Help Managing Remote Workers

Guest post by Tony Stokes of Contracting Solutions (New Media)

We are a software solutions provider specializing in Digital Media and Customer Flow Management software employing around 65 staff based here in the UK and Hong Kong.

While tracking staff members and timekeeping in our main offices is not normally an issue we are seeing an increase in the number of coders that prefer to work flexible hours from home. We started the home working scheme over 3 years ago and in general most staff members worked the required hours and were generally productive but we really had no way of recording the hours being worked by each employee. Looking around the market place we found many solutions but most were very expensive or required an on-going monthly payment dependent on the number of staff using the software.

After more searching we came across Flexi-Server Employee Attendance Software which initially we thought was quite cheap in comparison and perhaps would not fit our requirements. Nerveless we downloaded the trial and were amazed that we had it up and running in about ten minutes. Initially we only wanted to record the times that each employee was working and allow them to take breaks and work flexible hours that suited them. We found this initial requirement was very easy to configure and the web dashboard produced all of the statistics we needed.

The new CSMN office in India

During the period of setting up the initial Flexi-Server installation we were in the process of opening a new Office in India to outsource some of our extra coding requirements. We found an existing company and that fitted our requirements and asked them if they would be willing to use Flexi-Server to record each team member's hours to which they agreed. Having put this in place we then looked into the other features offered and found the most invaluable capability of recording screen shots and having them uploaded to our server, this has not only helped us monitor progress remotely but has also allowed us to spot issues and help to get them resolved.

Since then we have we have purchased a majority stake in the Indian company and have made considerable investment in a new office, extra staff and upgrades to the IT equipment. We would not have had the faith to do this remotely had we not had the monitoring, reporting and added peace of mind that Flexi-Server Productivity & Attendance Software provides.

Tony Stokes is Technical Director of Contracting Solutions (New Media), Innovators of Digital Signage, enhanced visual communications and multimedia solutions.

FlexiServer in the Spotlight

Check out the June issue of Smart Computing, a US magazine covering smart computing and consumer electronics in plain English. One of the software programs they chose to spotlight in this issue is our very own FlexiServer Productivity and Attendance Software: a "no more time-cards" business solution that tracks employee check-in and out times, whether they are working in the office or from home.

Make Employees Happy with Flexibility and FlexiServer

I recently read a study on BNet looking at What makes people happy at work. The first thing on the list? Flexible work schedules. When I think about it this seems like an obvious answer. Being able to easily accommodate appointments, or working around class schedules or kids activities; I can quickly come up with a long list of reasons why a rigid 9-5 schedule just isn't the best solution for many employees out there.

So why aren't more offices allowing their employees a flexible work schedule? There are some where it might be difficult, like at a bank, a teller really can only work banking hours when the doors are open for customers to come in. But in an office environment it is more likely that there is resistance from management because having everyone at their desks at the same time makes it easier to ensure that work is getting done and everyone is putting in their hours. If that is the only thing holding managers back from letting someone work, say, Sunday through Thursday instead on the typical Monday through Friday, then there is an easy solution. Using a software program like FlexiServer attendance software for logging information about computer activity and monitoring hours worked based on computer logon and logoff times, managers can more confidently allow employees to work flexible schedules or from remote locations. FlexiServer also provides reports to help management gauge productivity without needing to be a first hand witness to an employee's time spent at their desk. So why not let a software program monitor employee hours for you instead of watching the clock and filling out timesheets?

FlexiServer Creates a More Efficient Work Environment

The Center for Pain Control business manager Peter Graf was having difficulty managing his employees’ computer usage. The Center, which makes it possible for patients to avoid a hospital stay for surgical procedures while helping them to manage pain, has just over twenty employees. Graf wanted to ensure that each employee was using their computer systems efficiently. This is a very real concern for businesses considering how much money businesses are losing due to non-work related internet browsing.

Graf immediately turned to NCH Software, since he had successfully used products of theirs in the past. He came across FlexiServer employee computer usage monitoring software, which he now uses to double-check hours worked, view application use by staff, and to restrict programs and internet sites on necessary computers. “FlexiServer is easy to use and set up,” said Graf.

Using FlexiServer to monitor employees has finally given him the opportunity to get some real work done. “I run a report once a month to see where employees spend most of their time. This freed up more time for actual work,” said Graf. Before FlexiServer, Graf manually entered the hours of every employee into an Excel spreadsheet.

Graf’s favorite feature is the ability to prohibit employees from using programs and internet sites that they shouldn’t be using during work hours. He can also pinpoint which sites viruses were picked up on, and generate reports on employees’ start and end times.

FlexiServer software automatically logs employee time and attendance. It features tools for quality assurance monitoring and reporting, and works with home or remote employees. FlexiServer gives managers the confidence they need to know that work is getting done without needing to micro-manage. The monitoring features are non-invasive and respect the employees' need for privacy, allowing them to enter private mode when necessary, while creating a paper trail that can be referenced if needed.

Making a Case for Telecommuting

I am currently working towards my MBA, and this semester I'm taking an information systems class online. As with all the classes I've taken I try to find a way to relate what we're discussing in class to my life and my job to help make the lessons both more interesting and more useful.

Last week the connection between what we were talking about and work was immediately apparent. We were given a group assignment to develop a plan for a group of employees trying to convince management to allow telecommuting, a request they had flatly refused in the past. FlexiServer Team Management Software is one of our business applications that is designed to track the attendance and computer usage of employees, making it an ideal solution for managing remote employees, so naturally it immediately jumped to mind as a potential solution to overcome management objections. FlexiServer would allow for telecommuting while addressing answering one of the large concerns management might have, how to accurately track the hours and productivity of the telecommuters.

Managers don't want to end up paying an employee for surfing the internet all day and not getting anything done. And there is a concern that this is what will happen when the manager can't see what an employee is doing. Fortunately real-time technology tools for employee tracking not only open the door for telecommuting, but can offer a solution for this concern as well. Using software like FlexiServer allows managers to see reports on employee hours, application use, or optionally screenshots of the employee's computer; giving managers greater peace of mind that work is still getting done.

Also important for the telecommuter, who might be using a personal computer, is the ability to log in and out of work-mode. This allows the employee to log-on when they are doing work related activities to have their hours tracked, and then log-off during non-business hours and not need to worry about their personal computer use being tracked. Similarly, in an office an employee can switch to a private-mode during a break to do something like checking their bank account without worrying about the session being recorded by Flexi or seen by management.

For the assignment, my group chose to use an interrogatories technique. What that boils down to is compiling a comprehensive list of all the possible questions management might have about allowing telecommuting. Questions, such as why the staff wants it to what other companies have in place, to how it could be achieved. Then when you have the list you go through and answer them all in order to help persuade management that telecommuting is a viable business plan despite their initial misgivings. I think that FlexiServer Attendance Software is an answer to one of these big questions, how to manage and track hours of remote and telecommuting staff.