Keep Them Accountable: How to Track Employee Hours for Remote Teams

Did you know that 50% of the United States workforce is estimated to be working remotely by the year 2020?

It’s no wonder that with more employees working from the comfort of where they choose employers are looking for ways to virtually keep track of their employees.

Do you have employees who work remotely? Do you want to make sure they’re being as productive as possible?

Keep reading to learn how to track employee hours.

How to Track Employee Hours for Remote Teams

There are plenty of perks for having employees that are working remote including saving on overhead such as monthly savings on renting office space for your employees to report to. The biggest challenge most companies face is how to track employee hours and manage employee attendance. Thanks to technology there are tools you can use to keep track of hours and also help employees stay productive.

Every business needs to have the ability to accurately track employee hours to ensure the following:

• Attendance enforcement
• Time-off enforcement
• Payroll processes on time
• Accurate payment of hours worked

The strategies that you choose to track employee hours should also include ways to increase employee engagement. It’s important for employees to want to work because if they don’t your company might suffer. An effective strategy to keep track of hours is going to improve employee morale and company operations.

Mobile Attendance System

There are many systems available that the key is to choose one that is not complicated to use, has a great reputation, and gives you the ability to run your payroll reports. Employees have the ability to log the time they work from wherever they are with time management software. Having a time clock will help you monitor attendance and will help avoid employees from overworking.

Working remotely can make it easy to lose track of time and work more than required. You don’t want your employees to burn out because they’re overworking so this is a great way to avoid burn out.

Another reason to use a time management software is to avoid overtime payment issues. If you pay an employee inaccurately it can cause your company to pay inaccurate employer taxes, and file incorrect tax forms.

If you’re looking for a reputable company to help you with time tracking click here.

Expectations

To make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to working remotely, expectations have to be set up immediately. If there are certain times that have to be worked your employee needs to know this ahead of time. Another expectation you have to set up is how much you expect them to work.

Make it clear if you have a minimum number of hours that have to be worked or a maximum number of hours. Also, make sure everyone is clear on what happens if they don’t follow the system you have in place for clocking in and clocking out.

If you have an attendance policy where your remote workers can access it this will make sure that if there are any questions about what you expect they can access it.

Take Advantage of Video

Having a remote team doesn’t mean you can’t build a relationship and get to know who is working for your company. To help employees feel like they’re part of a team you can take advantage of video technology. This is a great way to build trust, and company culture.

Employees can see fellow employees and they can see you through video which will lead to deeper relationships. Video allows everyone to feel like they’re in the same room. You can set up weekly discussions, pow wows, or meetings.

Virtual Coffee Room

Believe it or not, employees can get lonely when working from home especially if they don’t have a family and live by themselves. In a traditional office, employees can mingle and chat between breaks about other non-work related discussions. Remote employees can’t do this so they don’t always get to meet other team members.

You can set up a virtual coffee room to promote employees getting to know each other and it’s another way to keep track of productivity. If you help fellow employees engage with each other through a virtual coffee room you will help reduce absences.

Employees can chat throughout the day with others that can relate to their work and it helps give small breaks between their work. You’ll be able to see what your employees are up to during the day while they mingle in the virtual coffee room you create for them.

Cloud-Based Calendar

You don’t only want to make sure that your employees are working the right amount of hours you also want to keep everyone on the same page. It’s important for fellow team members to know when other employees are also working in case they need to ask a question about a completed task or a project that multiple people are a part of.

Setting up a cloud-based calendar that everyone has access to means employees can write in when they’re working and what they’re working on. This is beneficial when you have remote workers that have to work together on certain projects. There are endless possibilities for cloud-based calendars such as color coordinating everyone’s account to keep it more organized.

Keep Your Employees Accountable

At the end of the day, you want to help keep your employees accountable for their work. Track employee hours while maintaining a positive relationship, and clear expectations.

If you’re looking for ways to encourage collaboration among your remote team, check out the best collaboration programs.