Working remotely is becoming more and more popular among companies in many industries. But one of the challenges for managers of remote workers is ensuring that their employees are being productive on the job. This is precisely the reason why MySammy was developed to begin with. MySammy is a tool designed to help encourage workers to be more productive no matter where they are located physically. It is designed to provide quantifiable performance measurement information, which helps management to accurately assess how productive an employee is being while working on a computer. Rather than “spying” on employees, MySammy collects a minimum amount of data without invading the employee’s privacy, while enabling managers to establish performance standards and gain a better understanding of employee productivity levels. The truth is you can’t measure an employee’s performance using the “spying” method. Managers do not have the time to look over an employee’s shoulder to assess the employee’s performance. That is the reason that MySammy collects data for quantifiable measurements instead of spying.

While it’s true that managers in virtually any industry can benefit from a tool like MySammy, there are some professions where it is particularly useful – namely, those that are the most likely to employ telecommuters, or remote workers. According to a variety of reliable sources, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics and FlexJobs, here are the industries that typically employ the highest number of telecommuters.

• The healthcare and medical fields: From insurance specialists to patient advocates, this industry offers more work-at-home opportunities than any other. Insurance specialists in particular need to access many websites to complete their tasks, so it would be very difficult to limit their Internet access. MySammy really shines in this area.
• The IT industry: It probably comes as no surprise that the IT field employs a tremendous number of people that work from a remote location. Whether the employee repairs computers, provides technical support, or works as a systems engineer, companies within the IT industry routinely hire people that work in remote locations.
• Customer service: Any company that provides customer service is more likely to allow their customer service associates to work from home. Since many of these individuals can perform their jobs via email and/or as online professionals providing customer support to website visitors, many of them can quite literally work from anywhere.
• The administrative field: Admin assistants and other similar clerical functions are easily performed from home. Employees in this field often deal with scheduling, facilitating communications with clients and customers, or doing any of a myriad of other administrative tasks, all of which can be completed on a computer in a remote location. If you employ administrative workers, you’re statistically more likely to allow them to work from home.
• The finance and accounting industry: Thanks to modern technology, anyone working within the finance and/or accounting field can easily work from a remote location. If you employ bookkeepers, accountants, auditors and/or tax specialists, you might very well allow them to telecommute.

If you’ve been hesitant to allow telecommuting in your company, it might be time to revisit that decision. Just consider all of the companies in a variety of different industries that are allowing their workers to telecommute. Studies show that companies that allow employees more flexibility makes for a happier, healthier workforce. And, thanks to innovative tools like MySammy, allowing telecommuting in your company can also actually increase your employee productivity. That sounds like a win-win all the way around!