While the above examples can provide a baseline for measuring productivity, it’s crucial that other factors are taken into consideration. The metrics used will naturally ebb and flow to a reasonable degree—the important thing is that a baseline is established and any significant deviations are used as opportunities for leadership to check in on their people.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2. Make performance evaluation purposeful.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When employees are working remotely, there are far fewer opportunities for spur-of-the-moment check-ins. Evaluating the performance of remote workers requires purposeful planning to maintain ample connection with them and get insights into their current workflow. Transparency can be improved by providing remote employees with communication channels where they can demonstrate their efforts. This can include project management tools, planned check-in meetings, and dashboards that can clearly display their progress on the metrics they’ll be evaluated against.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Performance evaluation for remote workers can be improved by considering the insights of those who work closely with them. Ideally, teams with more than one remote employee have shared projects that the remote employees can collaborate on, so you can take advantage of their first-hand insights into their colleague’s effectiveness.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When the time comes for a formal evaluation, a periodical 360-degree review of individual employees that includes feedback from their colleagues, managers, and other relevant parties will help provide greater context for how effectively the employee is working within the organization.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

3. Use shared project management tools.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of keeping an eye on daily or weekly progress, consider implementing tools that can clearly communicate the current status on projects. Project management tools that are publicly available to the team aid accountability by providing everyone with clear indicators of how well each member of the team is advancing on his or her projects. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These tools are also valuable for addressing the communication gap that can emerge in a remote workforce as project status can be clearly seen without the need for a direct check-in each time.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Clear Metrics and Goals<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Assessing the productivity and performance of remote workers is not all that much different from how you would evaluate your in-house staff. The important thing is to carefully plan your performance evaluations with respect to the communication and transparency challenges that are common in distributed teams. With clear metrics and goals in place, your remote workers and leadership will have a clear indicator of employees who are performing well no matter where they work.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n