May 20, 2020, Comment off

How is Your Work-From-Home Policy Going? What Should be Measured to Ensure Work is Getting Done?

COVID-19 found thousands of companies requiring employees to work-from-home. Many were already set up for this because percentages of its workforces already worked from home. Some were scrambling to implement remote-work practices. But for those HR managers thrust into the vortex of creating a policy, working with IT, and helping supervisors and managers with how to measure their employees’ productivity now that we weren’t working face-to-face, some of the policy details might not have been addressed initially.

How is it Going?  

Typically, the initial concern around remote work policies is: will people get the work done? In the case of COVID-19, most companies were most concerned with keeping their employees safe and following government mandates. Two months ago, you may not have needed a specific policy detailing rules and expectations for remote employees. So when elected officials mandated the closing of offices, some HR leaders were left scrambling to develop policies around behavioral standards, equipment ownership, communication preferences, and measurements of success.

Two months later, your new practices are probably pretty established even if you had to start from scratch. Now is a good time to look at your report card. What grade would you give yourself? Here are some things to consider.

Productivity

What measures did you put into place? How do these measures match up against key performance indicators (KPIs) created at the beginning of the year or at an employee’s last performance review? Keep in mind that achieving desired results before the deadline is more important than the number of hours worked.

Response Time

How quickly are remote workers responding to coworkers? Are employees meeting expectations? When coworkers gain access to information in a reasonable amount of time, they’re able to finish their work on time. This keeps everyone moving forward with company goals and promotes productivity and transparency.

Your report card can also measure improved communication skills, examples of support for one another and accountability. Avoid metric overload – especially during this stressful time.

The Right Tools

There are many software options available to monitor employees working remotely. Next month, we’ll talk about these tools, especially if COVID-19 persists, or your company decides that remote workers make great business sense. Stay tuned!

The strongest teams are built on trust and honesty. These traits translate into results, higher morale and a more supportive culture.

When you’re looking to hire remote human resources staff, consider getting help from Arlington Resources. As a winner of Inavero’s Best of Staffing® Award seven years in a row, our client satisfaction scores show we stand out for our service quality. Find out more today.

chicago-hr-recruiters