The COVID-19 pandemic brought a lot of changes all over the world. This potentially deadly disease affected approximately 29.6 million worldwide, with at least 935,000 people dead as of September 2020.
To avoid the rapid spread of the virus, governments in most countries issued community lockdowns and ordered non-essential businesses to halt operations.
Because of this, companies implemented work from home directives to continue their business activities. Managers and business owners should take advantage of various tools like Office 365 timesheet to monitor their staff’s activity.
Monitoring each employee working from home can be a time-consuming task. However, it is crucial for the benefit of the company.
If you are running a company that allows staff to work at home during these times, then you need to practice constant employee monitoring for these reasons.
Reason #1: For Task Balancing And Delegation
Even if your team is working remotely, you must still find a way to balance the delegation of their workloads to ensure a smooth operation. The team members must have an equal distribution of tasks so each one can finish their workloads on time.
It will also avoid any unfair treatments within the team, which could eventually cause feelings of resentment and grudges among the workmates.
Reason #2: To Boost Morale And Prevent Burnouts
Based on recent work from home productivity statistics, the employees’ morale can positively affect the business. A survey found out that work from home employees is 77% more productive, generally happier, and less stressed.
If any staff member feels overworked, they may lose the drive to work properly and leave the job completely due to burnout.
If you monitor the workload regularly, you will know who received a higher number of team tasks. It will make it easier for you to reallocate the task to those who get the least workload.
Reason #3: Manage The Weaker Links
There are times when a company hires some people who may not be as good as the others. They may not have enough initiative to improve their craft or not as interested to learn the latest innovations in the industry.
It may hinder them from reaching their full potential. If you continuously monitor the team’s workload, you will determine who among the members are more lenient than the others.
Using timesheet monitoring tools like the Office 365 timesheet app will also let you know who clocks in less time at work.
After learning the reasons why you need to prioritize employment monitoring for the staff that works at home, you need to know the proper ways to monitor their productivity in the most efficient way possible. You can choose to do the manual method or use apps and tools for thorough monitoring.
Here are several ways to track your remote employees to know their productivity.
Check Email Volume
All work from home employees relies on emails as their main method of communication. They usually get their work allocations through emails. They can also send you a message through email to report their progress on any given assignments.
If someone sends and receives a high volume of email, it could mean that their hands are full with different tasks.
There are several tools for measuring email volume. You only need to connect the Gmail or G Suite accounts of your employees to make it work.
These tools will help you determine the number of emails that they send or receive in a particular period.
Use Time Tracking Apps
The time spent by your employees on their job is also a good indicator of their productivity. You may use an employee productivity-tracking tool to have an idea about the amount of time they spend throughout the day.
For example, the Office 365 timesheet can allow employees to keep tabs of their daily hours and submit it as part of their weekly report.
You can analyze how much they contributed to the team through the data gathered by the tool.
Task List
If you want to concentrate on your staff’s tasks, you can use a task list to monitor their productivity. It is the simplest way to determine if you disproportionately distributed some tasks within the team.
You only need to find an efficient system to allow you to evaluate each task. It is also important to develop the most effective task systems to help increase tracking accuracy.
Working from home is the best solution if you want to continue your business’s operation without putting your staff at risk of contracting the virus. If you opted to allow your team to work anywhere they feel comfortable, you need to ensure that you can properly monitor their progress. It will be your best way to guarantee that all the tasks will be accomplished properly without putting too much burden on each team member.