10 Effective Ways To Improve Remote Team Time Management During the Summer Break

We are in full-swing summer and employers hope to solidify effective time management techniques for remote working teams to ensure their engagement and productivity remain top priority, as team members might be taking some time off during the summer holidays.

Gearing up for a productive summer, with fewer team members on hand, and perhaps more work than usual, effective time management is a crucial element for any remote working team.

While effective time management is an important element within the (virtual) office and ensures the performance and collaboration of all team members at once, it’s also an important contributor to the well-being of employees.

Workplace research has shown that poor time management can lead to increased levels of stress, lack of concentration, friction among employees, ruin workplace relationships, and even cost businesses more money to resolve.

Looking at it from this point of view, we can see why employers and entrepreneurs are perhaps more eager than before or during the pandemic to get their employees all on board this summer holiday by highlighting, yet again, the importance of good time management and how it can affect not only themselves but their colleagues and the overall growth of the business.

How to improve time management for remote teams

It’s hard to establish whether some employees are naturally born with great time management skills, or whether it’s perhaps something that can be taught over several weeks or months.

Nonetheless, employers and business owners need to consider that effective time management skills during low periods of employee attendance can be a great way to keep operations running smoothly and potentially increase bottom-line performance.

As most people, and perhaps more so remote workers, are ready to travel again this summer, despite travel inflation and higher gas prices, employers need to prepare their teams effectively for minimal operational disruption.

Overview current workloads

As both an employer and team manager it’s best to start looking at the amount of work that needs to be completed. Doing a workload overview, and aligning it with the number of employees at hand during the summer months will help to determine how many new projects can be allocated to every person.

If there is more work than staff members, it’s time to start buckling down and divide tasks among people equally without overloading their capacity. Perhaps it’s even possible to schedule tasks to be completed in pairs, instead of having them completed individually.

Take into consideration the work employees are currently completing and how their workloads will be affected if more work is added. Moreso, be considerate of those employees that are out of the office or have requested time away from work. Knowing how much work is on the cards, and how much awaits does already give an indication of where you can start trimming the fat.

Cut unnecessary tasks that waste time

With fewer hands on deck, it might be time to consider how much time is being wasted on daily activities that don’t necessarily contribute to the overall output of the team.

Take for example:

• Virtual meetings
• Responding to emails
• Organizing meetings
• Setting up proposals and presentations
• Training employees for different roles

While these are all crucial elements of the overall workflow and office dynamic, they tend to take a lot of time away from employees’ schedules. Be clear about your intentions as an employer or manager, and clearly state what is expected of employees if these tasks are being kept to a minimum to help save on time and valuable resources.

Make an effort to plan

Research shows that spending between 10 and 12 minutes each day planning your day with the right scheduling apps or platforms can save a person two hours each day.

If every person on the team takes a few minutes of their day to plan, those two hours can ultimately translate into ten additional productive hours per week. For bigger companies, this might not seem like a big deal, but for small to medium-tier organizations, ten extra hours per week can mean extra sales and better revenue at the end of the month.

Talk employees through the process and the importance of planning their days and weeks, and having to use technology or digital platforms can help keep everyone informed about their workload.

Planning will help managers see where work can be allocated, and how projects are progressing, while employees and internal teams can have a clear indication of when they can expect work to come to an end, and new projects allocated.

Be effective in communicating tasks

Effective communication among team members will remain a crucial workplace skill, regardless of the office dynamic, or whether team members are working remotely or on-site.

For employees and team members, it’s important to:

• Ask for help when needed and communicate workplace needs.
• Share insights or tactics that help you work more…