Remote work has grown in popularity by leaps and bounds – and shows no signs of stopping due to the benefits it provides. But alongside those benefits are challenges too, and one of the most common is definitely the productivity of remote workers.

Simply put, it isn’t as easy to keep tabs employees when they’re working remotely. And without knowing what they’re up to it is difficult to ensure that they’re actually working – which can affect productivity.

To solve this problem, many companies have started to turn to employee monitoring software like WE Controlio. And in doing so, they’ve realized that it can actually help to improve the productivity of their remote workers – if used in the right way.

Ensure Employees Are Working

The main way that WE Controlio can improve the productivity of remote workers is by ensuring they’re actually working. It does that by monitoring all employee activity, including app usage, websites visited, active/idle time, and more.

With the reports that WE Controlio generates, you can then determine whether or not remote workers are working or wasting time. If necessary you can collect evidence of their activities too by using it to capture screenshots.

Alongside its reports, WE Controlio will also calculate a productivity score for each employee. With that score you’ll have an easy way to compare and contrast the productivity of employees and reward those who are most productive to incentivize others to follow suit.

Eliminate Distractions

Another useful aspect of WE Controlio is the fact that you can use it to eliminate some of the more common distractions such as social media, online video streaming, and so on. It will essentially let you block websites or apps that you feel are responsible for your remote worker’s wasting valuable work hours.

If you want you can set it up to only block such apps or websites during specific hours, and also send employees notifications reminding them of the restrictions. However it should be noted that even if you do that, some employees may feel that restricting certain apps or websites is too intrusive.

To make app or website filters less intrusive, try to avoid overusing it. Only filter out apps or websites that are truly a large distraction – and even then, only in specific situations.

Be Open and Create a Clear Policy

When using employee monitoring software it is important to be open about it. Make it a point to come up with a clear and comprehensive policy that sets out exactly how the software will be used, what it will track, and explains the reasons why.

The policy that you create should be designed to inform employees what to expect, and the ways that employee monitoring will be used. If possible try to provide avenues for your employees to give feedback regarding the policy, and make changes as necessary.

By being open and coming up with a policy, you can avoid many of the ethical issues surrounding employee monitoring. More importantly, employees are less likely to feel that their privacy is being invaded if you explain to them exactly what will be monitored and what won’t.

Conclusion

As you can see, WE Controlio can be a very powerful tool to improve the productivity of remote workers by monitoring their activities. The only caveat is that it needs to be used in an open manner so as to avoid any privacy concerns and ensure that employees don’t find it too intrusive.

If you can make remote workers feel that your monitoring is acceptable, you can reap the rewards while avoiding most of the issues associated with it.