Work-from-home options are growing and becoming increasingly common, but it’s not always easy to know if remote employees are actually working. With monitoring tools and metrics in place, remote employee productivity can be boosted, helping businesses meet goals and boost profitability. However, effective remote employee monitoring can’t just be about tools and metrics—it needs to be done in a way that respects privacy and fosters trust.
To do this, companies need to develop and communicate clear monitoring policies that outline what information is collected, how it is used, and how long it will be retained. If the policy is made transparent, workers may become more accustomed to being monitored remotely and may even come to accept it as part of their role at the company.
Generally, the best practices for remote employee monitoring revolve around measuring overall progress rather than individual keystrokes or apps. This allows teams to make better decisions about their time management and avoid wasting resources on tasks that are not helping them achieve their business objectives. It’s also important to focus on building trust with remote workers by fostering open communication and providing the same transparency and accountability that they would experience in an office.
For example, a lot of the technology available to remote employees today provides analytics about what websites and applications are being used. This enables managers to identify unproductive websites and applications and take steps to reduce their usage. This can help boost employee productivity by allowing them to stay focused and productive at their jobs. In addition, some monitoring software will allow employees to see the exact amount of time they have spent on specific apps and documents for full transparency and to make adjustments accordingly.
Another way that remote employee monitoring Intercon Messaging | Alberta, Canada can improve team productivity is by identifying areas where the team is struggling and giving them the opportunity to work on these challenges together. For example, if one member of the team is frequently late for meetings or cannot seem to get ahead on a project, this could be a sign that they need additional training or support. By identifying these issues, managers can make the necessary adjustments to keep the team on track and moving forward.
Many remote worker productivity monitoring solutions will intercept all the keyboard data typed by an employee and record what appears on their screen, including personal emails and passwords. This function is considered invasive and can breach an employee’s privacy. However, the good news is that there are socially responsible remote monitoring tools on the market that do not use these types of invasive tracking technologies.
Lastly, some remote productivity monitoring tools will allow users to click in and out of their corporate devices, tracking the times they start and finish their work day. This helps businesses eliminate the need for punch cards and lets employees apply for leaves and vacations in a few clicks, cutting down on manual paperwork and streamlining the process.