Continuing our conversation on trust, we now focus on the challenges faced by remote workers.
Let’s now examine the issue of trust in remote teams from the employer’s perspective.
Managers frequently discuss the challenge of remote working, especially when it comes to monitoring employees’ work hours. The question arises regarding how to ensure that remote workers are meeting expectations and putting in the necessary effort.
It is feasible to monitor the activities of in-office staff, but the same cannot be said for remote workers, who may post a yoga selfie during work hours.
The only logical inference is that remote staff may not be dependable in putting in the expected amount of time.
This statement could not be further from reality. If you share the same concerns, give us a call, and we’ll be happy to dispel them.
The Inevitable Reality of Your Employees’ Work
Take a moment to think about the employees you have on your staff in the office.
It is recommended to conduct a simple inspection to determine how much time is being misused in the office. Additionally, investigating the browser histories of all team members is likely to provide valuable information on where inefficiencies exist.
The regular office atmosphere is usually filled with numerous distractions that can impede employees from accomplishing their goals. These interruptions can come from the surroundings, including their immediate workstation area.
Enforcing restrictive measures, such as a complete ban on social media use during work hours, decreasing the time allotted for breaks, and taking disciplinary action for any violation of rules, could ultimately create a sense of distrust, secrecy, and disconnection between you and your employees.
Monitoring your employees has not lived up to its expectations.
Conversely, remote work greatly depends on the trust between employers and employees. This flexibility in working hours enables remote workers to balance their personal commitments, such as picking up their children from school, while still meeting their daily responsibilities at various times throughout the day.
They can take satisfaction in their creations without any fear of being caught or having to conceal their methods.
The Advantages of Adopting a Results-Driven Work Approach and How to Implement It
After conducting a thorough analysis, we discovered that three distinct companies, located far apart from one another, had attained remarkable success. These firms were Groove, InVision, and HotJar. All three used nearly identical benchmarks when evaluating their team’s performance; for example, the duration of a job was never a factor in the final decision. Rather, they prioritized the quality of the work and the results that were accomplished.
The staff members in this quick-moving, off-site environment are highly efficient. It is apparent when someone is not meeting the expected level of performance. It is inappropriate to punish someone for failing to submit their timesheet in a timely manner.
Matteo Grassi, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Eli Z Group, a fully remote e-commerce accelerator, shared our opinion during our recent conversation. To gain knowledge about how Matteo runs his company and achieves successful results, we suggest listening to the Works Podcast.
Considering that an individual’s skills can enhance and progress through repeated experience of handling comparable job duties, it is evident that their productivity is expected to rise considerably compared to their initial performance. This highlights the importance of gaining experience in a particular position, as it can have a positive influence on their competency and ability to excel in their job.
Adopting this strategy can save you time and effort by eliminating the need to continually monitor whether your employees are dedicating the same amount of effort to routine tasks. Instead, you can assign them more demanding responsibilities to tackle.
Situations that Justify a Time-Based Method for Remote Work
The duration of time spent on a task may serve as a better measure of performance for certain job positions.
Client Support:
Service representatives receive hourly wages and may have to meet daily targets for handling calls.Official Administrative Duties:
Administrative jobs, such as record-keeping or navigating red tape, are often charged based on hourly rates.Temporary Job Roles:
If you are compensating a specialist based on an hourly project basis, it is advisable to keep a close watch on their advancement.
Signs that Your Worries about the Dependability of Your Remote Employees are Valid
While it is crucial to have faith in your remote employees, it is equally important to be aware of these cautionary indications.
Unanswered Communications:
If your remote employee hasn’t replied to emails or messages within a few hours, it’s essential to ensure that everything is okay.Postponing Pre-arranged Meetings:
When team gatherings are planned and scheduled, and a remote worker doesn’t show up, it’s worth following up with them to ensure that everything is all right.Silence on Slack:
One of the key advantages of having a geographically dispersed team is the frequent use of remote communication methods to maintain constant contact among team members. However, it is important to notice and respond to any extended periods of absence from the group as it may indicate an underlying problem.Deadlines Not Met:
If a remote worker misses their deadlines, it is crucial to examine their work schedule.Feedback from Co-workers:
When multiple members of your remote team report that an individual is frequently arriving late to meetings, it is vital to acknowledge this feedback. It is crucial to assure that all team members are collaborating efficiently, and arriving to meetings on schedule is crucial to achieving this aim.Dynamic KPIs:
The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of remote employees will be influenced by all of the factors listed above. If the impact persists for more than three months, it might be necessary to reconsider whether they are a suitable team member.
Ways to Verify the Efficiency of Remote Workers
Modern technological tools make it possible to manage remote employees effectively, even if you send robots to the farthest corners of outer space. These tools allow for timekeeping, scheduling, billing and are also compatible with remote project management software, simplifying the management of your remote team. Some examples of these tools include:
Todoist:
This tool provides the flexibility to select one’s own working hours, customizing the project to accommodate individual preferences. Tasks may be assigned to different team members, with deadlines and priorities established for each. The cost per user is approximately £3.Are You the Time Doctor?
Time Doctor is an essential tool for managers of remote workers, providing comprehensive reports on how much time employees allocate to each project, along with random computer activity screenshots. This allows employers to monitor and ensure that their remote employees are working productively. The cost for using this service is approximately £9.99 per user.Harvest:
For managing a large, geographically dispersed team, Harvest is an integral tool for monitoring time. It provides a real-time view of your team’s collective workload and individual productivity. Additionally, it allows you to track total workload, billable and non-billable hours, and other key performance indicators. The cost for using this application is approximately £12 per user per month.
The concerns regarding trust and productivity that have arisen in connection with remote working cannot be overlooked. Employers have a duty to provide their employees with all necessary job-related information, and it is unacceptable to withhold any information from remote workers. Furthermore, it is critical that remote employees put in the same effort as in-office staff to accomplish productivity goals accordingly.
To guarantee the success of all stakeholders, we have adopted a practical approach and introduced several steps to safeguard the interests of everyone involved. For instance, we mandate remote employees to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) when granted access to confidential company data, and we monitor the time they spend on their assignments.
Despite being unenforceable, trust is something that can develop naturally. The critical aspect is to identify the ideal candidates for the job and grant them the independence to perform without frequent monitoring. We are here to aid you in locating the most skilled and trustworthy remote developers, who can produce results without requiring constant supervision.
