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

4 points by zeynalov 11 years ago | 6 comments

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?

darkxanthos 11 years ago |

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.

velocitypsycho 11 years ago |

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.

ashleyp 11 years ago |

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?

seekingcharlie 11 years ago |

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.

logn 11 years ago |

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.

JoeAltmaier 11 years ago |

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