When employees work remotely, you must have a certain level of trust that they are completing their work. However, you don’t have to do it blindly. You can respect the autonomy of your workers while also ensuring they are being productive. Time tracking is a neutral tool that can be used to track what your employees are doing.
However, the implementation of this tool needs to be handled correctly. If your employees don’t feel like they are trusted, they will not perform at the level they are capable of. This post will highlight the need for trust and accountability for remote employees and discuss how to implement time tracking measures.
Understanding Accountability in the Remote Workplace
In the remote workplace, accountability revolves around honoring your commitments. When you complete your work, it creates trust between people and shows that you value your responsibilities. A successful team dynamic can only be created in all team members agree on their roles and complete their responsibilities. When it comes to remote work, this is even more important. When remote workers hold themselves accountable, it helps build trust and increases engagement, which ultimately contributes to the team’s success.
It is important that employers set clear expectations and goals for their remote workers so that there is mutual accountability in the workplace. The workers are accountable for completing their work, and the employer is accountable for setting expectations. Employers should also implement effective communication channels, provide any necessary tools and training, and regularly check in and evaluate their employees.
Remote workers should ensure their accountability by establishing a rigorous routine and boundaries, employing time management techniques like the Pomodoro Technique, and minimizing distractions.
Trust is the center of making remote work successful. Employees must trust themselves to do the work without someone over their shoulder, and employers must trust that their directives are enough to keep the remote workers going. Employers must regularly check in with their workers to ensure that there aren’t any misunderstandings, without micromanaging every step of the process. When they trust their employees to do their job without constantly managing them, it creates a shared sense of positive accountability.
Challenges of Maintaining Accountability for Remote Workers
There are certain challenges when it comes to maintaining accountability for remote workers. For example, difficulty in tracking progress, a lack of face-to-face communication, and the potential for misinterpretation of updates.
It is essential that remote workers understand that their assignments and daily tasks contribute to the overall business. On top of that, they need to feel valued and like their work means something. When employees feel understood and valued, they are much more likely to do their best on even the most minute of tasks.
When employees are working remotely, it can be even easier for things to fall through the cracks or be misunderstood. Everything should be written down to ensure it is not forgotten, and it’s a good idea to have employees repeat back their tasks in their own words to ensure they fully understand them.
When it comes to feedback, some written feedback is fine, but there should also be virtual meetings scheduled. The written word can sometimes be misconstrued and can lead to employees feeling like their employer is unhappy. Having a virtual face-to-face meeting can help eliminate those fears.
Strategies for Fostering Remote Work Accountability
As an employer, there are three key aspects of fostering accountability in the workplace.
- Establish clear expectations and goals.
- Implement effective communication channels.
- Provide necessary tools and training.
As a remote employee, there are also strategies for keeping yourself accountable.
- Creating a structured morning routine, such as drinking a cup of coffee, checking your email, and setting your tasks for the day.
- Set boundaries and minimize distractions. For example, turn off your phone notifications and set time aside to check social media.
- Utilize time management techniques like the Pomodoro Technique or the “Getting Things Done” method.
When these strategies are implemented by both the employer and employee it increases the chance of success.
Why Trust Is the Cornerstone of Remote Success
According to Gallup, when employees don’t trust organizational leadership, their chances of being engaged are 1 in 12. However, once trust is established, the chances of engagement shoot up to more than 1 and 2, which is more than a six-fold increase. When there is trust in the workplace, speed and efficiency go up, which ultimately leads to better performance. It comes down to psychology. If you don’t trust the person you’re working for, you won’t want to do good work for them. According to a recent Google study called Project Aristotle, teams with high psychological safety showed a 27% increase in performance. If an employee feels safe to express their thoughts without fearing repercussions, they are 4.6 times more likely to contribute ideas. When a remote worker feels that they are trusted by their employer, it makes them want to be accountable.
While it might seem difficult, maintaining your remote employees’ trust isn’t hard. You need to ensure they feel a sense of belonging within the team and organization. To do this, you must start by addressing basic workplace needs. When you fill these needs, it boosts employees’ performance, which creates a net positive for individual productivity and profitability for the business.
Common Time Tracking Mistakes That Undermine Trust
Since we’ve established that trust is an integral part of remote work, you don’t want your time tracking methods to undermine it. There is a delicate balance to tracking employee productivity while not being overly invasive. For example, asking your employees to submit screenshots of their work not only takes up your time (when you have to review them), but also takes up part of their workday. On top of that, it is telling your employees that you don’t trust them to complete tasks without proof. Another example is implementing keystroke logging. Your workers will not be able to focus on their work if they are constantly worried that a wrong keystroke will get them in trouble.
Another essential part of time tracking is being transparent about why it is being used. For example, time tracking can be a great way to figure out how long tasks are taking to complete and to see if there is a way to complete them faster. On the other hand, if employees feel that the time tracking is being used to ensure that they are working every second of the day, they won’t be motivated to do quality work.
Another way to be transparent about time tracking is to involve your employees in selecting the tool used to track their time. This way, they know exactly what the program is doing and why it is necessary.
How to Position Time Tracking as a Positive Accountability Tool
Positioning your time tracking as a positive accountability tool is integral to creating and keeping trust with employees. Rather than framing it to keep tabs on what workers are doing, it should be framed as a way to help employees see how their time is broken down. This can help them find ways to create better workflows and improve their work-life balance.
Additionally, you can use your time tracking tools to highlight how well your employees are doing. When an employer points out to an employee what they appreciate about their work, it encourages the worker to continue producing good work.
For example, one remote worker polled by Gallup said that his manager ships him office supplies related to his job. Along with the supplies is a note explaining how the contents relate to his talent and the work he’s doing. For instance, a new headset was delivered with a note saying, “I thought with your great communication strengths you could really use a new headset.” This shows that the employer values the strengths of their workers and is finding ways to help the employee use them.
As an employer, you can also use the data from the time tracking tool to see if workload is being appropriately distributed between employees. This can potentially lower the workload of a stressed employee and move it to one who doesn’t have enough to do. The time tracking information can also be used to plan projects, as it will show who has the capacity for taking on more work. Finally, it can be used in performance reviews to show employees where they could make improvements and where their strengths lie.
Best Practices for Implementation
When you implement your time tracking tool, you need to do it carefully. Follow these rules to get the best results.
Be Transparent and Communicative
When employees are told there will be a new system implemented, it can be scary. They might feel like they aren’t trusted to do their jobs, which can lead to decreased productivity. If possible, allow your team to help choose a time tracker tool, so that they know exactly what it is being used for. Even if they aren’t a part of choosing the tool, being open and honest about what it is being used for is imperative.
Choose a Flexible and Transparent Tool
Time Tracker is a great, flexible tool that will allow you to be fully transparent with your team. It is easy to use, and there are no hidden pieces for your employees to be nervous about.
Use the Data Collaboratively
If you present the time tracking tool as something being used to monitor employees’ work ethic, then workers will be immediately turned off. However, if you frame it to improve their workflow and find areas of strength, they will be much more likely to be on board. As an employer, you can use the data you collect to conduct reviews focusing on employee strengths and areas for improvement. Employees can use their data to assess themselves to determine if they are working well or if they are overworking themselves.
Apply the Process to Staff and Managers
It is essential that managers are held to the same level of accountability as other staff. If remote workers feel like upper management isn’t being held accountable for their workload, it will trickle down to them not doing their best work either. When everyone is held accountable for their responsibilities, it creates a sense of trust and improves everyone’s productivity.
Tools That Support Balance
Time Tracker is a great tool to support balance in the workplace. It isn’t overly invasive and respects employee time while helping employers to understand the capacity of their team. The goal of Time Tracker is not to provide surveillance of your workers. The point is to reinforce positive accountability, track projects, create schedules and reports, and give insights into what your employees are capable of. It is customizable, so it can be adapted to fit your business’s needs.
Conclusion
Time tracking tools do not need to be your employees’ enemy. If it is implemented carefully and with full transparency, it will not erode the trust between employer and worker. In fact, it can be used to help employees find their strengths and alert them if they aren’t taking enough breaks. This can lead to enhanced productivity for remote workers, which contributes to the success of the business.
For time tracking tools to work well, it is imperative that leadership models accountability for remote workers. If employees don’t feel like their bosses are doing what they are supposed to do, then there is no motivation for the workers to be productive. When both employer and employee are held accountable, it builds a system rooted in trust.
Are you looking for a respectful way to track time? Consider trying Time Tracker free for 14 days. It will help you build accountability and trust within your workforce while also tracking time in a smart way.