Many workplaces are now arms-length environments, involving remote workers, and being managed from a distance.
This workplace agility brings certain advantages in terms of responsiveness and adaptability, as well as the potential to reduce costs, but it also comes with challenges.
“For remote management, you must foster cohesiveness and help to keep your employees feeling connected,” advises Tim Groves of Addtime. “It is also important to have the essential back office software in place to manage remote team members.”
“You have to strike the correct balance between giving people their freedom and ensuring that, as an asset, your employees are not going to prove too costly”
This is where the scalability of workforce management software solutions can prove invaluable.
Connecting and Managing
Remote managers must set clear standards of communication for staff, defining what channels to use, and how often. Web-based technology now means employees working remotely can access shared software and use video conferencing for direct communication, but it is still necessary to embed a sense of cohesiveness in a dispersed work environment.
“Surveys have shown that, on the whole, remote workers are satisfied and do feel valued,” Tim observes, “but this is not something a business can take for granted.”
At the same time, it is critical that remote management involves setting clear goals and defining responsibilities.
“With remote working, transparency becomes vital, as does having the right workplace administrative systems in place to ensure that those staff working remotely are still covered by HR and payroll administration”
Monitoring and Recording
The relative independence and freedom of remote workers requires that they are made aware of their responsibilities, just as their management has its responsibilities and duty of care towards them.
“State-of-the-art workforce management software helps improve visibility for all concerned,” Tim points out. “It can monitor timekeeping, sickness absence and holidays, and it can give employees access to the necessary data so that they too are always up to speed with their attendance and days off.”
“Although many UK businesses still cling to physical paperwork as their chief means of HR administration, remote working challenges this and is a driver for change and companies adopting electronic workplace management solutions”
“The software has clear advantages beyond its flexibility in not being paper-based,” Tim concludes. “It also allows the user to integrate various strands of HR and payroll management, presenting a fully, joined-up administrative system.”
The legacy of adopting new software for tasks such as timekeeping is far reaching in improving systems and helping enable growth. If you believe that this is valuable to your business, please call Addtime on 01942 272061, or visit addtimerecording.co.uk.
