Accommodating remote workers is vital

More and more workplaces are needing to grapple with the additional needs of remote workers, as that option becomes steadily more popular. Over the last ten years, the number of UK workers moving into remote working positions has increased by almost 250,000 according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

This has prompted a shift in the way that many employers view the practise of remote working. It has the potential to reduce the costs of running an office building, allows you to recruit from a wider pool of employees and can lead to higher staff morale.

However, many employers are still worried that the productivity of remote workers will suffer from lack of direct monitoring. Not only does technology today allow managers to watch their remote employees through webcams if they so wish, but this opinion demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of remote working.

The practise is not simply an excuse to be at home. It is a move to a different workplace, and if an employee has properly planned for that shift, there should be no drop in productivity. An inflexible employer who assumes that all remote workers are looking for an excuse to shirk work is missing out on a valuable rise in employee motivation.

As mentioned above, technology is essential for productive remote working. At minimum, workers need a reliable, real-time way to communicate with their office-based coworkers, and access to any files necessary. There are many different ways for employers to track productivity if they wish to, ranging from project management software like Trello to web-cam apps for direct check-ins.

Our time and attendance system can help you verify your employees’ working times, thanks to our Self Service Module. This browser or mobile-app based software allows employees to clock in and out, and also to sign themselves on and off jobs. The mobile version also collects GPS information, so that whereabouts can be confirmed.

This information is sent to the central system, so that you can run reports on it and otherwise make use of it. If employees are in areas of low signal, the data will queue to be submitted later.