Don't Rule Out Remote Staff: Get the Most From Them

It would be easy to assume that remote employees are less engaged than their colleagues in the office. For some managers, hard work is synonymous with being present in the office. However, this assumption is misleading and harmful. If remote employees perform just as well as their office-based colleagues, denying remote access could impair a company's ability to attract and retain top talent.

TSheets by QuickBooks, a time tracking software provider, recently conducted two surveys to find out more. In the first survey, remote employees and their managers were asked to reveal their habits and assumptions and to answer a crucial question for employers once and for all: Are remote employees as valuable to employers as office-based employees?

Remote employees take breaks, but bosses are not worried

If you have so far hesitated to hire remote employees or allow your staff to complete part of their work from home because you fear they might occasionally leave their workstation, you are probably right. However, this should not concern you.

In fact, 77% of remote employees handle personal matters during work hours. Nearly 40% even reported spending an hour or more daily on personal matters – and that even during work time.

However, employers claim to be aware of this. In fact, a third of them believed that their employees spent two hours or more each day on personal matters while working from home – a significant portion of an eight-hour shift! So why don’t employers bring their employees back to the office from home? Let’s discuss this.

Employees working from home exceed expectations

Employers report that many of their employees working from home perform better than their colleagues in the office.

Who really knows what many remote employees do for an hour or more each day? Walking the dog? Doing laundry? Picking up the kids from school?

Despite these personal distractions, surveyed employers report that many of their remote employees outperform their colleagues in the office. More than half (59%) rated the performance of their remote employees as "above average," while 36% considered it "average."

Remarkably, while 95% of supervisors rated the performance of their remote employees as equal to or better than their in-office counterparts, many still wished for more. While 54% of employers rated their remote employees as "very productive," 41% said they hoped for even greater productivity.

How to Increase the Productivity of Remote Employees

In the second TSheets survey, employees were asked to rate all possible reasons for their unproductiveness in the office. The three most common distractions – talkative, interrupting, and sick colleagues – are not typical problems for remote employees.

However, if your remote employees are not performing as expected, you should consider other methods for increasing productivity in addition to revoking their remote work privileges. Their remote status may have nothing to do with their performance – otherwise, all your in-office employees would always be performing at their best, right? Here are a few simple tips you can try instead.

Encourage the right breaks for your employees.  

Psychology Today wrote in 2017 that breaks can help with physical and emotional exhaustion, decision-making, and motivation. You already know that employees working from home take breaks, but are they taking the right ones?  

Instead of reprimanding employees who take a 30-minute walk with the dog, you should view such breaks as an opportunity to clear their minds and return to work refreshed. On the other hand, avoid breaks that require high concentration, such as personal planning or problem-solving, as these can further drain focus and reduce productivity.

Clarify the goals of your remote employees.  

When asked what could help them get more work done, 55% of respondents in the TSheets survey on unproductivity said they would be more productive if they had clearer goals. Sometimes, higher productivity means clarifying something that you thought was already perfectly clear.  

Sometimes, higher productivity means clarifying something that you thought was already perfectly clear.

Before you talk to a remote team member about their performance, make sure they are aware of their goals and objectives. Do they know their key metrics and understand what they need to do to meet these expectations? Is there another team member who is achieving their goals and willing to share their success tips in person or via video conference? Is the remote employee being coached like all other employees to achieve the expected results?

Offer even more flexibility.

In cases of performance issues, more flexibility may initially seem paradoxical. Why would you reward poor performance with even more freedom for poor performance? However, as long as the person in question is not deliberately trying to perform worse, this could be the solution.

More than half (61%) of respondents said they are more productive when they have more flexible working hours. If your employees working from home are expected to follow a strict schedule, you should make fixed working hours more flexible. An employee's most productive times can vary from day to day. Therefore, allow your employees working from home to follow their energy, rest when necessary, and then work when they are most effective.

Trust and Appreciation: Remote Employees Deserve Both.

When your remote employees perform well (and the numbers support it), don’t forget to show them your recognition. Most remote employees know they are productive and doing their job well, but many are unsure if their boss sees it the same way. While 99% of surveyed supervisors said they trust their remote employees to work independently, only 72% of employees reported feeling this trust.

Treat your remote employees like any other team member—with supportive coaching and well-deserved praise. This way, you not only attract and retain top talent with the remote work opportunities you offer, but you may also discover your best employees.

The data overwhelmingly confirms that remote work does not hinder productivity; in fact, the majority of remote employees meet or exceed expectations, even while enjoying greater flexibility. The key to sustained high performance lies not in revoking remote privileges but in strategic management focused on communication, trust, and goal clarity. IceHrm provides the operational tools necessary to implement these best practices for remote staff management. With IceHrm's Performance Management module, managers can easily set and track clear goals and key metrics (addressing goal clarity), and its Time and Attendance features can be configured to support the flexible working hours (addressing flexibility) that employees desire. By leveraging these features, organizations using IceHrm can effectively demonstrate the trust and appreciation needed to not just retain remote talent, but to continuously drive their high performance.