With the pandemic that hit the world in 2020, many companies found themselves forced into a corner when it came to working from home (WFH). Some had resisted the call from employees that WFH would be a benefit because they saw it as a way for staff to be less productive. However, because WFH is now so prevalent, how can you keep tabs on your WFH staff without being overbearing?
Managers Who Want Too Much Monitoring
It might sound unbelievable, but many employees who have been working from home because of COVID, have talked about an overbearing sense of monitoring from their company.
While companies have started to ask if WFH employees are being as productive as office-based staff, there needs to be a balance between monitoring and being too overbearing.
There have been stories of companies demanding that staff have monitoring software, and even cameras installed to keep tabs on workers’ habits during office hours.
This is where a need for balance is needed so that companies feel they are getting the best from their employees, but staff feels trusted to do their job.
Project Management Software
Many companies that have employees working from home use project management software to enable all workers to keep track of their work.
This software can also help managers see who is working on what project and how much they are contributing.
It is a good way of monitoring workload without constantly asking staff what they are doing.
Create Task Lists
In a similar way to project management software, task lists can allow managers to assign set tasks to people to be completed that day.
If an employee cannot complete all of the tasks that day, then the managers are in a position to talk about it with the worker without seeming to apply too much pressure.
Self-Reporting
Some companies who try to instill trust in their team will set up self-reporting. This is a process where each employee sends an email to the manager at the end of each working day. This email will list the projects they have done and what they had to do with each piece of work.
As with task lists, the manager can see what has been done, and talk to those employees that need additional guidance.
Enable Open Discussion and Feedback
If you can enable an open discussion between managers and workers, then you can encourage them to tell bosses when their workload is too much, or if they have a problem.
This will hopefully help staff feel comfortable enough to speak to managers without the fear of negative replies.
Open feedback will also encourage more communication regarding how processes are working and how things can be improved.
Final Thoughts
There are many options for managers to monitor their WFH staff without having to resort to extreme measures – constantly nagging your employees can be detrimental to productivity. Using these techniques, instead of being overbearing, will also help to build trust between WFH staff and managers so they can all work together to get the work completed.