The coronavirus situation has affected the global economy and shattered lives. But it has facilitated one notable change that has transformed markets across sectors. Organizations are now more enthusiastic about remote work, and millions of staff now complete their tasks from their living rooms.
Some of the world’s leading entities now work with full-time remote staff, including social giants Facebook and Twitter. Even companies that weren’t open to the idea, now acknowledge the massive impact of digital migration and remote work tech solutions. Even with the right technology and a large team, it’s still not easy to achieve your efficiency and remote timekeeping goals. But, you’ll always stay on track if you follow the following remote employee timekeeping best practices:
Plan First, Action Next
Before assigning the different remote tasks, it’s crucial to create an effective plan of replicating the office experience in productivity and time efficiency. You may create a document highlighting what’s expected from each team member while working from home. Also, come up with a practical means of tracking the progress of different tracks then create a strategy for remote problem-solving.
While creating a plan, ensure your employees don’t feel too restricted. Give them the space to discover other things on their own. For instance, if you have teams in different time zones, create a plan to keep them in sync without taking up too much of their personal time.
Encourage Staff to Switch Off from Work
When working from home, remote employees are likely to lose track of time. Since the house now also serves as an office, they may have the urge to continue working until late at night. To avoid this, create and maintain a fixed number of working hours to keep a healthy work-life balance.
Encouraging them to switch off their work chat and email means they’ll never feel exhausted when they begin working on the next day’s tasks. They’ll stay productive and efficient and save lots of time.
Communication Rituals
Developing a more efficient and centralized communication system within the organization can mimic regular rituals that you’d have in your headquarters. This gives a feeling of camaraderie that all staff members are around are working towards the same goals. As a result, they’ll be committed to complete their part of the task in good time, or probably earlier, so that they can take care of other personal business.
One common ritual among organizations is leaving a “Hi” on the company’s general chat platform when they check in. This brings the everyday experience into the digital space, giving staff the feeling that everyone’s reporting to work and handling their tasks. Another communication ritual is that every remote employee submits regular updates on their tasks’ progress at specified milestones.
Provide The Right Tools for Recording and Tracking Time
Instead of being the overseer of their timekeeping efficiency, it would also help to be part of the solution. You can avail electronic timesheets and spreadsheets or have them send their work hours via email to their supervisors, but these approaches are outdated and will waste even more time.
Various time-tracking and efficiency tools are available on the web, and providing them to your staff would benefit you in different ways. For instance, ASAP’s payroll tracking system eliminates assumptions regarding your staff’s actual hours, allowing you to track the hours by phone or computer from any location.
Monitor Projects
It’s not easy to track projects and know what’s being handled when a worker is away from your headquarters. But if you want your projects to be easier to follow, project monitoring software would come in handy.
These tools allow everyone to see what everyone is currently working on, completed projects, and those still in progress. You can also monitor how long your staff are taking to complete their tasks. If anyone is taking more time, ensure they understand your expectations.
Of course, addressing all these while focusing on core business isn’t easy. That’s why you need a professional specialized in payroll, human capital management, and time and attendance. ASAP Payroll has been an industry leader in this, providing custom solutions and comprehensive services since 1989.
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Image credit: Desky Pty Ltd.
