Jira for HR: How to manage remote employees

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It’s already 2 years since the world has transformed its working environment and switched to home offices because of Covid-19. We know 2020 as a year of remote work, and this trend is going to rise. According to Intermedia, 57 percent of small-business owners intend to continue providing work-at-home choices for employees. So managing remote teams will remain one of the biggest challenges for businesses. In this article, we’ll find out how to effectively organize work for distant employees with Atlassian tools and adjust Jira for HR.

Top challenges of remote work for employers

Managers may face some obstacles when organizing work from a remote location.

• Communication and collaboration are more complicated. Because supervisors and remote workers have limited contact, it might be hard to form relationships. There is a higher risk of misunderstandings or a lack of information. Managers must define clear goals and expectations, track every team member’s needs and progress.

• Decrease in control. Business owners are frequently afraid of lower quality of work and breaking deadlines as the job is done without constant assistance from the boss. 

• Security concerns. Antivirus software, firewalls, and VPN configurations for employees’ residential internet connections raise a company’s potential security flaws. Besides, you need to pay attention to confidentiality. This could involve overhearing a private conversation or viewing sensitive docs.

• Inconvenient hiring process. It’s never easy learning how to function in a new role, especially if you deal with new technology. As a result, managers may have to devote extra time to training a new remote worker. You should plan online onboarding in detail.

How can Jira help with HR management?

Jira is an excellent tool for distant employees as it offers solutions for almost every challenge. The platform aims to show each team member’s potential and allow the organization to plan ahead and track progress. Besides, you can integrate Jira with hundreds of development tools (Confluence, Bitbucket), programs, and plugins. 

Cooperate better using Jira Board

No matter what type of board (team-managed, Scrum, Kanban) your company utilizes, you can rapidly find the info you need. It can replace standard emailing, texting, or calling a coworker. Jira board stores real-time data that gives a clear understanding of issues and their statuses.

Communication with issue comments

If you’d like to get info on the issue state, who is working on it, how the progress is, you can leave a comment directly on the issue you’re interested in. That will be much faster than sending an email. Besides, you can tag someone using @, and the system will notify that person immediately. 

High-leveled security 

IP allowlisting ensures only people from trusted networks can access your instance. You can control accesses in Jira, providing responsibilities and restrictions to specific users. Configuring issue-level security is also possible.

Simplify hiring and managing employees with HRM: Employee User Profile

HR: Employee User Profile add-on is HR’s best friend. You need to collect and keep a lot of information about your employees during their work life. No one wants to be drawn in the limitless ocean of paperwork. Especially when you work remotely. Besides, it’s better to store all staff data in one location without interrupting the core workflow. 

The SaaSJet team has developed this app as a central hub for your HR activities in Jira. You’ll be able to fill in cards with data about:

• employment details (job position, experience, direct supervisor, hard&soft skills)
• contacts (email, address, mobile number)
• personal information (birthdate, hobbies), etc.

The add-on doesn't store users' info on third-party resources. All information that you enter into the User Profile Employee cards will be stored in your Jira entity. Because most of the input you’ll save is private, we encrypt all data. Also, you can manage access to limit it to those who truly need it. Distribution of access is possible at the level of Jira groups.

Takeaway

Jira is a powerful tool to organize your company’s remote work. Its possibilities for customization are nearly limitless. You can set and manage your workflow according to your specific needs. Distant work requires more automation. Try to simplify your record-keeping system for the HR department with HR: Employee User Profile. Speed up the info transmission and internal communication processes.

Note: As we explore the ways Jira can be leveraged for HR and remote employee management, it's the opportunity to share news for those committed to maximizing their Atlassian Marketplace experience.

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