For small business owners and managers, keeping employees productive is a top priority. But productivity is not necessarily determined by where an employee works. An employee can spend eight hours in an office and accomplish very little, while another employee working from home may complete important projects, meet deadlines, and deliver excellent results. That is why more businesses are shifting their focus from measuring office attendance to measuring productivity.
Attendance Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
Seeing employees at their desks may provide managers with a sense that work is getting done, but physical presence is not the same as productivity. Employees can be distracted by unnecessary meetings, interruptions, conversations, or other tasks that have little connection to their most important responsibilities.
Likewise, an employee working remotely may be highly productive without being physically visible to management.
Rather than asking, "Was this employee in the office today?" managers can ask more meaningful questions: What did the employee accomplish? Were deadlines met? Were customers served effectively? Did the work meet expectations?
These questions provide a much clearer picture of performance.
Results Are More Meaningful Than Location
A results-oriented approach gives employees clear expectations while allowing them some flexibility in how they accomplish their work.
Managers can establish measurable goals such as completing projects by specific deadlines, responding to customers within a certain timeframe, meeting sales targets, resolving support requests, or producing work that meets established quality standards.
This approach makes performance easier to evaluate because employees are judged on outcomes rather than simply being present at a particular location.
Productivity-Based Management Can Support Remote Work
For small businesses considering remote or hybrid work arrangements, measuring productivity can be especially valuable.
Managers do not need to rely on physical visibility to determine whether remote employees are contributing. Instead, they can use project-management systems, communication platforms, customer-service metrics, sales results, deadlines, and regular check-ins to stay informed. One great example of a technological tool specifically designed for measuring productivity of remote workers is our cloud-based software, MySammy. This incredibly affordable tool allows managers to accurately assess the productivity of employees no matter where they’re located and accomplishes it without the need for blocking websites or “spyware.”
This creates accountability without requiring employees to spend every working day in the office.
Employees May Be More Engaged When They Are Trusted
Constantly monitoring attendance can send the message that being physically present is more important than producing meaningful work. A productivity-focused approach can communicate something different: We trust you to do your job, and we will evaluate you based on the results.
That doesn't mean managers should abandon accountability. In fact, clear goals and measurable expectations can make accountability stronger. Employees know what is expected of them, and managers have objective information to use when discussing performance.
A Better Approach for Small Businesses
Small businesses have limited resources, making it particularly important to focus management attention on what actually contributes to business success.
Instead of concentrating primarily on who is sitting in the office, managers can track the indicators that matter most to their organization. Those indicators might include completed projects, customer satisfaction, revenue, sales activity, productivity benchmarks, quality, and meeting deadlines.
The goal isn't to ignore attendance altogether. Certain jobs require employees to be present at particular times or locations. But for positions where work can be performed effectively elsewhere, physical attendance should not automatically be treated as a measure of productivity.
By measuring results rather than simply counting days in the office, businesses can create a more flexible, accountable, and performance-focused workplace—one where employees are given the opportunity to demonstrate their value through the work they produce. For small business owners and managers, the better question is not "Where is my employee working?" but "What is my employee accomplishing?" You can begin measuring productivity levels of your remote employees right away by signing up for your FREE trial of MySammy today!
