Working remotely became the norm for many people all over the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While remote working was becoming more popular pre-pandemic, the COVID crisis certainly accelerated the uptake in this trend more than anyone could have imagined. Many companies were apprehensive about the move but with restrictions preventing people from going to the workplace, they were left with no choice but to embrace this new remote approach. In a lot of cases, the results were much better than companies expected with staff striking a better work/life balance and being happier and more productive in their roles as a result.
With restrictions beginning to lift, many companies are continuing to embrace the remote working model. To manage teams effectively moving forward, business owners are embracing scheduling software. This software allows business owners and managers to streamline their schedule creation processes. Accessing historical data, automating processes and communicating with staff about schedule changes directly through the platform makes it easier than ever for business owners to manage their remote employees. What’s more, you can also save time using scheduling software like this that you can dedicate to areas of the business where your skills are more useful, instead of being stuck to your desk trying to figure out your staff schedules each week.
Let’s take a closer look at the important role that rostering plays in managing a remote team.
Track Employee’s Work Hours With Ease
Creating a roster for your remote team each week allows you to track exactly how many hours your team is working. You can require that your team clock into work each day so you know what time they started work, what time they finished and any breaks that they took throughout the day. This makes it easier than ever for you to keep track of your employee’s work hours.
Stay On Top Of Your Payroll Obligations
Paying your employees the right amount, and on time, is important. While you won’t get any praise for paying your employees what they are owed on time, you can be sure that morale will be badly affected if you fail to pay your employees on time or pay them less than they have earned. Using scheduling software, you can create a roster with ease and keep track of the hours each team member works so you can stay on top of your payroll obligations with ease.
Ensure You Are Always Adequately Staffed
No matter what type of business you operate, you need to ensure that you always have enough staff on the clock to meet the needs of your clients. Having a roster in place each week, your staff will know what days and times they are working in advance. You can look back at historical rostering data to see how many staff were on that day and use this knowledge to create an effective roster now. With the right approach to creating your staff roster, you can ensure that you always have enough staff to meet the demands of your customers.
Avoid Overworking Your Staff Members
Workplace burnout is a real thing and it’s important that you don’t overwork your team. While overtime might be required or offered from time to time and the same employees continue to burn the candle at both ends, they will eventually crash and you will find yourself operating with limited staff. Creating a roster for your remote team allows you to easily track how many hours each of your team are working each week so you avoid overworking staff.
Manage Time-Off Requests Efficiently
Having a system in place to manage time-off requests is crucial, especially when you are managing a remote team. If your team emails you their time-off requests, this can become very difficult to keep track of and it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. With staff scheduling software, on the other hand, your staff can simply let you know their availability so that you can create a roster that is suitable for everyone. Sharing the time-off requests directly through the platform ensures that when you sit down to see who is available to work, you have all of the information right there in front of you to create an effective staff schedule for the upcoming week.
Put A Reliable System In Place To Manage The Roster For Your Remote Team
Rostering is just as crucial, and perhaps even more important when you are managing a remote team. When you are not working in the same physical location as your team, it can be difficult to keep track of their work hours so you stay up-to-date with payroll. With the right staff scheduling system in place, you can ensure that you create effective staff rosters and manage your team with greater confidence moving forward to help your business thrive.
