Managing a remote team isn’t a walk in the park. There are many challenges a manager must overcome in order to keep the output levels high, satisfy clients, as well as keep the employees happy.

Misinformation, lack of proper collaboration and direction are the issues distributed teams face quite other. Luckily, all these issues can be resolved if you put enough thought into them, hire the right people, and use the correct set of tools.

One of the tools remote managers seem to enjoy the most is the employee time tracking software, yet the tool can be misused in such ways that it creates a completely counterproductive effects. Today, we’ll speak of some of the things you can’t overlook when implementing and using such software with your remote workforce.

Legal Concerns

If you want to track employees’ time in India, it’s not enough you just send them a link to download software. The labor and privacy laws in India might be completely different than those in your own country. Which is why you must consult labour law and privacy law specialists from the country of your employees’ residence before making any moves.

The specialists will be able to tell you whether you must obtain employees’ consent, notify them in advance, as well as what you can and can’t monitor (and to what extent). You should know that employee time tracking software is rarely illegal, but every country might have requirements you must adhere to in order to use it.

Technical Requirements

Another factor you should take into consideration is the equipment your team is using. In all likelihood, your employees are working on their own computers, which means some of them are using Macs, others are using laptops which run on Windows operating system, and some might even be using Linux.

Although the majority of software can run on virtually any operating system, you should double check. There are tools which will be suitable for macOS and Windows, but not for Linux, and so on.

Also, the software of your choice should be lightweight. You shouldn’t assume everyone owns a computer which runs fast and can handle any kind of tool you install on it.

Employees’ Privacy

Even though the law maybe isn’t restricting you when it comes to which activities you should monitor, you should still use the tracker in an ethical way. Think about it this way, you wouldn’t want someone monitoring on your activities while you’re on a break, or when you decide to scroll Facebook for 15 minutes to get some rest from the task you’re working on.

You should follow the same rules when it comes to using the employee time tracking software.

Don’t Let the Software Replace Human Contact

You can use the time tracker for improving various areas of your business. Additionally, it serves as a perfect support for delivering data-based employee evaluations. However, employers get carried away easily and only pay attention to the data the software provides.

This should in no way be a replacement for the good old talk. If you notice any abnormalities in your employees’ productivity levels, invite them for a meeting, explain your worries and let them clarify what is happening. It’s possible they’re currently feeling stressed due to the amount of workload on their plates, and you shouldn’t be nitpicking.

Wrap Up

Benefits of the time trackers are numerous, both for you and your employees. While you’re getting improved project outputs and profitability, your employees are becoming more organized, and they know they’re fairly paid for every minute they spent working. It really is a tool that can transform any business, and we definitely recommend you give it a go.