“We like to give people the freedom to work where they want, safe in the knowledge that they have the drive and expertise to perform excellently, whether they [are] at their desk or in their kitchen. Yours truly has never worked out of an office, and never will.” – Richard Branson, Founder and Chairman of Virgin

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Introducing remote work as an option won’t necessarily reduce your team’s productivity. The trick is to know how to check if employees are working from home effectively, and yet resist the temptation of disruptive micromanagement.

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Here are some fundamental methods for monitoring remote employees.

Reasons for Monitoring Remote Employees

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The overall workload management and, consequently, company success depends on the performance of every employee. Check out some more reasons to track employees working remotely:

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• Equal Distribution of Work: A manager should observe the distribution of work and its changes. This allows them to react on time and ensure that no one is overwhelmed or lacking tasks, and that work is completed efficiently.

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• Prevention of Burnout & Enhanced Morale: Monitoring helps you identify employees at risk of burnout by allowing you to see all the tasks people take on and finish. If productivity starts dwindling, you can immediately redistribute workloads and help maintain job satisfaction.

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• Identification of Inefficient Practices: Employee tracking highlights inefficiencies in work processes. If workload imbalances are frequent, they might indicate issues with the task allocation process and suggest that your workflow systems need improving.

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Methods for Monitoring Remote Employees

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Monitoring remote workers should rely heavily on hard data. Numbers of clocked-in hours and finished tasks should be important factors in estimations of a remote employee's dedication.

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At the same time, employers need to consider the clues that can’t be expressed mathematically. An employee’s attitude towards new tasks, overall work enthusiasm, and the level of stress should be taken into consideration as well.

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Objective Approaches

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Objective evaluation of a worker’s commitment can easily be carried out based on the data collected via sophisticated digital tools. Here are the essential monitoring approaches that rely on concrete data:

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Use of Project Management Tools

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PM tools provide visibility into who is doing what. They also show how many tasks are completed, how many are in progress, and how much time each of them took. Their flaw is that they might not capture activities that are not tied to a specific project.

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Recommended apps:

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     ⚡Jira—Popular tool that is highly customizable but supports only Agile methodology

     ⚡ClickUp—Fits remote teams of different sizes and offers a wide variety of functions

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Implementation of Remote Monitoring Software

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Advanced employee monitoring software can track screen activity, keystrokes, and time spent on different applications, among other details. With detailed logs and calculations of productive and unproductive time, employers can get a reliable picture of a worker’s dedication.

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Recommended apps:

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     ⚡Insightful—Robust tool for tracking time and activities, calculating productivity, and taking screenshots

     ⚡Kickidler—Specialized tool for video surveillance of employee screens

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Subjective Approaches

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Subjective evaluation of an employee’s workload and efficiency is based on the attitude the employee shows during meetings. Their daily reports should also be considered. Below are the two elementary subjective strategies for assessing an employee’s engagement:

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Relying on Observational Insights

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Pay attention to behavioral changes. An employee who seems constantly stressed or is working late regularly might be overloaded. Alternatively, someone who often spends time on the company’s messaging apps is probably lacking responsibilities and tasks.

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Requiring Self-Reporting

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Try asking employees to report their daily activities and share comments about their workload. This can provide insights into their perceptions of their responsibilities and their ability to handle them. Sometimes this kind of input can be as valuable as objective data.

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Strategies to Help Employees Manage Their Workload

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Solely monitoring your employees isn’t the best way to elevate your team’s productivity. Show them that the monitoring has immediate positive impacts on their everyday work by implementing these strategies:

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     💡Managerial Oversight & Reporting: In parallel with self-reporting, ask managers to actively monitor and report on team workloads. This not only helps in      maintaining balance but also empowers managers to address issues proactively.

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     💡Recognition of Efforts: Implementing software like Insightful can facilitate both informal and formal feedback. It helps boost morale and motivation by      acknowledging hard work and sharing advice on process improvement.

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Conclusion

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Your remote teams have huge potential: they can probably be even more productive than they were in the office.

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You can support your team in realizing its full potential by implementing the right monitoring tools and strategies as well as helping each employee benefit from the insights you gather.

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This is a fail-proof recipe for mutual growth and the assurance of your remote employees’ dedication.