Posted on: April 14, 2021
How hybrid workforce management is crucial for the future of work?
Get startedEvery worker has different reactions towards their working conditions. Some are comfortable working onsite and others are more comfortable while working from a remote location and hybrid workforce management can help in maintaining the two. With exponential growth in Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT), most of the tasks can be performed remotely for which up till onsite presence was mandatory. This has led us to consider that hybrid work will continue to prevail for a long period.
Due to and post-pandemic, several companies have diverted most of their tasks to remote working considering its long-term benefits. The biggest cause of concern now is that some workers can work with ease in a remote location but some of them may find it difficult to work remotely as they are used to working in the office along with their fellow workers which they will be missing in a remote location. This may further affect their and the company’s productivity.
To boost up their morale, HR managers can talk to them individually and address their genuine concerns and instill in them a feeling of belongingness with the organization.
Why is it challenging for organizations?
Following are some of the few challenges experienced by organizations in regards to remote working:
1. Time management
Time Management could be an issue in hybrid workforce management. Here, the remote worker is now not bound by a 9.00 AM to 6.00 PM routine. They may, therefore, find it difficult to manage time at home. They may be distracted from household chores or may not be having a dedicated workspace that is away from any types of distractions. Also, now as they are working on a flexible schedule, they may find it difficult to allocate different time slots for different tasks at hand.
2. Supervision challenges
When employees work from home, they have the liberty to work without any directions and supervision from their managers. It helps them to solve their problems on their own and also allows them in improving their analytical thinking abilities.
However, all the employees are not the same. Some employees need continuous monitoring and supervision otherwise they can easily make wrong decisions which will affect the task and later will eventually impact the reputation of a company.
3. Data security challenges
This is a common challenge for many businesses. Transforming their working mode has been a difficult decision mainly because of keeping the data secure. According to a study conducted by OpenVPN, it was revealed that more than one in three organizations have experienced a cybersecurity incident because of an unsecured remote worker, and around 90 percent of IT workers feel that remote working is not safe and remote workers are at huge risk.
4. Tracking performance
Another significant problem organization faces with their hybrid workers is in keeping a track of their performances. As compared to onsite working where every performance of a worker is tracked and monitored by their superiors or managers, with remote workers, this is not possible. The organizations have no idea whether their remote workers are working meticulously during their working hours or not.
5. Employee feedback
As remote workers are beyond the reach of the company, it becomes difficult for the manager to evaluate their team members either for promotions or increments and for their continuous development. The constant supervision they sued to get while working onsite is lacking while working from home which in turn affects their dedication put into the tasks.
How can organizations tackle these challenges?
Following are some of the solutions that can help organizations to enable hybrid workforce management and overcome the above-mentioned challenges.
Well defined HR policies for remote workers
The need of the hour for the companies is to delegate most of their activities to remote working as it is a win-win for both the companies and employees. But, it is very different for HR managers to manage remote workers as it is against managing the onsite workforce.
To effectively manage remote employees, companies should have a well-defined HR policy that should be clear and without any ambiguity and remote workers should be aware of it. Such HR policies should not only contain the standing instructions and code of conduct but should also mention what it expects from remote workers during the discharge of their duties in remote locations.
There should be transparency in HR policies and HR managers should ensure that employees have read them and understood them. Such HR policies should also describe the limits of infringement on the worker’s privacy which seems necessary for their effective working.
Dealing with data security challenges
There is a huge demand for implementing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) by various types of industries. To prevent any data leakage and deter potential cyber threats, user activity monitoring software can be used to detect malware and ransomware through its complex algorithms in identifying potential cyber threats.
Many companies have started using such technology that helps them in keeping a track of their remote workers by ensuring data safety. Such software contains tools like which allow the user to only use authorized websites which will cease every possibility of data hack or leakage in a work from home setting.
Employee well-being
It happens sometimes where the remote workers who work from different locations might feel like they are not completely accepted in the organization’s culture. They report feelings like loneliness, isolation, stress, anxiety which are not only bad for the employee but also for the company productivity.
To tackle this, the top management can schedule various information sessions for all the employees to catch up with each other and get to know each other. Here, they can connect, and discuss their emotions and experiences through virtual conferencing platforms.
The management can also conduct some workshops or events on mental health where they can provide some stress-relieving techniques. They can conduct live sessions to help the remote employees in controlling their stress and also improving their physical well-being simultaneously.
Employee feedback
To tackle this, there is various evaluation software available like taking screenshots of the remote user screen and keeping a check on their working schedules and styles.
For instance, with the tool like user activity monitoring software for seamless hybrid workforce management, when a remote worker is handling a client and facing any difficulty, their admin will barge in and help their remote workers. With the help of such tools, the manager can evaluate the remote worker and provide them feedback on their performance. They can also discuss if there are any areas of improvement which helps the worker to be more productive during their working hours.
Tracking remote employee performance
With the help of remote employee monitoring software which consists of capabilities to track employee performance behavior, it becomes easy for organizations to identify the gap between actual productivity and sitting idle. Tools like user status that monitors every employee’s online and away status during their working hours differentiate between which employee is actually or barely working.
With the help of the regular screen capture feature of productivity monitoring software, a worker’s screen can be captured at any moment by the supervisor which allows them to get insights into a worker’s engagement and time employees spend on different websites and applications. The screenshots and the data can be later analyzed to identify any unusual behavior detected.
With the help of such tools, it becomes easy for organizations to monitor and keep a tab on each activity that their remote workforce is using or devoting time to during their working hours.
Conclusion
As hybrid workforce management has become crucial for organizations to implement, it is necessary that businesses go for policies and tools comprising capabilities that can foster productivity at the workplace.
The future of work with efficient hybrid workforce management can be achieved with the right strategies and methods and even do wonders if accommodated with the tools like productivity monitoring software.
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