Hubstaff is a time tracking software built for remote teams. The company was founded in 2012 and their fully remote team is “based” out of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Hubstaff offers several productivity monitoring features like an app and URL tracking, optional screenshots, and customizable reports. It’s designed to give you insight into how your remote team is spending their time so you can help them be more efficient.
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Now I’m not big on the over-the-shoulder nature of these tracking programs, and have only ever looked at the Elance screen reports a handful of times. The best way to make sure your virtual assistants are working? Have some deliverable. If it’s not getting done, then you have a problem — otherwise, why bother with the micromanaging?
If you’re interested, Hubstaff comes with a 14-day free trial so you can check it out and see how you like it.
Hubstaff Intro Video
Note: The video says the software is “100% free.” There is a free plan but the features and functionality are quite limited.
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Hubstaff Features
Hubstaff includes a wide range of team management features with time tracking at its core. Its productivity monitoring capabilities help you focus on doing work instead of tracking it, eliminating the need to ask team members what they’ve worked on.
Interview with Hubstaff Co-Founder
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How Hubstaff Works
Using Hubstaff is as simple as choosing a task to work on and then tracking time to it. Once you’ve set up your projects in your organization, they will automatically appear on the time tracker so you can start working right away.
You’ll be able to see the total hours tracked by your team, the average activity rate between team members, and how much you have spent on projects on the dashboard. You can customize it to show other statistics.
The tracked time is automatically converted into online timesheets, which you can quickly review and approve. This saves your team a lot of time on manually preparing them, with the added benefit of being more accurate and easier to organize than paper-based or spreadsheet-type timesheets.
Payroll is automatically processed once timesheets are approved. Hubstaff will automatically calculate the payment amount based on each team member’s hourly rate and the total time they have worked.
Hubstaff Tasks
Hubstaff Tasks is a project management tool built to streamline collaboration in remote teams. It has a Kanban-style interface that lets you organize tasks with cards, boards, and visual elements like checklists and colored labels.
With its Sprints feature, teams can assign tasks to different sprints — current, future, or backlog. This is designed to help you with prioritizing the right tasks so you can finish projects more efficiently.
Hubstaff Tasks also has automated workflows, daily stand-ups, and a roadmaps feature. It integrates with Hubstaff so you can track time to your projects as well.
Hubstaff Talent
Hubstaff Talent is a free resource for companies looking to find remote talent across the globe, with no fees, no markups, no middlemen. Companies can use the Hubstaff database to find and hire the highest quality freelancers from around the world.
You can find all sorts of freelance talent, but the pool is skewed toward developers, digital marketers, and creatives.
Hubstaff Alternatives
The biggest alternatives to Hubstaff both in terms of virtual staffing and the tracking tool are the freelance platforms of Elance and oDesk, mentioned above, as well as the Philippines-specific jobs board, OnlineJobs.ph.
Your Turn
Have you found a virtual assistant or other remote team members through Hubstaff? If so, please leave a quick review of your experience below to help others with their hiring decision.
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