One of the major concerns that most of the businesses faced was during a global pandemic was how to track employee productivity through remote employee monitoring software when the team is working remotely for the businesses. The changes were quick and unexpected but are likely to last longer than they were thought about.

The Challenge

There are several benefits of working in a remote team. At the same time, there are several challenges involved. Managers are unable to track the progress of the tasks and projects as people are working from home in the present times. But, luckily, there are several tools available in the market that can help businesses of all sizes to manage their remote employees.

These tools have proved to be valuable resources that are able to track the hours a person has worked, track and manage the budget, and optimize the available resources. Many of these tracking tools give you the added benefits of making sure that the remote workers are being seen and recognized for all the hard work they have done in extremely challenging conditions.

The employee tracking tools can range from one purpose to another. For instance, these can be collaboration tools, time management tools, project management tools, and some of the most advanced trackers that are able to effectively monitor even the keystrokes, location, as well as browsing history of the employees. Some of these remote work time tracking tools are mentioned below.

Time Management Tools

If you want to manage the clock in and clock out time for your employees, you can use tools such as Connecteam. These tools allow the employees to manage time on their devices. The tools also have a feature of GPS location for the teams which are working from the field. One of the recommended tools is HoursTracker which is a good option for the employees to help them easily record time manually. Some of the other popular options to track time includes Toggl, Timely, and Toptal’s TopTracker.   

Similarly, if you are a business that bills the clients for the services, you can use a project management tool such as TeamWork. This tool keeps track of all the time spent on every step of the project. The tool also allows the teams to send alerts to one another when the task is ready for the next step, and you need a high level of reporting for analyzing capacity planning and budgeting.

Another advanced-level tool that can be used for employee monitoring is InterGuard. This tool logs the employee activity and also bale to record audio and video calls. The best part is, it can keep track of the ideal and the active time. The tool also has the feature to restrict the number of website visits, track downloads and allow the managers to take screenshots and watch the emails and chats. This tool is best for any company which is looking for “trust” and at the same time “verify” the activities of its workforce.

Collaboration Tools

The collaboration teams help the remote team members to manage their work, at the same time, keep track of all the documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. For instance, Google document shows all the changes that were done by which employee or user. At the same time, when Asana and Jira are used for managing the projects to track the workflow of the tasks from one remote worker to the other. Another good option to enable team collaboration is through Trello, which helps the team to keep a good flow of all the traffic and track the moving parts in function.

Some of the collaboration tools come with inbuilt time tracking capabilities. The users of the Microsoft 365 suite of tools can try the Viva Insights module when it is launched this year. The tool provides the managers with insights into the amount of time spent by the employees working outside of the normal working hours.

Remote Engagement Tools

Employees sometimes feel disconnected from the rest of the team. In order to help employees to come out of the feeling of isolation, it is recommended to schedule frequent one-to-one chats. These will support the employees spontaneously when they need additional support. A quick message with the team helps to resolve issues.

You can also use tools such as Asana, Google Hangouts, and Teams which are some of the best options to carry out short check-ins throughout the day. Slack will also show you when an employee is online or is away so that you can keep an eye on who is logged in and is actively working and who is distracted from the work.

Tools to Connect

All these are some of the most popular and handy tools that can help the teams and their managers to stay connected both in and outside of the office. All you need to do is to approach all these tools with the right mindset to enable smooth adoption.

If all these tools are used in the right manner, they will foster collaboration and help to resolve issues within the team.

  Source – Uschamber