There is much concern from business owners, senior management and team leaders about how to engage, motivate and maintain performance of their workforce while working from home.
Having clarity on what your team is working on and when they are online, whilst not appearing like a ‘spy’ is a fine balance. You want to ensure that you are aware of any issues with productivity, as well as being able to support your team should they need additional training or upskilling. Not only will this allow managers to spot issues in productivity and skills, it will also give them peace of mind that their team is dedicated to their roles and responsibilities and they are continuing to work effectively during this time.
For most organisations, the option to work from home will now be offered to their team in the future. Once they have had a taste of what it’s like, it’s hard to take that away, especially if they have proven themselves with effective output.
For now, many performance reviews, feedback sessions and productivity tracking will be being executed across organisations. But how exactly do you do those essential managerial tasks when you arent face to face with your wider team?
What To Consider When Measuring Productivity From Home
How are you evaluating productivity? For example, do you have any processes in place, do you have transparency on output? Many organisations are referring to digital tools and platforms that do this for them, rather than a manual follow up email or phone conversation.
- How are you facilitating remote working? For example, have you provided additional technology, have you provided the infrastructure to communicate fluidly? For most organisations, a simple laptop or mobile phone will be enough, but you should also consider beyond that, do they need additional software or technologies to carry out their job in full.
- How will you communicate messages from the top of the organisation? For example, how are crisis communications shared? How do you ensure front line staff have received a message? No only is communication essential in a time of crisis, it is also important to understand whether the message you are communicating has been received loud and clear.
- How will you ensure feedback is communicated? For example, are their processes in place that allow people to give feedback and communicate without being face to face? Most organisations are reverting to video calls or group phone calls, some of these are paid platforms so it’s best to plan ahead with your subscriptions.
StaffCircle is a Leicester based software company offering a free 90-day licence of its performance management software to all types of businesses. The performance management software allows businesses to manage colleagues, set objectives, carry out performance reviews and so much more, in turn managing and enhancing employee productivity from afar.
The platform allows for complete clarity and transparency across multiple teams, locations and job functions. Communicating with your entire workforce ensures you are still working towards your corporate goals whilst keeping culture in mind. Communication with your workforce can include anything from performance reviews to crisis comms, internal meeting updates or setting objectives. It is important to ensure all of these activities continue at a normal rate, rather than slowing down during ‘lock-down’. Colleagues need communication and reassurance now more than ever. Setting objectives and offering performance reviews is the perfect way to build confidence and improve productivity whilst maintaining company culture.
Why It’s Important To Set & Communicate Clear Objectives
- Giving clarity over the direction of your organisation ensuring everyone is working towards the same goal.
- Providing clear objectives on mobile, tablets and desktops ensures that all employees, staff and managers are always aware of what is expected of them.
- Allowing for progress changes and comments to be seen by both employees and managers means that those involved can see performance and how it is related to the objective and intervene if needed.
StaffCircle’s aim is to capture coordination between staff, top management and everyone else.
Mark Seemann, CEO explains, “You don’t need to be in the same room to directly engage with your staff effectively and if you do need to ‘keep track’ of them, get the right tools to help you do this, in real-time. You can still create a shared vision, motivate your staff, help them to achieve their objectives, set tasks and manage performance – now is the time to trust technology and put any prior nerves or uncertainties aside.”
It’s not just about the here and now of performance management software, there is also the progression and ability to reward staff for their achievements and success in their work, which is key to motivation especially at a time like this.
