Measuring Results or Managing Performance: Which is Important when Working from Home?

What are leaders and employees worried about work from home?

Managers are often under pressure from finding ways to monitor employees’ activities when they are not at the office, which leads to the establishment of many performance measurements such as checklists, meeting attendance, KPI, etc. However, the lack of interaction has turned performance indicators into employee’s pressure, leading to inefficient operation and low performance.

Employees also have many insecurities when applying new working ways in spite of the increasing of productivity. Employees feel disoriented, lack of connection with managers and exhausted due to the fragility of work-relaxing when they work from home.

A formula for effective management in the new now

Avoid enforcement: performance standards need to be appropriately established (reasonable, realistic) to allow employees freedom and pressure-free.

Avoid subjectivity: An effective manager has to focus on evaluating based on objective, neutral and fair criterion since there are many distractions when working from home.

More exchanges: Effective management – means listening to employees more to provide effective ways of working and coordinating. Leaders can encourage their teammates to give more respond with satisfaction surveys, one-by-one meetings, or “breaking the ice” sessions – showing a willingness to listen, receive feedback from subordinates.

In the challenging time when the transition of working environment from office to home, the key to keep employees’ engagement and dedication to the company is ingenuity and flexibility in management.