By 2025, at least 1 in 5 workers will be remote. Remote work is here to stay for millions of people in America. For some, this is news worth celebrating. Remote workers report being 22% happier and 30% more productive at work from their home office.
For some remote workers, however, the transition has been difficult. Working from home erodes boundaries between professional and personal life. 75% of remote workers have reported feelings of stress and burnout. 37% say they work longer hours now than they did in the office. For some, this is because it’s hard to “unplug” from their job after a long day. Stepping away from the computer at lunch can make an enormous difference as well, but too many don’t do it.
If the stress comes to be too much, what was the purpose of working from home in the first place? To best capture benefits of the remote experience, employees should find ways to track their time working. Done right, keeping up with working hours can help workers identify where their time is being spent. When workers see how much of their day gets swallowed up by unimportant tasks, they can prioritize what’s really important to them. Tracking time can also help workers schedule breaks and time off when they need it the most.
Similar to remote work, tracking time is only beneficial if it’s implemented correctly. Otherwise, logging hours becomes one more unproductive task workers force themselves to complete. Prior to the pandemic, employees signed into their work day with a key card opening their door to the office. Sadly, most remote employees don’t keep RFID scanners on their desks. Instead, one possibility for tracking when they log on and off is facial recognition software. It checks when employees begin and end their day.
