, managing remote employees needs a different environment, and helping employees collaborate with their in-office counterparts has to be well organized.
The challenges do not end here but the major factors begin with determining employee productivity in a hybrid environment. Businesses can face unforeseen challenges that may impact the performance behavior of the employees and the profitable output of the organization. Furthermore, it is not possible to track remote employee tasks’ progress and actual shift hours as there is no reliability of workers slacking off from their work or doing non-work-related activities.
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Towards a mature remote workforce management
Starting from having only adjusted to the idea of remote work, many companies around the globe now are feeling the need to strengthen their commitment towards hybrid working for the long term. Planning various policies and strategies is just the first step but creating effective collaboration and connectivity in a virtual environment needs something more. Investing in the right technologies and practices, organizations can think of long-term success and that can improve employee productivity during remote work. Below are the best practices that will help you to secure remote workforces.
6 best practices to manage remote employees
Employers don’t often have direct tools to influence the work of employees from a distance. Similarly, enabling strategies that work best for both remote and in-office employees can be helpful. To guarantee protection from situations where employees may slack off from work or don’t perform in shift hours, getting a truly effective online time tracking software will be the best option. To add more value and protection in a remote work environment, follow these best practices listed down below. Take a look:
Foster accountability
When there’s transparency between employees and managers about how their work fits in with an eye on every minute insight, task accountability grows and becomes stronger automatically. When employees know their work-related activities are being traced with actionable analytics and supervisors can take actions accordingly, they will keep going with a positive approach towards work.
Do not micromanage
Yes, you heard that right! Micromanagement only adds to distress and frustration among employees. When supervisors waste too much time spying on their employees and object to everything they do, employees can lose their morale and perform less than expected. It is better to avoid this mistake and rely on employee monitoring software to get insights on remote workforce activity with complete transparency with employees.
Tracking productivity
When managing remote workforces or handling teams virtually with no access to manual support and supervision, things can even go wrong. However, that is the only thing managers need to consider when they are not around, how teams are going to perform. That is where an employee productivity tracking platform steps in and keeps details of the productive or idle time status of workforces. Supervisors can even track applications and website usage of the employees and understand where they fall short of productivity.
Set clear expectations
It is better to keep your expectations at the front. Whether you make new plans for your remote workers or set new guidelines, make sure that you keep them communicating to your teams from time to time. Your approach towards hybrid teams by helping them understand what are your productivity goals, how you expect your employees to work will set clear expectations and timelines for your remote employees.
Essential tools to utilize
To make employers who are far away and cannot come to the workers in real-time, employees can slack off from their remote work desks easily. However, when organizations have effective strategies to handle hybrid workforces they can turn the tables on such employees who like to deceive their employers. With tools like remote employee monitoring software, managers can track the activity and work status of employees without actually being there in real time.
Keep remote hours visible
Organizations have been facing these issues since long – not a new aspect to address but still a major thing to consider. Checking on employees with overtime claims! Have they really worked that hard or till longer hours than they suppose to say they did. Employees who work in different locations are difficult to track and who is keeping an eye on their work hours is crucial. So, keeping this vital point in consideration, technology can help to maintain every employees’ work hours visible whether they work remotely or from on-site.
Summing up
We are living in the era of hybrid work where no matter who you are, your business can thrive with complete flexibility and real-time connectivity. It can be easier to assign work and hire employees remotely but still many difficulties can pile up if not managed correctly. With best tactics and practices, managers can handle remote work seamlessly.
