How To Manage Teleworkers?

Even as the country starts to resume standard operations, many companies are choosing to keep their remote-based workplace structure. If you’re considering allowing your employees to stay off-site, your business could immediately benefit from a surge in productivity and a reduction in operational costs. But, managing off-site teams can be challenging if you don’t have the right tools and planning in place. Read on to learn more about how to manage teleworkers in today’s dynamic work environment.

How can I improve my team’s teleworking?

In order to build a plan that all of your employees can stick to, it’s important to understand the primary factors that separate onsite employees from teleworkers.

Teleworking can lead to a variety of hurdles, including:

• Communication issues
• Difficulty collaborating on projects
• Misinterpretation of tasks and project duties
• Increased online security risk
• Decreased productivity

Let’s dive deeper into some of the most common challenges remote employees face.

Communication and collaboration

One of the primary issues offsite managers and employees face when moving to a remote business model is muddled communication.

It can seem a lot easier to simply walk over to your staff member’s desk to explain instructions for a project, and it’s very easy to misinterpret or misunderstand text as opposed to face-to-face interaction.

Facilitating streamlined, easy-to-use communication is key for keeping everyone in the loop. Using a computer monitoring system is one way to make sure your employees are all where they need to be regarding their work goals.

By being able to see their user activity, you can easily identify slowdowns in productivity – giving you the ability to address the issue immediately. If there are any uncertainties regarding project parameters or other issues, taking care of these hurdles immediately will keep your entire operation running smoothly.

Data security

It’s no secret that our lives are almost exclusively maintained online. From personal records to our shopping habits, our digital footprints can say a lot about us as individuals, employees, and business owners.

Data misuse is an expensive blunder that can cost your company upwards of $3 million in one single incident. This type of cyber fraud is commonly instigated by internal employees, often unintentionally and without malicious intent.

Data misuse involves the tampering with unauthorized documents and proprietary information, including:

• Copying
• Deleting
• Editing
• Uploading
• Emailing
• Printing

Employee user monitoring software sends real-time alerts, flagging suspicious activity to protect your operation from data misuse.

Secure cloud storage

Physical assets are just one piece of the data security puzzle. How your employees send, view, download, and save digital files is something your business cannot afford to ignore.

Using an intuitive web-based management interface, your computer monitoring system protects you against:

• Losing data by deleting files
• Interference in the cloud
• Damaged email attachments
• Unauthorized file modifications

Cloud connectivity is ideal for virtual employees because it gives everyone the ability to access necessary files, data, and information from any location, at any time. But, this increased accessibility can lead to security issues if you don’t also use the proper protocol.

If you want to take advantage of accessibility via the cloud, you can’t afford to use this tool without employee monitoring software.

Productivity tracking with computer monitoring

Now that you know the challenges of ongoing teleworking, let’s talk about ways that teleworking can improve your company’s productivity.

Did you know that computer monitoring systems allow you to take video captures and screenshots of worker devices? With remote access capabilities and off-network connectivity, never question whether or not your employees are on task.

In addition to indicating slumps in user activity – including idle time – computer monitoring shows you other metrics like:

• Active time spent on work-related versus personal tasks
• Login and logoff tracking
• Active vs. idle time
• GPS tracking

Not only can user reports give you better insight into your teams’ productivity, but you can also use this data to reinforce or adjust existing processes based on their efficacy. If you notice a major slowdown following the implementation of a new policy, for example, you’ll have a better vantage point for making practical improvements.

In general, usage reporting and data analysis is an ideal feature if you plan on utilizing A/B testing during your team’s transition to telecommuting.

Improving Employee Morale

While it might seem like an afterthought in a remote work environment, company culture is still a critical part of the employee experience. This is one component that can make or break the trajectory of your operation.

Make a habit out of checking on your employees to ensure that everyone is where they need to be regarding work expectations and their overall wellbeing. Your employees are the crux of your company, so it’s important to make sure to address anyone’s concerns or questions as quickly and thoroughly as you can.

Additionally, employee morale could be suffering from a decreased level of face-to-face interaction. Scheduling periodic video calls and taking the time to check in with your staff on a regular basis can drastically improve the atmosphere of your “virtual office.”

How many days can my team telework?

Moving any team offsite is a process, no matter the size. But, the good news is you can scale any remote operation to fit a part-time or full-time schedule.

To determine how many teleworking hours your company can afford, assess all of the projects that everyone has on deck, as well as each employee’s work function and regular workload. By understanding how your employees spend their time, you can get a better idea of what tasks can be performed remotely. This will help you plan out in-office versus offsite commitments.

But, how can you figure out what everyone is or should be working on? Get a bird’s eye view of your company’s current workload by using a computer monitoring system with:

• Screenshot capabilities
• Screen Sharing
• Keystroke logging
• Idle/active time reporting
• Browser history tracking

Once you know how time is being spent across your operation, you can make a list of tasks that need to be performed in the office – if there are any.

In many cases, allowing workers to work offsite at least half time can save companies an annual average of $11,000 per employee. Even reducing your employees’ in-office schedule by a few hours can help your company save, but there’s no technical limit on how much of your workers’ schedules can take place remotely.

How do I monitor my teleworkers?

Ultimately, the fundamental piece of the remote team management puzzle is measuring employee engagement and performance. If you don’t know where everyone stands regarding current projects and business goals, you can’t create an accurate plan to maximize company resources and employee production.

To get a full look at all of our remote teams, utilize a comprehensive employee monitoring program that will provide teleworkers with:

• Safe file sharing
• Secure browsing and cloud storage
• Simplified tech maintenance and risk management
• Online protection against fraud and illegal digital activities
• Streamlined communication and data protection

To learn more about how InterGuard computer monitoring software can help you manage teleworkers more effectively, get started with a free 7-day trial.