5 Ways to Monitor Your Remote Employees

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There’s no question that remote employees can be an asset to your business, but you need to make sure that their performance and productivity are up to par. If you want to avoid the bad reputation of being that employer who just talks the talk without walking the walk, these five tips will help you keep your remote employees on track and ensure that they’re productive members of your team.

Set Clear Expectations

Establish clear expectations from the beginning of your remote employees’ work. There are a number of ways to do this, but make sure you have a list and that it’s kept up-to-date as things change. Here are five tips for monitoring remote employees: 

  •  Make sure they understand what their job entails and what is expected of them at all times. 
  • Set up regular meetings with your remote employees and document the results in case there is any confusion or misunderstanding down the line. 
  •  Pay attention to feedback from other team members on how they are interacting with your remote employee(s). 
  •  Check-in regularly with your remote employees over chat/email. 
  • Give performance reviews as often as possible.

Hold Weekly Meetings

Putting aside some time each week for regular meetings is an easy way to check in with the members of your team, whether they are at a desk or not. Include progress updates in the meetings, so everyone knows how much time is left until their next get-together. You can also use these meetings to check in with your employees who are working remotely. You want to ensure they’re not getting too isolated. Furthermore, you want to talk not just about current tasks but future tasks, giving employees enough time to research if necessary. If it seems like too much for a single employee, consider rotating meetings every couple of weeks or assigning employees different tasks in order to better manage who does what and when.

Offer Flexibility

If a member of your team has an important meeting they need to attend, they are more likely to let you know if it is on their calendar. Furthermore, offering flexible hours allows the company and employee to decide when it is best for the employee to work remotely. There may be something wrong with a worker’s home life that makes them less productive at work if they request a different start time. Additionally, remote employees can be monitored by providing them with incentives while they work on-site as well as away from the office.

Conduct Performance Evaluations

Performance evaluations are a key way for managers to ensure that their employees continue developing, and make sure they are on the right track. But when you are managing a team of remote workers, it can be hard to keep tabs on them. Here are five ways you can monitor your remote employees: 

 – Use video chats: By video chatting with them from time to time, you can not only get updates from each individual employee but also hold conversations face-to-face. 

Schedule frequent one-on-one meetings: One-on-one meetings with each person will allow you to find out how they feel about what’s going on in the company and give more personalized feedback. 

 – Conduct all-hands meetings: You should hold group meetings every quarter or so if you manage multiple employees. The purpose of these meetings is to get you and your team members together, meet each other in person if they haven’t already, and discuss company goals. 

Encourage Communication

There are various ways for remote employees to monitor when they are working remotely, but communication is key. To avoid freelancer slacking, you need a system of checks and balances so that you’re able to monitor their progress. It is much easier to set up clear expectations for a remote employee before he or she begins the project, but even if you haven’t you need regular check-ins where you update each other on what’s been happening, how things are going, and whether you have any questions or concerns.

Conclusion

Monitoring your remote employees is essential, no matter where they work. Without monitoring, you may not be able to detect problems in the workplace that could result in a decrease in productivity or even a negative outcome. If you are not able to monitor your employees by being physically present then you need to find a way of doing so remotely. You can use the following 5 ways of remote employees monitoring

  • Give your employees an online form for them to report their progress 
  • Use instant messaging programs 
  • Use video conferencing software 
  • Install time-tracking software on employees’ computers 
  • Ask for weekly reports from the employee about what they’ve been working on

Main photo: Tyler Franta/unsplash.com

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