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The recent decade saw a rapid development of Internet based businesses. With the growth of Internet popularity offline business owners understood that the Internet is the perfect market with millions and even billions of potential customers. At the same time the Internet gave birth to a number of businesses operating online only. Despite the fact that these businesses are run own line, there are still people who work for such companies. And as in any other business, online and Internet businesses must manage their personnel to get greater performance.
E-commerce is a very popular business time these days as it gives independence and financial stability. Very often e-commerce business is a home based business. Employees may work remotely from any part of the world. This doesn’t mean that this personnel functions differently as compared to a traditional business. Remote employees still have their needs and requirements as well as responsibilities.
Use of balanced scorecard system for evaluation of HR performance in e-commerce is highly recommended, especially for midsize and large companies geographically scattered throughout the country or even the world. Balanced scorecard will help managers align HR goals with strategic goals, mission and vision of the company. In other words, balanced scorecard communicates operational management with strategic vision.
Taking into account specific remote character of running e-commerce business the following indicators would be very helpful in measurement of HR performance:
- Average estimated cost of employees that are teleworking. An employee who is working remotely does not have to commute to work and have lunch at fast food or cafeteria. In such a way he saves money and time. By calculating how much employees save by working remotely it is possible to evaluate their loyalty, because such employees understand advantages of remote work. It is also possible to calculate how much the company saves by hiring remote employees. The company may use save money for development or special bonus and compensation programs for employees with high performance level well employees use save money for some other purposes, for example, self education, hobbies or rest which improves employee satisfaction. This indicator is to be measured once a quarter or a year, depending on company accounting periods.
- Employees satisfaction with teleworking. Remote work has many peculiarities and some negative aspects. Without physical presence it is sometimes difficult to accomplish certain tasks. That’s why it is important that employees are satisfied with remote work, approaches, evaluation methods, the ways problems are solved etc. Employees satisfaction with teleworking is measured through surveys and questionnaires. It is recommended to conduct such surveys not too often in order not to distract remote employees from work. Please, also keep in mind that such results may not be indicative since some employees may not tell the entire truth. Of it is important to formulate questions in such a way so that clear answers provide a complete picture of employees’ attitudes, satisfaction and loyalty to the company. One should also remember that online communication means make conversation of somewhat impersonal, and thus misunderstandings are quite possible.