Attendance can be configured and timings of office employees be tracked through time attendance software. What’s more? Attendance management systems can be used even for employees working from remote locations.
The whole idea behind managing the attendance of your remote workforce should be to increase employee engagement at this time of COVId-19 scare. When you track employee hours worked, you can have a better idea of how they are utilizing the shift hours. Accordingly, you can offer them reinforcements to keep their enthusiasm high even in dismal times.
An effective strategy for managing your remote teams’ attendance can help improve the overall operational efficiency and bring benefits to employees.
Managing Remote Teams & Their Productivity
Employees working from home are often stereotyped as lazy, someone who is lying idle most of the time and procrastinating about work. However, many recent researches debunk this stereotype!
As per the Flexjob survey, 66 percent of the respondents achieved higher productivity when working from outside the office. 76 percent of them highlighted on the fact that there is much less distraction when they work from home than the office.
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Benefits of Having a Remote Workforce
The remote workforce setup comes with its own benefits, both for the employees and the employer.
Benefits for Employees |
Flexible Work Schedule |
Lesser Distractions |
Saves Commutation Time |
Employees can map their productive hours better |
Can achieve better work-life balance |
Benefits for Employers |
Reduced operational costs |
Improved employee retention |
A chance to work with the diverse pool of applicants |
No spacing issues at the workplace |
Less cases of absenteeism |
Smart Tips to Manage Employee Attendance for Remote Teams
Technologies like attendance management systems facilitate more organised work processes that lead towards higher employee engagement. Besides, productivity also gets improved in the process. Here are a few tips to manage employee attendance when they are working remotely:
- Adopt Video Conferencing to Create an Inclusive Work Culture
Video and voice calls continue to be a great way to stay connected, irrespective of the distance that may exist. Better communication channels so often serve to motivate in such a way that they bring out the best in us in terms of work productivity and efficiency.
Video conferencing channels ensures direct communication between employees and the team lead, thus the chances of any slack on part of workforce is partly reduced. Through virtual means, you can stay in touch with your employees and involve them in brainstorming, decision making and other critical business processes.
- Document Every Action & Achievements
Online tools obviously have made documentation tasks easy even if the files are heavy or complicated. During situations where remote working is the necessity, platforms such as time and attendance software help in documenting time schedules for clock-in/out, file shared/received and other relevant information. Documentation is thus an absolute necessity for tracking and managing time as well as attendance. At the same time, you need to document employee achievements to make them feel appreciated and valuable for your organization.
- Regular Employee Engagement Activities
Conduct fun and rapport building activities for your remote workforce on weekly, or biweekly basis to create a supportive work environment. Give each employee an opportunity to share their achievements and you can share any recent developments related to company’s growth.
This way the employee would feel connected to the company and earn some ownership towards her or his responsibilities. Once an employer is able to ensure this, diligence in attendance too would not remain a far-fetched goal.
- Invest in Time attendance software
Employee attendance can be accurately managed through time tracking software. Get one such software to monitor the working hours of your workforce, their leaves/ holidays as well as the shift schedule. Even your remote employees can punch in and out from anywhere to record the attendance and data related to shift timings.
- Manage a Daily Work Calendar
Create a daily work calendar for every work from home employee with their KRAs clearly defined. Your employees can fill in their day-to-day work report on the calendar. This will help analyzing their performance efficiently and providing feedback accordingly.
Best Tools to Track Employee Attendance When Working Remotely
Automate workflow, maintain attendance records, manage payroll processes and other aspects of business model to reducing costs of operation with the right employee attendance software. Read on further about different attendance and time management solutions for tracking the pace of work.
Qandle
Qandle HR management software and its mobile app are widely used by businesses to manage the leave and attendance of their on-premise and on-field employees. And, if your remote workforce has any query regarding their leave status or attendance, they can ask directly to QanBot. It’s an AI-enabled chatbot that provides quick answers to all your employees’ queries.
Key Features of Qandle
- Allows on-field employees to mark attendance through Qandle mobile app
- Auto check-in for employees as soon as they enter office premises
- Sends push notifications to managers and they can take actions directly through the app.
- Managers can approve or reject leave request with a single tap
- No need to have biometric machine in your office, as it tracks attendance automatically
- Employees get automated reminders if they forget to mark their attendance.
Pricing: The price of Qandle HRMS starts at ₹2450 per month for 50 users.
Kissflow


KissFlow leave management software is a project/process management software used for managing, tracking and optimising different aspects of work. The contactless attendance system does this by automating workflows to organise business processes. There are also built-in within the software project templates to make this work streamlining process more detailed. Take advantage of this staff attendance software’s custom/pivot reports and help desk tickets.
Key features of KissFlow:
- Journey map
- Approval cycle management
- Control charts
- SLAs
- Workflow assignment algorithm
- Webhooks
- Interflow automation
- Ageing metrics
- Report filters
Pricing: Price details are available on request. Feel free to connect with us for accessing pricing details.
TimeDesk Attendance Management


TimeDesk attendance management software is used by HR departments, administration and accounts for generating custom reports. Multiplayer features such as advanced find, chart highlighting monthly/weekly status, memos and advisory view are available for generating such reports.
Key features of TimeDesk attendance management:
- Graphical reports
- Leave/OT module
- Automatic transfer
- Auto emailer
- GUI based windows application
Pricing: The staff attendance software is priced at ₹3000. You need more details, feel free to contact us.
OfficeTimer


OfficeTimer employee time tracking software is also used for HR modules and projects management. The online attendance system helps in configuring timesheets, classifying expenses as billable/non-billable as well as comparing costs of projects. You are also free to use mobile app, web app and geo tagging for tracking the location of your remote workforce.
Key features of Officetimer:
- Shift management
- Self service portal
- Gantt charts
- Team chat
- Overtime calculator
- Multiple billing rates
- Percent complete tracking
Pricing: While the software is available at a monthly price of ₹315, you are free to get in touch with us for accessing more details regarding pricing and features offered.
ubiAttendance


ubiAttendance management software is used for tracking time and location of employees in real time. Staff can easily log their visits and you can track their time and attendance through the system. To ensure full transparency in employee attendance, ubiAttendance uses combined features such as selfie plus location plus time plus user ID.
Key features of ubiAttendance:
- Payroll reports
- Advanced analytics
- Location tracker
- Biometric attendance
- Groups attendance
Pricing: ubiAttendance management system monthly plan is available for ₹300. Get in touch with us for more details.
Keka HRMS


Keka HRMS software aids in simplifying work processes for managing employee performance. The software is also used as time and attendance software for calculating leave, attendance and information related to individual employees. Because of these combined capabilities, Keka is used for payroll processing as well.
Key features of Keka HRMS:
- Expense calculator
- Attendance and payroll management
- Timesheets
- Statutory compliance
- Employee finances
- GPS attendance
- Applicant tracking
Pricing: Keka is available on monthly basis for ₹6999. Please contact us for accessing more details regarding the pricing plans.
Zoho People


Zoho People attendant management software is used for tracking and managing attendance, leave and work timings. The software performs organised data collection for cross department analysis and quick data transfer. You can also use this platform for automatic employee profile synchronisation.
Key features of Zoho People:
- Form customisation
- Real time collaboration
- E-signature
- Central database for employee information
- HR analytics
- Roaster management
Pricing: The software charges ₹50 per head/employee in an organisation. Please request a call back from us for more details.
Summary
Employee attendance gets regularized through time and attendance software. To find more options for the best attendance management software for your remote workforce, you can check the exhaustive list here.