Managing remote employees without strictly monitoring them — is it possible?

It’s easy to organize and coordinate your employees if your company has no more than 10 people and everyone is working in the same office. But what if there are more than a hundred of you from 50 different cities and everyone is working remotely? Are time trackers, daily calls, and controlling every step the answer? We found another way, based on feedback.

Hello, I am Vlad Karm, CEO and founder of mobile and web development company Sunrise Apps. I’d like to talk about the pains that a company inevitably faces as the number of its employees continues to grow, including how to get each team member to work effectively, develop professionally, and not lose focus.

Eight years ago, when we first created Sunrise Apps, there was no issue at all. There were about 10 of us. We were a team of friends and like-minded people sitting in the same office, all with the same burning cause. Even back then, I firmly decided that our company would not entail obsessive control from above. That our employees were free to make decisions and assume tasks.

Years went by and the company grew. The number of our employees rose over a hundred, but the principles stayed the same.

And at some point, we began to realize that we don’t know our employees, how they did their work, what works well and what doesn’t, or what plans they have for their careers and their lives? They all work in different cities, countries, and time zones. Under circumstances like these, how does one ensure they’re all on the same wavelength and 100% committed to a common cause?

Standard practice is to implement monitoring tools, strict time tracking of employee’s work, programs that take screenshots of an employee’s screen, frequent calls, and other means of keeping the team in shape. I have never been comfortable with this approach. What’s the point of motivating employees to work under duress and do so under a stick?

And then we turned to the system-forming principles of Sunrise Apps:

• We create a space for development and constantly provide each other feedback.
• All the company’s processes should be automated and digitized wherever possible.
• Results need to be measurable.

We began to think about how to make sure that people do not lose the desire to work and develop. And again we turned to our beloved principles — of business process digitization and automation.

Why regular employee evaluation is necessary

1. Mutual understanding within the team: Regular feedback from coworkers gives the employee an understanding of whether he or she is meeting the team’s needs.
2. Synchronization of expectations: We identify development points along with the employee. We provide them the opportunity to raise their level of competence and, consequently, their income.
3. Employee rating: This indicator can be used as a reference point when assembling a team for a new project.
4. The element of corporate culture: This form of assessment teaches colleagues to give feedback first through the form and then to each other personally. We thus get used to hearing from each other.

How we set up, automated, and digitized employee performance reviews

We have a special document with evaluation plans for each employee.

People involved in organizing the process

Talent-manager — plans the process, evaluates results, and maps employee development based on feedback.

Administrator — sends out forms for employees to fill out and keeps track of the results. Their scores are assembled on a google sheet.
Technologist — summarizes the data in a single table.

Currently, the administrator sends a feedback form to an employee, but we are working on automating the process. Soon there will be a bot that will notify the administrator when it’s time to send out forms. The bot will also send a readiness message to all interested parties. If a personal call with the employee is required, the system will arrange the meeting.

Roles in the company that we evaluate

• Team leaders: In essence, the leaders of the core departments;
• Developers;
• Project Managers;
• QA specialists;
• Analysts.

Each employee of a core department gives a grade to his colleagues. He or she answers questions about the professional and the soft skills of a colleague in the department, and gives each item a score of 1 to 5.

Each role has its own evaluation form. For example, the team evaluates developers only by their soft skills, because how well they write code is clear based on the results of their work.

For analysts: it’s based on communication, involvement, proactivity, and competence. All the results are expressed in numbers.

Team leaders are the key people on project teams. They are evaluated according to two main categories: team satisfaction with the leader’s work and the form of immersion in the project.

There is a separate form to evaluate the effectiveness of a QA specialist as well:

As you can see, each role has its own unique developed evaluation form to take into account the specifics of each department and not to turn the entire evaluation process into a formality just to insert check marks and profanity into.

Frequency of effectiveness evaluation

The first assessment is conducted immediately after an employee’s probationary period. Then it’s once every six months.

How we work with the collected data

After completing the evaluation, we summarize the data on the employee’s dashboard. At that point, we hold an online meeting with the employee where, based on the figures, facts, and opinions of their colleagues, we give recommendations and prescribe goals for the next six months on their development plan. A competent and conscientious specialist has incentives for career growth.

What do you do if an employee’s performance evaluation reveals shortcomings in their work?

We explain to the person which aspects of their work are unsatisfactory and where they need to improve their skills. When we have the figures and facts in hand, the employee understands that these scores are not personal, nor are they for nagging but the objective opinion of his colleagues. After that we also create a development plan and agree on what steps need to be taken to remedy the situation. And only if as of the next assessment the situation has repeated do we part with the employee.

IMPORTANT: we try to be realistic and not give our employees overwhelming or impossible tasks.

How it works in real life

Every three months, they have an hour or two-hour interview with a developer who is higher than you in terms of skills. They ask you questions you hadn’t even thought of before, identify your weaknesses, and offer you recommendations. There’s no stress like with real job interviews for example. Yes, the excitement is there, but you understand that the goal is not to point out how inexperienced you are but to expose your weaknesses so that you can improve on them.

Feedback from experienced colleagues helps keep you sharp. It encourages you to read books and remember things you’ve long forgotten.

Max, developer of Sunrise Apps

What a digitized employee evaluation system provides

1. Management has objective data on the quality of employees’ work based on figures, facts, and the direct opinions of colleagues.
2. All employees regularly receive feedback from their colleagues, don’t stagnate on their own, “and feel part of the team. There is no room for misunderstanding on the team.
3. Employees always know where they have room to grow and what reward awaits them as a result.

I am convinced that even in such non-obvious areas as human resource management, digitalization helps management “keep their hand on the pulse” and maintain employee competencies at a high level. And most importantly, they are able to accomplish this without employee pressure, screen-shot programs, and pointless meetings. We’re for freedom, not coercion.

What practices and tools do you use to evaluate the performance of your colleagues? How often do you do it? Do you do it on your own or is the process automated? I’d be happy to discuss that in the comments.

I also have a Linkedin blog where I share my personal experiences in managing a team and mobile development projects. Stop by, you’ll definitely get something out of it. And if you are ready to discuss your future product or get a consultation, feel free to contact my team at sales@sunrise-apps.com.