Skip Remote Monitoring Software: How to Really Boost Remote Team Productivity

It's 4 PM, your team is blocked while investigating an incident, and you're typing yet another "Hey, are you available?" message in Slack.

Sends message. Waits. Checks Slack again. Still waiting.

Sound painfully familiar? You're not alone. Remote managers waste 16.3 minutes on average waiting for a response in Slack. That can easily add up to over an hour every day spent playing digital tag instead of actually solving problems.

The most frustrating part is that you have no idea if you're interrupting someone's deep focus session or if they're just sitting there scrolling through memes. Are they heads-down coding? In back-to-back meetings? Or genuinely free to chat?

Many remote managers turn to employee monitoring software like Hubstaff or ActivTrak to get visibility into their distributed teams. But here's the thing: remote tracking tools don't live up to their productivity promises and can feel invasive. They damage employee morale and trust. And honestly? They still don't solve your core problem.

There's a better way to boost productivity without surveillance tactics. You can have the best of both worlds: the collaboration and speed of in-person work with all the benefits of remote flexibility.

Gather is a virtual workspace designed specifically for remote teams who want to meet, collaborate, and work together just like in person. It’s one of the most interesting up-and-coming tools for work communication in 2025 according to a survey by Lenny Rachitsky, host of Lenny’s Podcast, and trusted by over 10,000 innovative remote teams. 

In this article, you'll learn:

• The challenges of remote work that every manager faces
• Why employee monitoring software backfires for remote teams
• 3 natural ways to increase visibility without surveillance
• The benefits of using Gather for better team visibility

The Challenges of Leading Remote Teams

Let's start with the elephant in the room — remote work has its benefits, but it comes with very real challenges, specifically for managers like you.

The Meeting Trap

Here's a frustrating cycle you probably know all too well: you have a quick 5-minute question, but since you can't just pop by someone's desk, you default to scheduling a 30-minute meeting.

Now everyone's calendar is packed with meetings, no one has time to actually get work done, and everything feels rigid and formal. According to Calendly's 2024 State of Meetings Research, 43% of people spend at least 3 hours a week just scheduling meetings — not even attending them, just trying to find time slots that work!

It's exhausting, and it makes connecting with your team outside of formal work conversations nearly impossible.

Collaboration Is Stuck In Slow Motion

When everything happens through Slack threads and scheduled calls, the pace of collaboration slows to a crawl. People wait around for answers and waste time trying to interpret the meaning of an asynchronous message thread. They get blocked on simple questions and lose momentum on projects. 

Tim F., a founder, captured this frustration perfectly: 

“Prior to using Gather, our team used to communicate mainly with Slack. If we needed to, we'd then set-up a Google Meet call to discuss things in more detail. The barrier to setting this up each time we wanted to just have a quick chat meant that we ended up just Slacking more. This meant that things that could have been resolved in 2 minutes with a quick conversation, ended up in day-long Slack exchanges.” 

Second-Guessing Every Interaction

Remember when you could just glance around the office and instantly know who you could walk up to? Now you have to scroll around consulting calendars and Slack statuses first. Without that natural visibility, you're constantly playing a guessing game.  

Is Sarah deep in a coding session? Is Mike wrapping up a client call? Did Alex step away for lunch? You have no idea, so every interaction starts with uncertainty and the inconvenient words: "Are you free...?"

The Hidden Costs of Remote Employee Surveillance

Faced with these challenges, it's tempting to think employee monitoring software might be the answer. After all, if you can't see your team, why not use technology to track what they're doing?

Here's why that approach backfires.

Trust Erosion Happens Fast

A 2021 analysis found that when employees are monitored at work, it increases stress, decreases job satisfaction, and increases their likelihood of quitting. Most importantly, it significantly erodes trust.

Think about it from your team's perspective. You hire talented people, tell them you trust them to do great work, then install software that tracks their every click. That's not exactly a recipe for building a high-performing team culture.

Measuring the Wrong Things

Productivity dashboards might look impressive, but activity doesn't equal productivity. Just because someone's mouse is moving doesn't mean they're solving problems. And just because someone steps away from their computer doesn't mean they're slacking off.

Harvard Business Review found that monitoring employees actually makes them more likely to break rules. When people feel surveilled, they start gaming the system — installing mouse jigglers, opening random browser tabs, anything to appear "productive" according to the metrics.

You end up with a team that's optimizing for looking busy instead of actually getting things done.

Your Real Problem Remains Unsolved

Even with all that monitoring data, you're still stuck asking the same question: "Is now a good time to reach out?"

Knowing that someone was "active" 10 minutes ago doesn't tell you if they're currently:

• Deep in a coding flow state
• Wrapping up a client call
• Grabbing lunch
• Actually free to help with that urgent issue

The difference between "online" and "interruptible" is everything, and remote monitoring software completely misses it. You need a way to know when it’s a good time to reach out without compromising focus and velocity. 

3 Ways A Virtual Office Helps You See What Your Remote Employees Are Up To (Without Tracking Software)

So what's the alternative? Instead of surveillance, what if you could recreate the natural awareness and spontaneous collaboration of a physical office?

That's exactly what a virtual office like Gather does. Here's how:

1. Visual Status That Actually Means Something

In a physical office, you can tell at a glance who's available for a quick chat. Someone's got headphones on, staring intensely at dual monitors? Not the time. Someone's leaning back in their chair, chatting with a colleague? Perfect time to join the conversation.

Gather brings that same visual awareness to remote work. You can see who's heads-down working versus who's open to talking. No more guessing games, no more awkward "Are you free?" messages.

Instead of a simple green or gray dot that might mean anything, you can see what app someone is currently working in and whether they’re free to talk or heads down focused. 

In a single glance, you gain helpful context so you can make informed decisions about when and who to reach out to. 

2. Ambient Awareness of Team Dynamics

In a real office, you naturally pick up on the rhythm of work around you. You notice when people gather for impromptu discussions, when someone is clearly in back-to-back meetings, or when someone is taking a break. 

Your virtual office reveals these same natural work patterns. You get visual cues to see when employees talk to each other, join meetings, or settle in for focused work at their desk. You can overhear conversations around you and choose to join in or quietly absorb. 

It's like having peripheral vision for your remote team's daily flow.

3. Instantly Join Conversations (When It Makes Sense)

This is where the magic really happens. Remember how easy it used to be to pop by someone's desk for a quick question? Or notice a conversation happening nearby that you could add valuable context to?

With Gather, you can do exactly that — but only when people are actually available and open to interaction. Pop by employees' desks for quick, natural check-ins when they're free. Hear conversations around you for passive context, or join in with a click when your input would be helpful.

The key difference? It's contextual. People have control over their availability, and you have the information you need to respect their boundaries.

The Benefits of Natural Team Visibility in Gather

Let's talk about what the benefits of a virtual office look like in practice: 

• Instead of wondering what your employees are up to, you can see live activity with a single glance (just like looking around an office) 
• Instead of scheduling constant check-ins, you can hear nearby conversations and choose to join in seamlessly
• Instead of waiting around for Slack replies, you can start conversations in seconds (and feel confident you’re not bothering anyone)
• Instead of scheduling 30-minute meetings, you can hold short, productive chats

For Managers Like You

Know what your team is up to instantly without disrupting their flow. See active app status and availability in a single glance, just like looking around an office. 

You can confidently reach out without wondering if you're bothering someone. No more typing and deleting messages, wondering if it's the right time to interrupt.

Decision-making and problem-solving happen at lightning speed. When you can see who's available and what they're working on, you can quickly pull together the right people to tackle urgent issues.

Real-time feedback and mentoring become natural again. Instead of scheduling formal check-ins, you can offer support and guidance in the moment when it's most valuable.

Logan H., a CTO, captures this perfectly: 

"Gather is great for remotely connecting your team. Removing the friction of texting 'are you available?' and just knowing by looking at their indicator light is huge."

For Your Team Members

It's incredibly easy to find someone free to pair up with. No more sending messages into the void, hoping someone's around to collaborate. In our spring 2025 survey of new Gather users, 75% report having more spontaneous conversations.

They can stay focused while staying connected to the team. Everyone can see when someone is running between back-to-back meetings or concentrated at their desk. This increased team visibility helps protect precious work time from being interrupted. 

Daniel L., a Software Developer, puts it beautifully:

"Gather recreates the feeling of being in an office while working remotely. I can see where my coworkers are, whether they're chatting, busy, or free, and it makes it so much easier to hop over to their desk for a quick conversation without the hassle of scheduling a meeting. It feels natural—like how collaboration should work."

For Your Organization

Project velocity improves dramatically when communication friction disappears. Less time waiting for responses means more time shipping features and solving problems. 

Employee satisfaction scores go up because people feel trusted and connected, not surveilled and isolated. 70% of new Gather users report feeling more connected to their teammates.

Weme, an innovation agency in Brazil, began surveying their employees weekly to better understand work satisfaction. After introducing Gather, Weme noticed a wonderful 10% boost in employee engagement thanks to creating a more connected work environment. 

Remote team retention gets better when people actually enjoy working together, even from a distance. In our spring 2025 survey of new Gather users, 80% reported feeling more engaged with their company. 

Padric Gleason, SVP of Operations at Human-I-T, shares the impact: 

"Gather shortened decision cycles, improved creative collaboration, and facilitates knowledge sharing between our Los Angeles and Detroit facilities. It has also improved cross-team training and sped up issue resolution, which all contributed to a stronger, more cohesive culture and improved retention."

Stop Guessing and Lead Your Remote Team with Confidence

Employee monitoring software might give you data, but it won't give you the one thing you actually need: the knowledge of what your team is up to, and therefore the confidence to reach out at the right time, in the right way, without damaging trust or interrupting deep work.

A virtual office like Gather gives you natural visibility into your team's availability and work patterns — without the unnatural surveillance factor. Your team stays focused, you stay informed, and everyone wins.

You don't have to choose between connection and productivity. You don't have to sacrifice trust for visibility. And you definitely don't have to keep playing Slack tag and calendar Tetris when there's urgent work to be done.

Ready to experience what it's like to lead a remote team that moves fast with confidence?

Create your free office →

Join 10,000+ remote teams already using Gather to work better together.

Want to see it in action first? Schedule a product tour with Gather's onboarding team →

Productive remote teams don't need to be monitored — they just need better ways to stay naturally connected.