Figuring out how to measure remote employee productivity can be challenging. Facing a complete reconfiguration of your team is hard enough without having to micromanage every individual employee to ensure that work is being done on time.
Software like HomeSquad.io work by measuring remote employee productivity and allowing teams and managers to proactively improve and delegate work as necessary, working as an office away from home. This blog will focus on addressing exactly what remote employee productivity is, why you might need to measure it, and how to.
What Counts as Productive Work
This might seem like an obvious question to ask, but a remote workforce fundamentally operates on a different paradigm to that of an office. Productive work refers to any work done to complete a specific task.
In an office environment, your day-to-day work and very attendance might be cumulatively considered as productive, whereas in a remote environment, fulfilling set tasks contribute to your productivity. This results in a more transparent working environment, where managers and team leaders can visibly see your work and analyse how quickly it was completed.
A remote set-up provides employees with a more explicit set of tasks and a sense of responsibility. Instead of trying to follow verbal instructions or scour a memo for a specific responsibility, your workload will be separated into different tasks that can be easily completed.
A remote environment is not necessarily harder to succeed in, just different. Your productivity and overall success rely less on your ability to thrive in an office environment than it does your aptitude at your job.
Why Measure Remote Employee Productivity as an Employer?
Optimizing remote working and productivity is fast becoming essential for managers and team leaders. Remote employee productivity tracking provides a simple and effective way to analyse and configure a successful workforce.
Despite the negative connotation associated with ‘tracking’ employees, remote working simply extends common office practice, where computers are monitored and restricted either by software or by team leaders to ensure work is conducted in an optimal environment.
Adapting this often physical ‘tracking’ to an online format is an inevitable consequence of transitioning to a remote working system.
Remote employee productivity tracking does not indicate a lack of trust for employees or an over-stringent employer, rather a well-managed workforce that adapts efficiently. Making use of software such as HomeSquad is all the more essential in the current economical climate, where hiring additional staff to help manage a dispersed team is inconceivable.
Investing in affordable software provides an excellent solution, promoting teamwork between all sectors. For example, In a managerial or employer context, remote employee productivity software allow for senior staff to come together to review day-to-day work outputs and adapt to the nature of the work delivered.
Utilising a remote employee productivity tracker in this context seems like a logical step to ensure continued efficiency. Furthermore, measuring productivity provides a valuable data set that can be used to delegate work more effectively and efficiently, overall improving a business.
How Remote Working Measuring Affects Employees
Time tracking tools such as Home Squad, which work as an employee productivity tracker can deliver a liberating experience for employees working from home. This might seem contrary considering employers are ‘tracking’ work, but they’re doing so in a way that suits a remote working environment.
Remote working measuring mimics office surveillance whilst allowing employees far more freedom in stopping and starting tasks and choosing between clearly labelled tasks.
Having a workload condensed into tasks that employees can start and complete makes completing a given task clear and simple. Remote working software allows employees to register their work in an easy to navigate format whilst giving them the flexibility to pause and stop when needed.
A remote employee productivity tracker can make working a comfortable experience, allowing employees to stay refreshed and content in their own homes. This is especially true for employees who might have medical conditions or even have fallen ill during the pandemic. By offering employees flexibility around set tasks, income and productivity do not have to depend on an explicit ability to attend an office.
Research around work environments has consistently shown that remote working increases productivity. As a general rule, managing your own time as an employee and being able to feel comfortable can lead to better work being produced and improved personal management skills. This later translates to a more effective, cohesive, and experienced work-force should you transfer back to an office environment at a later date.
Wrapping up
Remote employee productivity trackers provide an invaluable way to measure and optimize employee performance in the absence of an office environment.
By recognising the benefits of allowing employees to self-manage and work to set tasks within their own homes, employers can feed off a detailed dataset of productivity measurements to further improve the quality and effectiveness of work.
Measuring employee productivity might initially feel like a strange step to make, but it is a logical one that benefits from employee satisfaction.
