One of the main challenges that always crops up with remote work is productivity. Compared to office workers, it is far more difficult for employers to manage remote workers and ensure that they maintain their productivity. As a result, it often deteriorates over time.
If you want to make sure that your remote workers stay productive, you need to know what the most common productivity killers are – and how you can survive them.
Stress Due to Blurred Lines Between Personal and Work Life
When working from home, the line between personal and work life often becomes blurred – both for employers and employees. Many employers expect employees to be available at all hours, which creates an ‘always on’ work culture that this study has found can increase stress and adversely affect performance and productivity.
To avoid this issue, you should set a specific work schedule – and avoid contacting remote workers outside of work hours. On top of that you could try to encourage them to set up a dedicated work space at home.
Inadequate Work Essentials
In a recent survey by Procurify, only 53% of this survey respondents covered the cost of essentials required for remote work such as computers, printers, fast internet connections, and software. Because of that it should come as no surprise that some remote workers weren’t properly equipped – which in turn will definitely affect productivity.
If you want your remote workers to perform well – you need to foot the bill and make sure they have the essentials they need.
Too Many Distractions
Unlike an office environment, there are far more distractions at home including family, friends, social media, and so on. Making sure remote workers stay focused despite those distractions is difficult, but one of the most effective solutions is to use employee monitoring tools.
If you were to use Controlio, you’ll be able to start tracking the absence of the employee, find out whether they are active or idle, monitor the apps and websites they open, and much more. In turn that will let you determine whether or not remote workers are focused on their work so that you can take further action accordingly.
Isolated and Unsupervised
Remote workers often feel isolated and unsupervised, which can affect their productivity. The best way to avoid that is to monitor them consistently and arrange regular meetings to provide updates and discuss performance.
Needless to say, the data that you obtain from Controlio can help on this front too. For instance, you could monitor the productivity scores it provides and discuss steps that remote workers can take to improve theirs.
Aside from that, checking in on an informal basis can help make sure remote workers don’t feel disconnected and completely isolated.
Poor Ergonomics
As mentioned previously setting up a home office can help make a distinction between work and personal life. However when you do set up a workspace at home you need to make sure that it has ergonomic furniture.
All too often poor ergonomics ends up causing various health issues such as neck and back pain – all of which stem from bad posture. It will lead to stress and fatigue, which will impact productivity.
Conclusion
Now that you know the most common productivity killers for remote work, be sure to take proactive steps and tackle them head on. In fact with the help of Controlio to monitor your remote workers, you’ll be able to spot early warning signs and nip any potential problems in the bud before they get worse.
The fact of the matter is that with the right preparation, you can avoid most productivity killers and make sure that your remote workers stay productive in the long term. Although it will require additional effort on your part, the payoff will be more than worth it.
