Organizations with remote teams often face productivity challenges. A variety of virtual resources to make it easier for team leaders and project managers to stay on top of productivity have become available in recent years. Learn about a few of the best resources for promoting productivity, such as assignment tracking tools and a virtual background with logo for video calls and conferences.

Work Assignment Tracking

Assignment tracking applications can be useful for keeping employees on task. Team leaders or managers can choose whether to track the time that each team member spends logged into relevant systems or even monitor on-screen activities or keystrokes. There are pros and cons to using tracking software to directly monitor employees.

Many organizations prefer platforms that track progress on specific tasks. These systems identify contributing users to shared files or databases, maintain access logs with dates and times and can preserve version histories.

Task management software makes it easier for remote teams to set goals, sort priorities and track progress. Planning functions for collaborative workflows can range from individual to-do lists to objectives in specified time frames and trackers for project-wide progress.

Open Communication

Teams that make open communication a top priority can be more productive than teams with restricted lines of communication. Most collaborative work platforms support written messaging and video calls so that team members can use the most convenient mode of communication.

While some operations seek to minimize unnecessary communication between employees, making sure that team members can pose questions could ultimately save time that would otherwise be spent fixing problems that originate from unclear communication. A team leader can consult members about their contact preferences and make sure the platforms in use support these modes of communication.

Many teams schedule video calls and conferences for setting goals and reporting on progress. The ability to customize Zoom background can reduce distractions during these sessions, and team members may prefer to use the same background and logo images.

Clear Objectives

Whether you use assignment and task tracking applications or allow team members to use their own planning and organization methods, every member of a team should have a clear sense of the tasks that they need to complete and how these tasks contribute toward shared goals.

If your organization uses Microsoft Teams, you can create, organize and track tasks in the Tasks app in Teams. This platform supports individual tasks and shared plans. Microsoft Planner is another useful platform available to M365 subscribers. If your organization uses Microsoft applications, it can be worthwhile to set up a virtual office background for Teams.

Team leaders or managers should set clear expectations for productivity from team members. Once members understand what is expected of them individually and collectively, they can be more productive. The best virtual methods for staying on top of your team’s productivity include using a shared platform to set and track tasks, assignments and objectives and setting up virtual office backgrounds with a custom logo to bring teams together and get great results.