Ways Of Keeping Track Of Your Remote Employees

Remote employees is a trend that’s been pretty steady for the last decade. In other words, it’s here to stay, and it’s only going to become more prevalent. This means that your employees don’t have to be in the same building, or even the same country, you are. However, this also means that you need to find some way to track their work and actual work ethic.

On one hand, having a project handed to you, in accordance with any set deadlines and quality standards can be enough. However, sometimes you need to be involved. For certain types of work, you need to have something of a hands-on approach. Furthermore, maybe you just need to track the hours invested in a project, something that is especially important if your people are being paid by the hour.

On the other hand, switching from office work to actual work in the field, maybe you need to track the location of your people. Finding where they are, their movements, can help you not only see how much work they are doing, but also whether they are injured. In more extreme places and professions, it can save them from getting lost in some inhospitable area.

It’s all about software

The best and easiest way to track your people is by using software. Getting the right employee monitoring software depends on your actual needs. A review of the best software out there is outside the scope of this article, but know that many have certain features that you can find useful.

Project  management

For example, they show you the list of the people on your team. It shows what project tasks they have been assigned, for how long, and to what degree. This can come in handy when you're dealing with a large team. In fact, software like this helps you organize your time as well.

This is very useful if you set very clear deadlines. In a way, setting deadlines is an excellent way to track exactly because you just know whether their work is done or not. You can set certain deadlines for specific segments of a project. This forces people to never overestimate their time. Even if they pull an all-nighter, the potential damage will be much lighter for fifteen percent of a task, instead of one hundred percent.

Tracking Internet usage

Some tools allow you to track the internet usage of your employees. This comes in useful when you have projects that are exclusively done online. So, if a person is not actually using up any internet data, this can be a clear sign that they are not doing what they should.

Mouse and Keyboard activity

You can also use software that tracks how much time an employee is at his or her desk. They work by tracking mouse and keyboard activity. The moment they notice that a steady rhythm of typing and clicking (set in advance by the software itself) has stopped, they will count it as the employee taking a “break”. An excellent choice for people who are paid by the hour. It may not be that useful for purely deadline and project-based work, but even then, you could probably use the added info on how much time one needs to finish up their work.

Screenshots

There is software that takes a screenshot, randomly, of a person’s screen a couple of times in an hour. Again, it’s random, so you know they can't really mess with the whole concept. This works because you can catch an employee looking at something he or she really shouldn’t, instead of having an open excel or word file (or whatever else they are doing). This mostly sends screenshot directly to you, so you don’t have to worry about an employee actually deleting it.

GPS tracking

Another option is going physical. Setting up employees with GPS tracking devices will do wonders.  They are not just necessarily centred on office workers. People working in the field may perhaps find the most use from this type of program. It can help with less than honest workers skipping out on work, or coming in late and leaving early.

Conclusion

Keeping track of your employee's productivity and work ethic can prove to be a challenging task. But, it’s a necessity when you have a large team working on a single project. This is not just a matter of productivity, but of fairness as well. It will help you see exactly who is putting in the work, and who is slacking off. And remember, there are systems in place not only for office workers, but for the people in the field as well. Using GPS for people working outdoors, or software for office workers (or both, for maximum results) will help you be on top of everything that is happening.