Best Remote Team Productivity & Distraction Management Tips

The remote working trend is increasing day by day. So it is the concern of every manager whether their remote employees are productive or not as they cannot keep an eye on their employees and do not know how and when they work.  

As per a research study, remote workers are more productive than traditional employees. Employees and the organization can also be productive as there are few chances of employees taking sick leave or any extra leave. 

Also, the employees can be hired from any location, so hiring more skilled and trained employees to achieve common goals has more chances.

The advancement of technology has made remote working more accessible and more productive with various tools and applications.

Many employees have admitted that working from home has given them the freedom to complete responsibility in a peaceful and non-pressurized zone than working from an office.

In the modern world of Information Technology, remote work has been more effective than working from an office desk using different virtual grouping applications.

So, if employees are given the option, they prefer to work from home rather than from the office.

There are no restrictions for refreshments and personal breaks, making the work more effective and precise in remote working, leading an employee to become more productive.

How are Remote Employees More Productive?

Compared to employees working inside the office, remote teams are more productive as they take short breaks, few sick leaves, less time off, reduce traveling time, and become more productive. 

Likewise, a remote workforce is beneficial for both employer and employees as an employer can save management costs, furniture expenses, setup expenses, and so on, as well as employees, can save the time and cost of traveling, save cost for canteen foods, get flexibility, and so on. 

However, here are some points on how remote employees are more productive. 

Flexible Schedules

Working from home allows one flexibility. You can work anywhere, including your favorite place or environment, automatically boosting your energy to work.

If you have a laptop and wifi connection, you can knock out your day’s work. 

You can choose any place on the planet that is flexible for you, including your house, beach, different country, coffee shop, etc. 

Similarly, working in a place that makes you happy will lead to better work. A comfortable working environment will increase and enhance the productivity of an organization.

Fewer Distractions

When you hear co-workers gossiping or hear some siren wailing nearby, you may not be able to focus on your work correctly and get distracted. 

So, creating your own office space in a peaceful environment can help you perform regular official duties without any distractions or unnecessary disturbances.

Better Health

While working from home, you can get enough time for exercise, and it is always easy to work without direct external pressure, which helps in soothing mental health. 

You can also have a good diet at home, which is healthy. Avoiding canteen lunch can make you somehow healthier and boost energy throughout the day. Better health gives you positive energy as well as motivation to work. 

Saves Time on Commute 

Saving daily commute time is one of the greatest and most significant advantages of working from home. 

One is very happy to avoid that compulsory travel back and forth from the office, especially in cities where the transportation is more hectic. 

You can save the traveling time and utilize the time to become more productive. 

Distraction Management Tips 

Managing distraction is equally crucial while working remotely. Working from home allows employees freedom, so most employees prefer to work remotely. 

Some employees might end their work hours unproductive if you do not manage them. So you need to evaluate their performance regularly without micromanaging them. 

In remote working culture, employees get flexibility and work whenever they want. It might reduce productivity if employees are not appropriately handled.

If you manage remote employees by tracking their productivity, you will find them more productive than regularly working in the office. 

Avoiding distractions is not possible, so minimizing them is the best way to enhance productivity. You can look at the following tips to reduce distraction with a remote workforce. 

Here are essential tips for managing distractions and maximizing productivity for remote employees. 

Let Everyone Know About your Working Hours

When working remotely, someone in the house might distract you when they do not know what you are doing.

So before you sit for the work in the room or somewhere, you can pre-inform everyone about your work and working hours so that no one comes to distract you.  

You have to define everyone about your work procedure so that nobody can distract you while you work.

As remote working is new work culture, some employees and their relatives are unaware of the work procedures.

So they might not know how and when you work and distract you often during work hours. 

You can create a different workplace and inform everyone about your work hours so no one will get to you and will disturb you during your work. Family talks and get-togethers are the main obstacles while you work from home. 

Therefore, you need to separate personal and work time while working remotely. If you mix up work time with personal time, you will become unproductive the entire day and not focus on work. 

Also, the most challenging thing in remote work is maintaining the place to work in peace. The noise in the house and neighbors can be a major cause of distraction.

So, to perform the work efficiently, it is necessary to get rid of the possible distraction. 

Use Distraction Management Tools While Working 

Different distraction management tools can be applied in the remote workforce. Remote employees get freedom as they do not have anyone in front of them to supervise.

You can encourage employees to use time tracking apps that manage distraction and keep them focused on work.

timeTracko, RescueTime, TimeDoctor, etc., are some websites that help you manage distraction and keep you on track and focused while working on a project. These apps provide notifications if you use any distracting websites. 

These apps help you keep the project on track and increase the productivity of your remote employees.

You can also try natural methods that can be meditation, mesmerizing background music, and keeping your mind focused. 

Designate a Separate Workspace 

You have to create a separate room where nobody can distract you while working. You can stay in a room with proper lighting and comfortable furniture, which helps you focus on work. 

A good workplace, i.e., work environment, is essential to increase productivity. It can reduce absenteeism, employee turnover and improve the health of employees.

A Good workplace can motivate you to work for a long time without getting bored. Our workplace affects our work performance. Thus, it is always better to have a peaceful and comfortable workplace. 

When working from home, you can work from anywhere you want. And sometimes you might end up working from your bed or couch. And this might not be a good idea as it affects our performance.

Instead, we can create our workplace at home. You can make a specific room or area in your office to feel motivated.

For example, sitting in bed or somewhere creates discomfort when you work, and you might find it challenging to feel motivated to work.

Minimize Distraction and Turn off Distracting Websites 

Turn off all the distracting and entertaining websites to avoid getting distracted when working on a project. 

Those websites which are not related to your work should be avoided. For example, Facebook, Netflix, Instagram, TikTok, etc., are considered the most distracting websites employees should avoid during work hours. 

Those entertaining websites divert your mind, and you cannot focus properly on work, which results in being unproductive. 

As we know that distractions are everywhere; wherever you go, it always follows you unless you get your mind out of distraction. 

So while you stay in a designated workplace, you can remove the objects unrelated to your work. It can effectively minimize distraction when using noise-canceling headphones to avoid surrounding noise.

Switch off Your Mobile Phone or Keep it in Silence

When you are working continuously, your friends might ping you or call you, due to which you can get distracted and cannot focus on work.

So you can turn off notifications or switch off the phone during your work hours to stay focused on work.

When you keep your phone in front of you with a notification while working, you may like to see it and get distracted. 

So keeping the phone quite far can be effective unless you have any urgent work. It would be better not to use the phone and keep it silent to stay productive. 

You can excuse otherwise when you have any urgent calls; using the phone during work hours is all about unproductive.

Take Breaks

As an employee, you need to know when to work and stop working to enhance productivity.

Instead of working continuously and getting burnout, you can take frequent breaks and stay away from work as you might feel bored working continuously on the computer. 

So you can take a break every hour and stay away from screens to get refreshed. In the break, you can spend time with family, water plants, walk in the ground, get fresh air, etc., to refocus on work. 

You can do something that helps you release stress and freshen yourself that can also be stitching, drinking water throughout the day to keep yourself hydrated, munching on a snack, playing with your pets, etc.

You can also do some exercises to keep yourself healthier and reduce tiredness. 

Many companies prefer applying a Pomodoro timer to remind employees to take a break every hour to focus on work.

It reminds you to take a break every 25 minutes for 5 minutes and a more extended break every hour for 15 minutes and return to work refreshed. 

You can use timeTracko for being productive as it has a Pomodoro timer that reminds you to take a break when you work for a long time without a break.

Plan for the Entire Day and Prepare To-Do-List

At the beginning of the day, when you prepare a plan for the entire day, it helps you manage your time and remind you to accomplish the most critical task. 

You can prepare a to-do list and do work according to it so that none of the work remains pending.

Working on a computer might be overwhelming, so you need to schedule limited work and rest for a few minutes every hour.

You should create an expected clock-in frame for every employee to follow and set the boundaries. 

Working from home does not mean one has to work every time. Working for specific days and giving weekend breaks can help a balanced state of mind and increase productivity. 

You can break the more significant task into smaller ones to achieve actionable goals. It helps you to budget your time and boost productivity.

Conclusion

Thus, staying productive can be challenging when employees are new to remote work culture. It is also believed that remote employees are more productive than full-time office workers once used to this rule.

You can use the above tips and tools to boost your remote team productivity. If you encourage employees and motivate them enough for the new work culture, they will perform and enhance productivity. 

How do you manage remote employees to enhance productivity and reduce distraction? Feel free to mention them in the comment section below if you have any tips.