These 5 tools use a variety of tried and true techniques with a little more flair to keep your remote workers involved and at optimal performance.
1. CALENDAR – MAKE TIME FOR COLLABORATION
Goal setting plays a major part of remote worker successes, but many remote workers lose their drive because of isolation. Remote workers don’t have anyone to encourage them, solicit opinions or assist in general decision making. Get Everyone’s calendars synced up so you all are spending time getting work done instead of trying to catch people working.
Mix loose structure and Goal structure meetings through out the week. Accountability will come from knowing that they are contributing work to a larger team and that the team does rely on them.
2. TECHNOLOGY: ELIMINATE OVERSIGHT CHATTER.
Worksana Software built a platform to remove the constant back and forth you face with your remote team. Track time Anywhere to ensure people are doing what they are supposed to be. The issue that many small businesses have with accountability for remote employees is the fine line between management and micromanagement. Tools like Geo-fence and Location technology give employers a strong accountability tool.
3. CRM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT.
If you’re corresponding through email, Slack, or a messaging app, you are having good back and forth communication. To build on this for management teams, task Assignments for employees shows inline progress. Employees check in and mark off tasks without having someone regularly ask if something was done. In CRM systems like Hubspot, you can create tasks for yourself, or your team mates to ensure that tasks are being done, but also remind them automatically.
If you have large projects that need time to develop, then request work in specific stages to prevent an all-star employee from slacking off until it’s the day of the deadline.
Project management tools, support managing a larger set of tasks as part of a bigger project in place. Many times there tools are already in place and just need further review with the team to make sure that all are on task and the same page.
4. DAILY REPORTING
Remote workers rely on maintaining a level of trust, and many managers and small business owners feel that requesting a play-by-play of their employee’s day violates that trust. A manager or small business owner who would otherwise work with a person day in and day out have the right to ask for proof that a job is getting done.
Daily reports of work accomplished, allow for a summer of work and time spent, to ensure that working being done is timely and correct. Many reports on tasks include follow-ups, Calls and emails which are more manual processes that are easy to track. Other important activity that are less tangible should be summarized daily for review based on output or product feedback.
5. TRACK TIME AND WHEREABOUTS
There are plenty of offices that have severe consequences for employees who spend too much time away from their desk or general workspace. The misconception that people have is that remote workers don’t have to deal with these types of consequences. Instill accountability with your remote workers with software that tags a time for when they clock in or out as well as their location. Using software to track your remote workers’ time and location aligned with basic expectations and let them know that the software is in effect.
Written by Jacob Frederick
