The researchers found that companies that allow employees to work remotely at least three times a month can increase annual profit growth by at least 10% compared to companies that do not practice this approach. And some firms with this policy in relation to their employees and link their success. But we are not talking about the fact that there is no control over the work of the staff at all, just employees can choose over which project and in what capacity they will work.

Some large organizations claim that thanks to the remote work of employees they are working to increase productivity. A detailed study by LRN showed that firms where employees have a higher degree of freedom are 10 to 20 times more likely to overtake firms where workers have a low level of freedom. However, do not confuse this with permissiveness and lack of control over the work of staff.

If your employees are able to do the job qualitatively and on time without being in the office, then you need to give him that opportunity, and time tracking with screenshots will not deliver in that case any problems. To bring the spirit of freedom to the collective, you need to go three steps.

1. Find out what kind of freedom your employees need, and try to act in accordance with their wishes.

The needs of the staff are very much dependent on the nature of the company’s activities, on the services or goods it provides, on location and much more. You can find out their needs only by asking a direct question. Most often the employee is asked: the opportunity to work remotely, increase the paid vacation, choose a project, remuneration for outstanding contribution to the development of the project, determine his line manager, and make decisions about the path of professional development and growth. When people are serious, the manager will understand this in a personal conversation, hear and evaluate their requests and will not worry about monitoring the work of the staff. If the company is large, and the staff is too much to personally meet with everyone, conduct a few discussions with representatives of different departments.

2. Carefully study the tools for communicating remote employees.

To determine which means your company will use, consult those who already have remote work experience. In addition, such tools will help the supervisor to monitor the work of staff.

3. Speak boldly about the freedom-loving orientation of your organization.

Today, the possibility of working remotely for candidates on the labor market is a competitive advantage of the company. Such a brand, where there are pleasant nuances and flexibility in the company’s policy, attracts professionals more. If the rules of your company are really attractive to potential employees, be sure to tell them about it on the official page of the company and mention at the interview. Do not miss the opportunity – use this competitive advantage. Do not be afraid that the candidates mistakenly think that there is no control over the work of personnel in your company. Competent interviewing of the candidate will put everything in its place.

So how can you improve the productivity of managers? We need to rid them of all minor cases, so that only important and serious tasks remain that require their high qualifications and skills. Of course, in the pursuit of total control over the work of employees, the manager can get carried away and start downloading managers on the principle of “not being idle for nothing”.

A recent study convincingly proved that professional managers about 41% of their working hours performed work that does not require their knowledge, skills and qualifications. So why not pass it on to others? After all, this is not beneficial to anyone: neither to the manager, nor to his subordinates (because errors in management affect directly on the team), nor the organization as a whole. If such a problem is revealed in the course of monitoring the work of employees, then it is easiest to transfer this “secondary” work to ordinary workers. But it turned out to be not so simple.

As researchers have found out, often managers cling to routine matters in order to feel themselves needed and show top management that the work is on the limit of strength and capabilities. In turn, the authorities do not mind downloading more line managers.

Which exit? To work was more productive, you need to carefully study what it takes time. Select only those goals and tasks that are important for the position of the manager and the organization as a whole. And the rest should either be transferred to subordinates, or completely discarded. If you approach this case deliberately, you can release about 8 working hours, which is a full-time job. Devoting this time to working with his team or department, the manager can significantly increase real financial performance. How it happened with the leaders who took part in the experiment.

How in the course of monitoring the work of employees to detect such a loss of time? You can, of course, conduct various tests, surveys for managers, trying to identify weaknesses. But it’s more convenient and easier to use time tracking with screenshots to monitor the work of employees. Time tracking with screenshots allows you to identify not only the productive and unproductive time of work of staff, but also non-core expenditures. This is just those segments of the working day, when employees do not do their job, but others’ duties. But for managerial positions the cost of such “non-core” time is much more expensive than for ordinary workers. Why is it in the control of the work of employees and is of particular importance, because it is a matter of significant financial losses. By installing SCREENish time tracking with screenshots, you will always be able to identify this non-obvious cause of staff inefficiency.

1. Get up early

It’s the easiest thing to do – set the alarm an hour earlier. Of course, for this it may be necessary to go to bed early the night before. In the morning, you do not need to immediately put in work. It is better to start the day with something pleasant for you. This will raise the mood and ensure a positive continuation of the day. You do not have to torment yourself with thoughts, how much you have to do, and compensate for the past unproductive. That certainly will have a positive impact on the results of time tracking with screenshots: your productivity will increase.

2. Create a personal “anchor” of the productive mood

Every person has something that introduces him into a productive state, this is a kind of “anchor”. It can be something completely banal, like tea or coffee. But it may not be a drink: an object, music, the order of things, morning news. It’s like a trigger that triggers a state of positive productivity and you are already keeping track of the time for performing an important work task. It creates a sense of stability and returns to a normal working rhythm. Usually a person feels his anchor well, and he enters it in working condition in the morning.

3. Find the time to focus on the task

This helps to bring yourself into working mode. The Wall Street Journal recommends giving it at least 20 minutes a day. To do this, you can even move some other business, but it’s better to spend twenty minutes thinking about it without distracting an important project. It is better to choose a time and place where no one will bother you: turn off the mail, phone and get out in an empty office. During this time, think about what you need to do, rebuild your working attitude and get rid of the sense of guilt for past unproductive. These minutes will also have a positive impact on the positive attitude and will improve the performance of work time records: in less time you can do more.

4. Consider a plan to restore the previous state of affairs

Most often, during unproductive time, there are some unfinished tasks. And usually for them, and I want to take first. But it will be much more productive to draw up a plan for restoring cases, to do this, make a list of all “delinquent” cases and distribute them until the end of the week. Yes, it may be that sometimes you will have to stay at work, which, of course, will affect the accounting of time, but do not overdo it. You will be driven by a desire to get it over with, but overwork will only throw you back. And if you suddenly fail, it will serve as another disappointment. Therefore, the problems should be distributed evenly.

5. Plan strategically

It is better to start with small tasks, such that they will not take more than 15-30 minutes. After their implementation, you will feel a surge of energy and will be ready for the next more serious step. It is also positively affected by the performance of some big and unpleasant cases; this creates a feeling of colossal performance. Time tracking with screenshots will help further build a timetable and strategy for completing the remaining tasks and not be overwrought.