Last updated on November 22, 2024
10 Best Tools To Manage Remote Employees
Managing a remote team comes with a new set of challenges. Keeping employees that you can’t actually see on task and encouraging them to work together can pose some issues. But with the right remote team management tools, productivity and teamwork can improve significantly. Vacation Tracker has always been remote and plans to stay that way. Here are some of our favorite tools to manage our virtual workforce.
How We Evaluate Software
With so many options to choose from, here’s how we prioritize which ones make the cut:
Ease of Use: Great software works with you, not against you. We only select powerful remote team management tools with intuitive interfaces that anyone on your team, even the least tech-savvy, can easily navigate.
Integrations: Teamwork thrives on connection, and so should your tech. We’re looking for software that works well with your current tech stack.
Reviews: Tried, tested, and true, we not only pick tools we love, but tools users love too.
Scalability: Your ambitions grow, and so should your software. These tools are scalable so you can continue to use them as your business expands.
What are the Top 10 Tools to Manage Remote Employees?
Vacation Tracker for PTO Management
Managing remote teams can be a challenge, especially when coordinating time off across different locations and time zones. That’s why I love Vacation Tracker—it’s user-friendly efficient, and fits seamlessly into tools we’re already using, like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace.
Setting it up was incredibly quick. Using the web app, I created our leave types and customized the policies, covering every possible intricacy, from accruals and rollovers. Adding locations was effortless, with options to adjust for time zones and regional holidays. The tool also supports multiple languages, making it accessible to teams around the globe. Once it was configured, my leave management practically took care of itself, making compliance stress-free.
For my team, requesting leave was just as easy. A quick /vacation in Slack or “Request Leave” in Microsoft Teams allows employees to submit their requests. Managers received instant notifications and could approve or deny requests right within the app, no emails or spreadsheets required.
The dashboard made everything clear and organized. A color-coded calendar showed who was sick, working remotely, or on vacation, so there was no guesswork. Team members could click their profiles for detailed leave balances, and I could quickly check schedules at a glance. Plus, real-time notifications in Slack or Teams keep everyone informed, no matter where they’re working.
Vacation Tracker keeps things simple and organized, making it easy to manage time off for a remote team, no matter where everyone is working.
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Trello for Project Management
Trello is one of the top remote team management tools because it’s as straightforward as can be; quick to configure, a breeze to use, and easy to share.
To set up Trello, all you need to do is create an account, name your first board and lists, add your cards, and of course, invite your colleagues. Within minutes, I had a board ready to manage my Marketing projects, complete with tasks and due dates for teammates.
Premium users have the option to view their boards in a Calendar and List view. But if you’re a visual person like me, odds are you’ll prefer the Kanban boards. Users can move the cards from one list to another to show their status. Labels can be added to highlight urgency, and users can comment and attach documents, keeping a clear trace of the status and progress of each project.
There are endless Power-Ups available, allowing users to seamlessly integrate Trello into their workflow. I added the Slack and Google Drive Power-Ups to make it easy to upload documents and share updates with my team.
Trello is a super popular project management tool for remote teams because it’s easy and effective. It’s a no-nonsense way to collaborate with your remote team and promote productivity.
Microsoft Teams for Communication
Microsoft Teams is a favorite tool for remote teams because it’s an all-in-one hub for collaboration that combines video calls, messaging, and file sharing into one streamlined platform. I love that it’s quick to configure, easy to navigate, and filled with integrations to simplify my team's communication and productivity.
To configure Microsoft Teams, all I had to do was create a team, add channels, and invite my colleagues to join. I created chats for the Marketing team, website projects, and content collaboration. Organizing conversations, files, and meetings all in one place made communication seamless. Whenever I had a question, pinging my teammates or having a quick call was easy and effective.
Users can access a variety of views, including a Chat view for one-on-one or group messages and a Calendar view for scheduling meetings. Plus, Teams allows you to sync documents and even co-edit them in real time.
The app supports a wide range of integrations and add-ons to fit into your workflow seamlessly. I connected our Trello boards and OneDrive, which made it simple to manage project tasks and share files without leaving Teams. With its all-in-one approach, Teams keeps communication and collaboration flowing effortlessly.
Harvest for Time Tracking
Understanding how your remote team spends their time is important, especially when you can’t see their day-to-day activities. Time tracking helps businesses determine which tasks are taking the longest, pinpoint areas for improvement, and balance workloads by identifying overworked or underutilized employees. This helps to identify priorities and make structural changes and workflow improvements.
Harvest is a tool that helps users track their time from their browsers, desktops, and even mobile devices. Teams can create projects, add tasks, and even identify budgets in terms of hours for each task.
Getting started with Harvest was simple. As an admin, I started by creating a project, breaking it down into specific tasks, and setting budgets for each one in terms of hours. For example, if you’re managing a content campaign, you can allocate 10 hours for writing, 5 hours for editing, and 3 hours for design. Users can manually log how long a task took them or start a timer as they work.
Admins have powerful tools to stay on top of budgets and performance. Harvest can notify them when users are approaching the maximum budget and check in with their team to understand why projects take longer than expected. This feature helps teams work smarter and stay on track.
One of my favorite features is Harvest’s detailed reporting, which shows me the breakdown of how much time each project and task took. This makes it easy to continuously refine workflows to maximize your team’s output. With insights like these, managers can make more informed decisions about resource allocation and team support.
Loom for Asynchronous Communication
If you're looking for an easy way to record and share videos for work or presentations, Loom is the perfect software to get started. Setting it up was as simple as downloading the desktop app and signing in. Right away, I could start recording my screen—whether it was my full desktop, a specific window, or just a custom area I wanted to focus on.
When setting up my recording, I had the option to edit my background with their effects. This came in handy for keeping things visually consistent, adding a personal touch, or possibly, hiding a messy background. The speaker notes feature was a lifesaver. I jotted down quick talking points beforehand, so I felt prepared without needing a separate document open.
Their Canvas tool was another unexpected bonus. I could create slides or presentations directly within the app, eliminating the need for PowerPoint or other software. It’s all right there, streamlined and easy to use.
Loom also has fun and practical features that make videos more engaging, like the confetti button is perfect for celebrating big wins or highlighting exciting moments. The draw tool lets me circle issues or underline key points on the screen, especially useful for tutorials or feedback sessions.
Loom has everything you need to create, share, and elevate your video communication in one intuitive platform. It’s perfect for teams looking to connect more clearly and creatively or produce more video content, including tutorials or webinars, without the complicated equipment. Plus, the ability to revisit recorded videos ensures no detail is missed, making it ideal for global teams in different time zones.
Miro for Brainstorming
Miro is your virtual whiteboard, where users can collaborate in real time or individually. I love Miro because it’s great for ideation but also for project management. That means teams can develop ideas, plan them, and track their execution all within the same platform.
To get started, Admins can explore the Miroverse, where they’ll find great templates designed for everything from brainstorming to strategy mapping. You can always create your own Miro board from scratch too, if somehow you don’t find the right template amongst their hundreds of options. I liked the calendar view to plan my articles and social media content for the month, as well as the timelines to map out the execution of a task or project, like on- or offboarding.
The real-time collaboration features are a total game changer. Meetings become interactive, visual, and much more fun than your typical PowerPoint. The voting feature even allows users to anonymously support what they believe are the best ideas.
There’s no limit to what you can do in Miro. There’s plenty of space for productivity and customization. It makes remote work productive and engaging.
1Password for Password Management
1Password is a straightforward yet essential tool to securely store and share passwords amongst your remote team. Keeping a file of passwords and sharing them via email or messaging software puts your company at risk. 1Password helps ensure compliance and protects your company against phishing attempts or cyberattacks by helping you create complex, highly secure passwords that are kept in a safe, encrypted location.
Setting up 1Password as an admin was simple, I started by creating different vaults for different types of passwords, from our company’s social media to finance credentials and HR-related logins. Segmenting by department or specific purpose ensures users have access to the passwords they need, nothing more and nothing less!
From there, you can invite team members and assign them access to specific vaults based on their roles. With its autofill feature, employees can securely log in to shared accounts without needing to know the actual password, making processes smoother and safer.
As an admin, you can also monitor password usage and update credentials instantly if needed, keeping everything secure and up to date. This makes it easy to continuously ensure compliance for your company.
PandaDoc for Document Creation & Management
PandaDoc is an underrated tool that’s ideal for companies that create plenty of agreements, and contracts, or have a general need for editable PDFs. Sure, PandaDoc can serve as a place to store and organize your organization’s documents, but its most impressive features lie in document creation and tracking.
As an admin, I set up my workspace, imported my important documents, and organized them in folders. To create new documents, I can choose a layout from the template gallery or start my own from scratch. There are some really fun proposal documents as well as some more official forms that are helpful for taxes and contracts. The NDAs are customized by state, which is great if you’re in America, but less so for international companies. I could even use PandaDoc to generate W2 forms for my employees, which is awesome for an accounting department.
It’s great that PandaDoc incorporated automation so documents could automatically move once their status changes. Their automation recipes even work with their integrations, like Salesforce and Zoho.
Calendly for Scheduling Across Time Zones
It’s impossible that after working remotely for some time now, you haven’t seen a single Calendly link. It’s probably the most known and widely used scheduling tool.
The interface is so easy to use. To set it up, users can sign in with their Google or Microsoft account and begin to set up their working hours. You can create your weekly schedule but also create exceptions for holidays, like Thanksgiving!
Calendly is a must for employees working in sales or those who have frequent meetings. Not only does it take the complexity out of coordinating meeting times, which can be especially tricky for users in different time zones, but it also makes reminders and follow-ups a breeze through automation.
I was quickly able to configure some automatic reminder emails 24 hours before the meeting and thank you emails to be sent a day after my call. Plus, with over 100 integrations, including CRMs like HubSpot, it makes it easy to keep track of your pipeline to avoid forgetting leads and missed opportunities.
HeyTaco for Employee Wellness
HeyTaco is one of the more playful remote team management tools, helping employees feel connected and appreciated. Remote work can be isolating and HeyTaco helps teams connect by gamifying the recognition process.
Users each get 5 tacos per day to give out. Tacos are given to team members as a way to celebrate little or big wins!
As an Admin, I’m able to set up our very own Taco Shop! I had the choice to offer my team individual or collaborative rewards. I think collaborative rewards would work well for in-person teams, where they could be awarded something like a pizza lunch. But for my remote team, I opted for individual rewards like a spa day.
The leaderboard shows the top taco givers and receivers, adding a light-hearted competitive element that encourages everyone to participate. I love that it’s not just about racking up tacos, HeyTaco keeps recognition fun and engaging, ensuring everyone feels appreciated. The whole process feels engaging, thoughtful, and, most importantly, fun!
Building the Perfect Tech Stack for Remote Team Management
Finding the right tools to manage remote employees can transform how your team collaborates, communicates, and thrives across different locations. Whether you’re streamlining leave management with Vacation Tracker, boosting recognition with HeyTaco, or simplifying project planning with Trello, the right tech stack makes all the difference.
Each software on this list is designed to tackle specific challenges of remote work, helping your team stay connected, productive, and engaged. With these remote team management tools, managing virtual employees comes with fewer obstacles and a whole lot more potential.
