Remote Work Exploration

Perceptions of remote workers are quite varied across different industries and personal experiences. Some companies have reported excellent experiences with remote teams that reside across numerous time zones and others have reported nightmare experiences with employees just a few miles from the office. The root causes for the successes and failures can many times be linked back to the company’s appetite for remote work as well as the employee’s ability to be effective while not physically being in the office.

In this post, I explore some common questions about working away from the office. As clarification, “remote work” in this post refers to 100% out of the office. Although there are telecommuting programs where some of the information applies, the items discussed are really targeting a full engagement where employees are never in the office.

It depends … It depends on many factors associated with the company and employees. To highlight and drill-down on some of the key factors, let’s start with some perspectives from companies and employees.

That may be absolutely true. There are industries where having offsite workers is not an option. For example, restaurants, auto service centers, banking centers, etc. this isn’t an option due to direct customer facing needs.

However, in industries where it could be considered, it may be worth exploring a percentage that could be remote, or, where the company has no brick and mortar office is 100% remote. And yes, there are companies that have all employees working remotely 100% of the time. Checkout the following blog about 25 of these companies.

Ahh, this is where if done correctly, can yield a number of benefits for both the company and the employees capable of working away from the office.

That is, buy-in and support for those employees. For example, teams having workers offsite need to be mindful of conference room equipment, instant messaging, screen sharing, etc. that is necessary for effective remote workers.

If there are remote employees, the in-house employees need to factor in and accommodate the need for remote communication channels. This is key to making remote workers effective. If the conference rooms have terrible speakers and microphones, the people at remote locations aren’t able to comprehend what is being discussed. If the members of the team are incapable of operating a screen sharing session, instant messaging software, or conference equipment, the remote worker is unable properly contribute to discussions.

The following sites include details of tools assisting with efficient communications and productivity.

Absolutely not true.

As an example, many employees commute to/from work hours each day arriving at 7 a.m. and leaving the office at 5 p.m. for years on end. Were they highly performing employees? Were they being efficient at work? Some were, and some were not. It depends on the individual, work policies, processes and management of those employees.

Also important is understanding how to manage remote workers and assess their quality of work even though they aren’t physically in the office. Just because a non-remote employee is coming in early and staying late in the office, this may not be an indication of the employee’s overall quality of contributions. On the flip side, if a remote worker is always online morning through night, this is not an indication of the employee’s value. As a team leader, supervisor, or manger, you have to understand what is being measured and what quality of work that employee is delivering.

Evaluating an employee’s contributions can be effectively achieved with 100% remote workers. Regular one-on-one with managers is a great way to get a pulse of where the employee is in their career goals and contributions to current projects.

If a new employee needs to ramp up on the job, pair them with a senior employee to do 30-minute screen sharing sessions to review documentation, best practices, product demonstrations, etc.

Again, it ties back to the company processes in place and making that employee accountable while tracking their progress. Expected deliverables can be written formally & distributed or discussed over a one-on-one conference call.

There are many postings that list out the advantages and disadvantages in great detail. Refer to those resources as they give great insight into things to think about as one journeys into remote working. Learning from those experiences allows the employer and employee to be on the same page and head off any potential issues early on.

As an employee with experience working in the office for over a decade, I always had a misconception of remote workers. It is easy to imagine them sitting on a beach somewhere and checking emails periodically. Now that I’ve been working remotely for over 6 years I’ve found that is far from the truth for those employees well-suited for remote work.

While there are many benefits, the biggest benefit in my opinion is that for employees well-suited to being away from the office the quality and velocity of work increases. Why?

In addition, when factoring in the commute time (and stress that comes along with that), the employee can utilize that extra energy at the beginning and end of each work day. It makes a big difference for some employees and the company as well as the employee can benefit greatly.

With that said, remote working isn’t for everyone …

There are some highly extroverted employees that if detached from people and an office would be miserable. That is okay, it complements the workforce and brings diversity of expertise to the company. If the company is 100% remote with no physical location, there are co-location offices accessible in most cities now where employees can be in an office-like location with people who also work remote. Or, there are many public places that support remote workers providing wi-fi services, with access to coffee, tea, etc.

However, on the opposite end of the EQ spectrum, it is wrong to assume a highly introverted person is a perfect candidate to work away from co-workers and the rest of the office. It really depends on the individual. As a company, it is important for supervisors and managers to fully understand each employee’s motivation and how they work most effectively.

As an employer, it’s really worth experimenting with to see how it works out. Write up a temporary contract and see how it goes.

As an employee, if this seems like something that would make you more effective, contact your management and/or HR and see if this could be explored more where you work.

Share your experiences and let me know your thoughts on remote working!

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