Ask HN: How do you track working time of your remote workers?

#1

Post by zeynalov » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 10:03 PM UTC

What are the best tools you use to track your remote team about what they do and how much time they really spend.

Most tools are for remote freelancers but our team is completely remote and sometimes I have a feeling that my employees just don't work full-time. How can I fix it?

Re: Ask HN: How do you track working time of your remote workers?

#2

Post by darkxanthos » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 10:26 PM UTC

By tracking results not time. That might seem a bit terse and ambiguous. The reason for that is that trust is a huge aspect of employing remote workers. If you've lost that (or never had it) that is the real problem that needs to be solved.

Re: Ask HN: How do you track working time of your remote workers?

#3

Post by JoeAltmaier » Tue, Nov 25, 2014, 10:28 PM UTC

Try Sococo (shameless plug). Users report a higher feeling of connectedness when they can actually see their group talking, meeting, sharing docs.

Re: Ask HN: How do you track working time of your remote workers?

#4

Post by logn » Wed, Nov 26, 2014, 3:52 AM UTC

My former remote boss used to spend his day going through Skype contacts to video conference his reports. His theory was that it's hard to lie face-to-face. He'd basically do one-on-one scrums.

Re: Ask HN: How do you track working time of your remote workers?

#5

Post by seekingcharlie » Wed, Nov 26, 2014, 4:12 AM UTC

We use Slack. You obviously can't track between timezones (if you're asleep & they're awake), but like others said, you need to measure results not time.

If you don't trust your team, you've hired the wrong people.

Re: Ask HN: How do you track working time of your remote workers?

#6

Post by velocitypsycho » Wed, Nov 26, 2014, 7:23 AM UTC

If they aren't working full-time remote, then your issue isn't tracking, it's trust.

You can put a butt in a seat, but if they aren't doing the work remotely, they are only gonna stare at the screen in an office.

What you need to do is track results and have a development process like scrum to keep everything in line.

Re: Ask HN: How do you track working time of your remote workers?

#7

Post by ashleyp » Wed, Nov 26, 2014, 11:28 AM UTC

I feel as a remote worker I do more work. I don't get distracted and will often pull off 6 hours of continual work which, yes, is less than the 8...but I'd never do 6hrs straight of continual work in an office. Too many distractions. What are your expectations?