How to assess productivity in a remote context

Assessing productivity is something companies would consider in the first place when offering remote work opportunities for their employees. Depending on a business sector, technology, working schedules and specialised discipline, they can apply a range of approaches varying from the time logging to culture shift in order to have their business targets met.

For instance, in a systematic UN agency, when robust performance management components like SMART goal setting, annual appraisals, and feedback culture are in place, managers can clearly set expectations and check the results occasionally following the performance management cycle. In contrast, an IT outsource company would require their personnel to do time logging and Jira task management regularly to monitor productivity and provide clients with valid invoices. However, both would rely on some project management frameworks while planning activities and evaluating results to keep up on priorities and report diligently on outcomes.

Strategies used for measuring productivity in a remote context differ from those we used to apply in the office setup, and are based on several fundamental principles:

1. Trust your employees that they would do their best to meet business goals. In order to evaluate people’s experiences at a workplace, you can use employee motivation and work engagement measurements.
2. Build a result-oriented culture focusing on showing productivity rather than just tracking hours, clarify roles and assign accountability for results.
3. Ensure you have a robust performance management system in place, including goals setting, feedback giving, prioritising and regular progress tracking.

To sum up, building the enabling environments which support intrinsic motivation and personal accountability, could be a sustainable solution to consider while choosing to the remote mode.