Last Updated on March 13, 2024 by Umer Malik
If you are a boss and you are working with your team remotely, it is normal that one of the questions that surrounds your head the most now is: what is the performance of my collaborators in such?
Even more so if your company had never implemented this modality before and had to do it in a hurry due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
At this time, you must be dealing with the difficulty of objectively and reliably evaluating the performance of your team in teleworking. We know it’s not easy, but “what is not measured cannot be managed”. Nor does it improve.
For this reason, in this article we will give you some ideas on how companies can measure the performance of their staff when they telecommute.
Methods to measure performance in teleworking
There are several alternatives. So you will have to find the one that best suits the type of work they do, the internal processes of the area, the culture of the team and your leadership style. Technology will also play a fundamental role, of course. But if you don’t see to it that the team works first, no app will solve it.
The fastest way to measure job performance remote is through the metric output (output metrics).
These figures allow you to measure very specific deliverables such as the number of social media posts, fixed bugs, or resolved support tickets. But this is just one way to do it, you can also use one of these techniques:
- Goal measurement
- Task checklist
- Feedback system
We will explain each of them in detail below. Keep reading!
Table of Contents
Goal measurement
By working remotely, bosses can’t be focused on verifying that their employees are connected. You must give them autonomy so that they can organize their day and demand only the fulfillment of results within the established deadlines.
The best way to measure results is by creating good goals. And a good way to create them is by following the SMART methodology. Each goal must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and have a time limit. An example of a smart goal for the marketing department could be:
“Increase organic visits to the website by 50% (from 1,000 to 1,500 per month) before the end of the month.”
In addition, it is a practical way of letting employees know what results are expected from their work. Keep in mind to be as detailed as possible on each goal. According to Forbes , the probability of errors increases by up to 40% when employees do not know what results to achieve.
Task checklists
During this period of change, especially if it is the first time your team is telecommuting, we recommend that you do daily task checklists . Although the periodicity of the follow-ups may vary according to the experience and autonomy of your team.
It is a short meeting , hopefully at the beginning of the day, in which everyone reviews the pending activities , each one is assigned and deadlines and delivery conditions are established . At the end of the day, they can meet again to assess progress or challenges encountered.
However, this does not mean that each employee must work in isolation. It’s up to you to help facilitate collaboration by assigning team activities, as 20% of telecommuters recognize that cooperating with colleagues is challenging.
feedback sessions
Another very useful way to measure performance is through a feedback system. A great alternative that works to maintain staff confidence and maintain teamwork.
Sure, you may talk to your entire team daily or even separately to each of them. But you need a concerted space between you and the staff where they can talk about their performance, behavior and areas to improve in teleworking. You can ask questions like:
- What has been the biggest challenge doing telecommuting?
- In what way have you continued your functions?
- How would you rate your performance now versus what you had in the office?
- Is there a problem or challenge that you feel has affected your performance?
- Do you think that the collaboration with your colleagues has improved, worsened or remains the same?
- Do you agree with the way we measure results?
Some companies go further. At CanIRank.com, for example, they evaluated their employees through 4 two-question surveys in which they asked about the strengths and improvement aspects of their leader, their colleagues and themselves. An open and honest 360 feedbacks can be the opportunity to detect errors, delays or non-compliance with activities.
Other ways to measure productivity
Monitoring tools:
In recent weeks, tools such as Workpuls, a software for employee monitoring have become popular, which allow tracking the time an employee spends on the computer. There are also alternatives to monitor keyboard and mouse movements.
These systems also keep track of the programs used and the sites visited.
However, it goes without saying that these types of measurements increase the employee’s sense of mistrust of the company and can pose privacy risks.
Gamification
Another alternative is gamification. You can apply a scoring system with which you encourage healthy competition among employees and thus choose the employee of the month promoting behaviors that improve performance.
Working remotely implies a change in the mindset of the leaders, which begins with trusting the people on the other side. And we are not talking about trusting that you will be sitting in front of your computer from 8 am to 6 pm.
It is trusting that, despite not being in the office, employees will achieve results because of the commitment they feel to your company.
Undoubtedly, in this process it will be key that managers adopt new ways to measure the performance of their team in teleworking and rely on digital systems capable of simplifying the monitoring of results and the delivery of valuable feedback.
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