Managing Remote Workers: Three Steps to Ensure Success

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, many companies are now conducting their work away from their premises, with employees encouraged to work remotely wherever possible. Whilst you may be enjoying your extra hour in bed instead of the commute, unique working does bring with it its own set of challenges that might, before long, leave you feeling nostalgic for the water cooler and office banter. 

Perhaps the biggest challenge when working from home is replicating an office environment that is conducive to work. Due to this difficulty, many businesses have seen a decrease in the productivity and efficiency of their workforce whilst working from home. To help ensure success, here are three ways to manage remote workers.

• Monitoring software usage

When working remotely without a line manager keeping watch, it’s tempting to spend more time browsing the internet than actually working, or taking an extra-long lunch hour and knocking off half an hour early. Whilst most employees are honest and try to get the most work done in a difficult situation, there will undoubtedly be some who try to take advantage of the situation. This will lead to a reduction in productivity, with your company paying for work that is not getting done. 

Code Software helps you to monitor the productivity of remote working platforms such as Amazon Connect and Amazon Chime. This will provide you with the raw data needed to monitor and improve upon your workforce’s efficiency and productivity while working at home.

• Be as open as possible about the difficulties of working from home

Working from home is tough. While you might dislike the commute and overly-bright fluorescent ceiling lights, you are psychologically prepared to work at the office, whereas the complete opposite is the case with your living room. With distractions such as the TV, housework, and children and partners, it can be difficult to settle down into a productive work day whilst at home. By being open to discussing these difficulties amongst your workforce, you create an atmosphere of honesty within your team in which you can tackle the problem as soon as it occurs, and discuss effective coping strategies amongst your workforce.

• Introduce a weekly timesheet

Timesheets are another effective method of monitoring the efficiency of a remote workforce, with employees being required to submit them for approval by a line manager on a weekly – sometimes daily – basis. Working hours are noted, along with any time taken out for lunch or coffee breaks, on top of any specific details of the tasks worked on that day. This allows you to assess whether the employee is efficiently completing all their contracted hours. However, as timesheets are filled in by the employee themselves, those who are less scrupulous might lie about the hours worked. In cases such as this, it would be useful to have additional solid usage analysis as hard evidence to prove that that person has not in fact completed their mandatory working hours.