Remote work tracking: the absence chart is no longer enough
For a long time, an HR schedule answered a single question: who is not here. Since hybrid working became established, the useful question has changed. It is now: who is where. Many tools have not kept up, and still show leave while leaving remote work in a team spreadsheet or a chat channel.
Remote work and absence are not the same thing
The confusion is common and costly. An employee working remotely is working: they can be reached, they produce, they count towards the team's capacity. Treating them as absent distorts workload planning and gives an inaccurate picture of real availability.
In Nicoka HRIS, remote work appears in the attendance schedule as a work location, separate from leave and absences. The distinction seems obvious, yet it completely changes what the manager reads.
Planning ahead beats finding out
In organisations with fixed days, the pattern is known in advance: two days remote, three on site, with variations by team. This information exists, but it often remains implicit, known by each person for themselves and by no one for the whole.
Showing planned remote work in the schedule lets you organise rather than react: book a meeting on a day when the team is in, anticipate the occupancy of spaces, spot a week when nobody is on site. The view extends beyond the month, giving the perspective you need.
The amendment, and what it implies
Regular remote work is formalised by an amendment to the employment contract. This amendment carries dates, and those dates must have an effect on the schedule. A change of pattern decided in September for October should not depend on someone remembering to update a spreadsheet.
The amendment therefore sits in the employee file, and the work location schedule takes upcoming amendments into account. The switch is anticipated by design. See also the HR foundation for managing contracts and amendments.
Key takeaways
- The useful question is no longer who is absent, but who is where.
- Treating remote work as an absence distorts the reading of real capacity.
- Planning ahead lets you organise; finding out only lets you react.
- The remote work pattern is formalised by an amendment, which carries dates.
- The schedule takes upcoming amendments into account, so the switch is anticipated.
Nicoka HRIS is developed and hosted in France. To go further: leave and absences, time and activities, mobile app.