Managing remote workers toolkit: Best tools and strategies

Interested in a toolkit for managing remote workers? 

Since the pandemic, many firms have allowed their workers to work at home. 

Now, in the event you’re new to remote work, determining tips on how to handle your remote crew can appear daunting.

However, with the appropriate remote work toolkit, managing your distributed crew needs to be a bit of cake!

In this text, we’ll present you the tools you want in your managing remote workers toolkit and spotlight their key options. We’ll additionally supply just a few strategies to handle your digital crew successfully.

Let’s get began. 

What is a remote work toolkit?

A remote work toolkit is a set of software program, strategies, and strategies that permit managers to supervise remote work, even when their workers are in several time zones.

The Human Resources division normally outlines a remote work toolkit to make sure efficient administration. 

The proper remote crew administration tools ought to simply equip you to handle initiatives and crew efficiency. 

But with a number of remote working tools accessible right now, which of them must you go for? 

Let’s discover out which tools may help you in efficiently managing remote workers.

1. Time Doctor for time and productiveness administration

Your remote workers could also be working lengthy hours, however how will you make sure they’re productive?

You can’t — until you’ve gotten the appropriate instrument like Time Doctor to observe their time and analyze their productiveness. 

Time Doctor is a strong worker time monitoring and efficiency administration instrument. 

Large companies like Ericsson and small companies like Thrive Market and Firehouse Subs use Time Doctor to trace and improve productiveness.

A. Key options

Here’s a take a look at a few of Time Doctor’s key options:

1) Transparent time monitoring

With Time Doctor, you possibly can monitor your crew’s billable hours precisely and keep away from filling in old school timesheet templates. 

Employees can effectively monitor time, both manually or routinely.

For guide monitoring, workers can observe these simple steps:

• Open the Time Doctor app, add the duty identify they’re engaged on, or choose an present process. 
• Click ‘Start’ to start monitoring time. Time Doctor will start to trace your time as you’re employed. 
• Click ‘Stop’ to finish the duty or take a break.

In the automated mode, time monitoring begins as quickly as the worker begins their laptop. It permits them to give attention to the duties with out worrying about beginning the timer.

This manner, you possibly can guarantee your crew is basically working once they’re purported to be. 

2) Idle time pop-up

Time Doctor has an idle time pop-up to assist workers stay actively engaged.  

Here’s the way it works:

• When Time Doctor detects no keyboard or mouse exercise for a sure period of time, it generates a pop-up message asking workers in the event that they’re nonetheless working. 
• Employees can then take a break or proceed working and recording time.
• If there’s nonetheless no exercise, the instrument routinely stops monitoring time.  

Idle time monitoring additionally ensures workers don’t log their idle time as billable hours.

Note: Time Doctor isn’t a keylogger. It solely determines in the event you press any keys to detect inactivity.

3) Screenshots

Time Doctor’s non-compulsory screenshots function helps you see what your crew is doing on their computer systems in real-time.

With this function, you possibly can take screenshots or document movies of workers’ screens throughout tracked hours. 

You also can:

• Set intervals for screenshots (for instance, each 5 minutes).
• Download screenshot photographs and movies per crew member.
• View screenshots with low or no keyboard/mouse exercise.

Note: To shield worker privateness, you possibly can blur or delete screenshots with delicate info like passwords. 

4) Productivity rankings 

Time Doctor’s productiveness rankings operate is the proper function for remote crew administration. It enables you to categorize the web sites and apps that your crew visits. This manner, you will be assured they’re utilizing their time effectively.

But most monitoring software program does this, so what makes Time Doctor totally different?

Other time monitoring options classify social media websites like Instagram and YouTube as unproductive. 

However, what in case your crew wants to browse these websites for work-related functions? 

Time Doctor’s productiveness rankings function helps you overcome this situation and mark these websites as productive for sure groups or customers. 

As a supervisor, you possibly can select which web sites and apps are productive and unproductive for particular groups and price them as: 

• Productive.
• Unproductive.
• Neutral.
• Unrated.

Time Doctor makes use of these rankings to generate your productiveness studies, so they’re correct. 

5) Comprehensive studies

Time Doctor routinely generates a variety of productiveness studies in actual time.

A supervisor can obtain studies on a every day and weekly foundation by way of e-mail. And your crew can monitor their very own productiveness at any time by way of the Time Doctor web site dashboard.

Some of the studies accessible embody:

• Activity abstract report: Reveals the energetic minutes and seconds, unproductive, guide, and cell time for every crew member over a particular interval.
• Hours tracked report: Shows the variety of hours tracked per day, week, or any date vary you choose.
• Projects & duties report: Displays the time spent on initiatives. It additionally signifies the time taken for particular person duties.
• Timeline studies: There are two studies below this class — the every day and the weekly studies. They present how a lot time an worker spends on duties and breaks per day (or week), together with begin and finish occasions.
• Web & app utilization report: Shows the time spent on numerous websites and apps so you possibly can guarantee workers aren’t losing time on unproductive websites like Facebook and different social media apps.

6) Payroll

The payroll function calculates payroll for any worker primarily based on tracked hours or mounted charges.

With the payroll function, you possibly can:

• Automate and add timesheets for bulk billing. 
• Customize pay intervals and currencies. 
• Approve timesheets manually or routinely. 
• Set up payroll for hourly or salaried workers. 
• Make fast funds with integrations to PayPal, Wise, and so on. 

B. Pros

• Simple navigation with a user-friendly interface
• Create and assign initiatives and duties to crew members.
• Set work schedules in your total crew. 
• Supports employee-friendly settings. 
• Shows you the person area pages visited by your crew, not simply the foundation area.
• Strict privateness and knowledge safety insurance policies.
• Track time from different apps with the highly effective Chrome extension.
• Integrations with greater than 60 office apps, like ClickUp, Trello, and Asana.

C. Pricing

Time Doctor provides a 14-day free trial (no bank card required). Paid plans begin as little as $7/consumer monthly.

D. Customer rankings

• G2: 4.4/5 (320+ critiques)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (460+ critiques)

2. ClickUp for challenge administration 

ClickUp is a cloud-based challenge administration instrument. It’s additionally a terrific crew collaboration and communication instrument in your remote workforce.  

A. Key options

• Helps you arrange duties and initiatives with notifications, calendars, objectives, to-do lists, and reminders.
• Allows you to customise your duties’ standing (stage) and transfer them from one stage to the following for a streamlined workflow and higher time administration.
• Task administration options allow you to see what duties workers have accomplished, who wants extra duties, and who’s overloaded with work.
• Supports integrations with tools like Zoom and GitHub for straightforward workflow administration.

B. Pricing

ClickUp provides a free plan with restricted options. Paid plans begin from $9/consumer monthly. 

C. Customer rankings

• G2: 4.7/5 (5500+ critiques)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (3500+ critiques)

3. Slack for immediate messaging

Slack is a communication instrument that allows you to join together with your crew on-line, primarily by way of instantaneous messaging, making managing remote workers easy. It’s additionally a well-liked Microsoft Teams various. 

A. Key options

• Create particular channels for communication with particular person workers, groups, and challenge members.
• Communicate together with your digital crew utilizing video conferencing (restricted to fifteen contributors) and display screen sharing.
• Use the Slackbot to set alerts and reminders, create customized responses, and extra. 
• Organize discussions utilizing threads. Start a thread from any message to debate duties or initiatives in additional element with out cluttering the principle channel.
• Works on Android and iOS cell units. It can also be appropriate with Mac, Windows, and Linux units. 

B. Pricing

Slack provides a free restricted plan. Paid plans start at $7.25/consumer monthly. 

C. Customer rankings

• G2: 4.5/5 (30,000+ critiques)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (22,000+ critiques)

4. Zoom for video conferencing

Zoom is a video conferencing resolution and a well-liked Skype various that offers groups synchronous communication options. 

With Zoom, you possibly can maintain a digital assembly and additionally document your video and audio calls to evaluation later.

A. Key options

• Host a crew assembly or webinar for as much as 100 contributors with the free plan.
• For detailed discussions or troubleshooting, you need to use the display screen share function. 
• Join Zoom conferences and video calls from any Android or iOS machine. 
• Divide a gathering into smaller teams with Breakout Rooms.
• Enjoy digital social occasions like Zoom pleased hours.

Want to learn to create Zoom Breakout Rooms? 

Check out our step-by-step information. 

B. Pricing

Zoom has a free plan, and its paid plan begins at $14.99/license monthly.

C. Customer rankings

• G2: 4.5/5 (52,400+ critiques)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (13,400+ critiques)

5. Google Workspace for file administration 

Google Workspace (previously GSuite) is a well-liked, cloud-based file administration system. It enables you to share recordsdata together with your crew and collaborate on paperwork in real-time. 

Like Microsoft Office 365, it has a number of tools and cell apps for creating and sharing recordsdata.

A. Key options

• Create and edit textual content paperwork inside your browser with Google Docs.
• Integrate Google Workspace with numerous third-party apps (time monitoring, challenge administration, and so on.) to maximise productiveness. 
• Share on-line calendars together with your crew. These calendars combine together with your different Google Workspace apps, together with Gmail, Drive, Contacts, Sites, and Meet. 
• Store, entry, and share your recordsdata together with your remote crew in a single place with Google Drive. 

B. Pricing

Paid plans begin at $6/consumer monthly, and a free 14-day trial is out there (no bank card required). 

You can entry Drive, Docs, and just a few different options with restricted cloud space for storing at no cost you probably have a Google account.

C. Customer rankings

• G2: 4.6/5 (40,200+ critiques)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (14,000+ critiques)

6 Best practices for managing remote groups

Successfully managing remote workers generally is a difficult course of. 

Some frequent challenges related to teleworking embody:

• Low productiveness because of the absence of in-person supervision.
• Distractions because of working from residence — for instance, members of the family disrupting work. 
• Lower high quality of labor as a result of inadequate entry to info.  
• Social isolation, which might have an effect on the psychological state of a remote worker.

Despite these challenges, remote work strategies will be profitable. 

Here are just a few finest practices for managing remote groups effectively:  

1. Communicate successfully 

Communication and collaboration are the cornerstones of a profitable remote work settlement. 

If an worker is new to a remote working surroundings, it’s important to examine in with them every day to keep away from them feeling overwhelmed. You might use e-mail, texts, telephone, and video conferencing for extra detailed face-to-face interactions. 

Keep in thoughts that communication points exist already in most conventional workspaces.

However, they are often even worse in a remote work association.

That’s why you need to talk clearly, merely, and typically with each remote employee in your crew.

2. Have the appropriate assets in place  

Ensure your crew has the technological assets they want for profitable remote work beforehand. 

Your remote workers might require {hardware} like laptops, higher WiFi, and new residence workplace gear akin to headsets or webcams.

Additionally, you should present your remote crew with the required software program and applications wanted for environment friendly workflows. 

Once you’ve adopted the appropriate software program tools, guarantee workers know tips on how to use them. Offer further coaching to your remote crew members if crucial. 

Moreover, guarantee you’ve gotten an onboarding guide for brand new recruits, clearly explaining tips on how to use the tools you’ve acquired. 

3. Focus on outcomes

Rather than micromanage a employee all through the day, it might assist in the event you targeting the outcomes of the remote job. 

Ensure that workers full initiatives independently quite than managing how they perform each step in direction of the purpose.  

Managers ought to give attention to:

• Making positive the objectives are clearly outlined.
• Giving remote crew members the liberty to make their very own choices.
• Providing a remote work coverage that helps versatile work preparations for workers, akin to letting them set their working hours.

These are good methods of constructing belief between you and your crew when working remotely.

4. Encourage social interactions

When managing remote workers, you need to encourage them to work together with their colleagues.

In a bodily workplace, workers usually collect across the watercooler to debate non-work associated subjects. However, with remote administration, this kind of social interplay would require extra deliberate motion utilizing collaboration tools. 

You might contemplate organizing a digital pleased hour, a digital get together, a digital crew assembly, and different digital actions to advertise remote worker engagement and teamwork. 

If you carve out time for conversations between crew members, they’ll perceive your organization tradition higher and really feel like a part of the crew. It will even construct belief and enhance collaboration amongst crew members. 

Want to arrange some enjoyable gaming periods in your remote crew? 

Check out our article for 12+ Slack Games And Apps For Remote Teams.

5. Recognize workers 

By nature, human beings crave appreciation and recognition, even when working remotely. 

It’s important to have strategies in place to make sure workers really feel valued and appreciated.

Here are just a few methods of offering digital recognition to remote workers:

• Provide common, well timed suggestions to workers by way of digital conferences.
• Share worker recognition posts by way of the corporate’s social media pages. 
• Acknowledge workers’ achievements by personally reaching out.

This will enhance worker engagement and productiveness, as workers who really feel appreciated usually tend to be productive. 

6. Keep a watch on worker well-being 

The draw back of a remote work settlement?

It can result in loneliness and isolation, particularly if workers are used to the normal, in-office tradition. 

So, you should promote an organization tradition that values your worker’s bodily and psychological well-being.

Here are some easy steps to assist the well-being of your remote workforce:

• Set clear work and private time boundaries to make sure a correct work-life stability. 
• Provide an Employee Assistance Program. 
• Offer well-being and health actions to help in managing stress. 
• Use digital conferences to examine in together with your remote workers. 

Ensuring workers’ psychological and bodily well being integrity can increase productiveness, enhance progress, and lower worker turnover charges. 

Final ideas

Remote work is right here to remain, and whereas it provides a variety of advantages, managing remote workers can current a singular set of challenges. 

Fortunately, having fun with the advantages of remote work turns into a lot simpler with the appropriate tools and strategies.  

Implement the tools and ideas instructed right here in your managing remote workers toolkit, and main your remote crew shall be a stroll within the park.

Why not begin by signing up for Time Doctor’s 14-day free trial right now?