Remote workforce management software has grown more important as remote work has become the standard in 2022. Managing a remote workforce has its own set of difficulties, such as a lack of insight into employee behavior, employee fatigue, and operational bottlenecks. 

Using Remote workforce management software may help with all of these issues, but its usefulness relies on how you use it, just like any other technology. Remote workforce management software alone will not address remote workforce issues; but, acting on the data and insights provided by the platform can. It’s critical to plan ahead and be strategic with your remote worker data.

Encourage staff productivity while avoiding burnout.

When working from home, the distinction between work and leisure time might get blurred. Although becoming remote might boost employee productivity in the short term, a lack of work-life balance can eventually lead to burnout. Burnout leads to a disengaged workforce, which is a key worry for managers and corporate leaders. According to Gallup, just around one-third of American employees are now engaged. The remaining 66 percent of employees are either disengaged or not engaged at all. What are the consequences of disengagement? Productivity declines, job quality suffers, employees are dissatisfied, and turnover rates rise.

When used consciously and effectively, remote employee management software may help organizations and managers better assist employees by detecting burnout before it becomes a costly problem. Managers may utilize data to guide staff toward healthy, effective work habits by utilizing the program to track how time is spent. Employee performance appraisals may become more objective and fair as a result of the data.

Consider how work is accomplished and where time is allocated when examining employee behavior data, not just how many total hours in a day a person works. You may even tailor your research and reporting using a powerful remote workforce management software like DeskTrack by assigning “productive” and “unproductive” labels to tasks, websites, and apps.

Managers may leverage workforce data as a motivating tool by gamifying productivity figures, which can assist raise team morale in addition to boosting individual employees. According to Buffer’s State of Remote Work 2019, remote employees’ top worries are loneliness and motivation. A unique technique to assist remote employees to connect and remaining involved is to create a gamified productivity scoreboard and award acknowledgment to employees that improve or excel.

Look for bottlenecks in the workflow and technology that aren’t connected.

Cloud-based technology has made remote work possible in large part. Remote employees may cooperate and communicate using tools like Slack, Zoom, and project management systems. While most remote employees say they are more productive at home than they are on the job, processes may rapidly become inefficient if tools and platforms aren’t connected properly. Remote employees are particularly harmed by disconnected technology since they don’t have access to in-person IT assistance, which can lead to lower employee productivity and disengagement.

Utilize data from your remote workforce management software to discover and halt tech issues in their tracks, preventing workflow bottlenecks from affecting your remote staff. Application utilization data, if you’re using DeskTrack, is very useful for discovering operational bottlenecks associated with remote work technologies.

Managers can examine how time is spent across online tools and apps with DeskTrack’s “Top Applications” report, for example. This information may help you identify challenges with cooperation caused by disconnected technology, as well as assess the success of any new technologies you use.

You might wish to mix quantitative and qualitative research to get the best results. The data can tell you what’s going on, but it’s the person who can tell you why it’s occurring. Managers can, for example, utilize data as a conversation starter during one-on-one staff meetings. These discussions will clarify why a certain workflow or application is a bottleneck, allowing you to develop comprehensive, all-encompassing solutions that benefit everyone.

Employee and corporate data should be protected.

Organizations must maintain operational compliance in order to keep critical corporate information safe. Employees are growing increasingly worried about the security of their personally identifiable information (PII) at work as news of data breaches spreads. In April 2020, for example, the records of over 700 employees at education internet business Chegg were compromised, including Social Security numbers.

As more people work from home, data security policies must evolve to keep up. Remote employees frequently use their personal devices for work, typically on unprotected WiFi networks in public places, without comprehending the dangers to their personal and corporate data. To safeguard corporate and employee data, remote workers require education and tools. According to Globalscape, the cost of taking steps to comply with data privacy standards is frequently half the cost of dealing with the repercussions of non-compliance.

Managers may use data from to best employee monitoring software to regularly audit for and avoid data compliance concerns, in addition to defining and disseminating clear remote work policies.

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About DeskTrack

DeskTrack is a workforce productivity and analytics software firm that assists companies in better understanding how employees work, whether in the office or remotely. Our cloud-based user activity monitoring technology collects, analyses, and reports data to help businesses become more efficient and compliant. DeskTrack’s award-winning system.