Thriving Amidst the Remote Revolution: Insights From Entrepreneurs on Adapting to Remote Work and Ensuring Productivity, Engagement, and Company Culture
In our interview series, ‘The Remote Revolution: Navigating the Future of Work,’ we have gathered responses from over 20 successful entrepreneurs to shed light on how their companies have adapted to the rise of remote work. With the new landscape of remote work becoming increasingly prevalent, these entrepreneurs share their strategies and insights on ensuring productivity, employee engagement, and maintaining a thriving company culture. Join us as we dive into their experiences and learn from their valuable lessons in this ever-evolving work environment.
Danny Nathan
Title: Founder/CEO
Company: Apollo 21
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/apollo21io
My previous company went fully remote (we were already hybrid) at the start of the pandemic before most businesses were beginning to shut down (February 2020). The switch had little impact on our productivity or communications at that time.
Since then, in April 2021, I founded my current company, Apollo 21. We are a fully remote company and I do not anticipate that changing at any time in the near future. While there are certainly trade-offs, we find that the benefits of a remote culture outweigh the challenges…
Operating a fully remote team eliminates office space expenses. By the time you account for rent, office accouterments, snacks/coffee, etc., having a physical office becomes incredibly costly. A remote team eliminates these costs entirely. Our remote culture also enables broader hiring opportunities. If your company is limited to a physical office, then you’re also limited to hiring folks who are local to that office (or paying to relocate those who aren’t). With a remote team, however, you can hire folks nationwide or even worldwide. This creates a much broader talent pool.
An unexpected benefit for us is that getting together feels like an event. We recently brought our leadership team together for an off-site. The uniqueness of our in-person work time made that time feel more valuable and helped the team feel committed to utilizing our time together to the fullest.
We also find that being fully remote offers us considerable flexibility. At Apollo 21, we operate a ROWE (results-oriented work environment). For us, this means that — as long as folks are showing up for meetings and communicating clearly — we don’t care when or where they accomplish their work. This means that our employees with children have the freedom to spend time with their kids, handle school pick-ups or appointments, etc. without concern of recourse. Our team can travel as they like and work from anywhere.
That said, yes collaboration works differently in a remote environment. When your team is co-located, it’s easy to pull folks into a room for a brainstorming session or meeting. There are also greater opportunities for organic collaboration to occur around the water cooler. For a remote team, these moments have to be orchestrated.
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Kristin Marquet
Title: Business Owner
Company: Marquet Media, LLC
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kristinmarquet
The rise of remote work has dramatically transformed how businesses operate, requiring organizations to adapt and implement strategies to ensure productivity, maintain employee engagement, and foster a thriving company culture in a remote environment. Here are some approaches that we have adopted:
Embracing Remote Tools and Technologies: We invested in remote collaboration tools such as video conferencing platforms, project management software, and communication tools to enable seamless virtual collaboration and information sharing. These tools enable us to facilitate effective communication, project tracking, and team collaboration, ensuring that employees can work together efficiently regardless of physical location.
Setting Clear Expectations and Goals: To maintain productivity, we have defined and communicated expectations, goals, and deadlines for remote teams. This clarity helps the team understand their responsibilities, prioritize tasks, and focus on achieving objectives. Regular check-ins, performance evaluations, and goal-setting sessions are essential to provide feedback and ensure alignment with organizational objectives.
Encouraging Flexibility and Work-Life Balance: We have recognized the importance of work-life balance and have implemented policies that promote flexible working hours, allowing the team to maintain personal commitments and reduce burnout. This flexibility helps improve employee well-being and overall job satisfaction.
Investing in Professional Development: We recognize the importance of continuous learning and skill development for remote team members. We provide access to online training courses, webinars, and virtual workshops to enhance employees’ professional growth. Supporting remote workers in their career development boosts their skills and capabilities and demonstrates the organization’s commitment to their long-term success.
We have adapted to remote work environments by implementing these strategies while maintaining productivity, fostering employee engagement, and nurturing positive company culture. The key lies in leveraging technology, establishing clear communication channels, promoting flexibility, and investing in employee development to create a thriving remote work environment.
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Ravi Parikh
Title: CEO
Company: Roverpass
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raviparikh1/
The concept of working from home or remote locations was always on the cards. It was bound to happen sooner or later. However, the COVID epidemic fast-tracked this concept, catching businesses and employees unawares. However, businesses have now reconciled to this concept or working from home and navigated the shift to their advantage.
Working from home has its advantages because employers need not maintain huge workspaces. Since most of the work can be done using the internet, it makes better sense for employees to work from remote locations. It enhances their productivity and contributes to the business’s success. Therefore, companies can function with bare minimum staff on site. Some companies have rotating shifts where one group of employees come to work onsite on specific days, and the others do not. They keep rotating shifts so that every employee gets a chance to work from home and attend the office occasionally. It helps maintain employee engagement while always getting the best out of them.
Another advantage of working from home and staggered office timings is that it eliminates water-cooler or coffee-shop gossip that is always unproductive. Instead, workers concentrate on their jobs and perform to the best of their abilities. They save time commuting to work. It energizes employees to work for extended hours without showing any signs of dissent. Secondly, employees can also attend to their domestic chores and contribute to their family growth. Thus, it is a win-win situation for employees and businesses.
I allow my employees to work from home and have designated specific days when they must report to the office. It helps me to monitor their performances and share new responsibilities with them. A satisfied employee is the best brand ambassador for the company, and a person having the flexibility to work from home and attend the office occasionally experiences better job satisfaction.
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Kamil Faizi
Title: Owner Operator
Company: Coins Customized
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamil-faizi/
As an American small business owner, adapting to the rise of remote work has been a transformative journey for my company. To ensure productivity, employee engagement, and company culture thrive in this new landscape, we have implemented several strategies.
Firstly, we have prioritized open and frequent communication. We leverage technology such as Zoom to facilitate regular video conferences, team meetings, and one-on-one check-ins. This helps us stay connected, maintain transparency, and address any concerns or challenges promptly.
To foster a sense of collaboration and teamwork, we utilize project management tools and online platforms that enable seamless communication and task coordination. This allows employees to collaborate on projects, share updates, and contribute their ideas effectively, regardless of their physical location.
Recognizing the importance of employee well-being, we have established flexible work schedules that accommodate individual needs and responsibilities. This promotes a healthy work-life balance and empowers employees to manage their time effectively, resulting in improved productivity and job satisfaction.
And to maintain and strengthen our company culture, we organize virtual team-building activities, such as online games, virtual happy hours, and wellness challenges. These initiatives provide opportunities for employees to bond, build relationships, and nurture a sense of belonging, even when physically apart.
Investing in professional development is another key strategy we have embraced. We provide remote training opportunities, webinars, and access to online learning platforms to ensure employees continue to develop their skills and stay motivated in their roles.
We prioritize recognizing and celebrating achievements, both big and small. We use digital channels to acknowledge employee milestones, exceptional performance, and contributions. This cultivates a positive and inclusive work environment, boosting morale and fostering a sense of accomplishment.
All in all, I believe our adaptation to remote work has been driven by a commitment to maintaining productivity, employee engagement, and a thriving company culture. By embracing technology, fostering open communication, promoting work-life balance, organizing virtual team-building activities, investing in professional development, and celebrating achievements, we have successfully navigated this new landscape and positioned ourselves for long-term success.
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Tim Hadley
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Company: Evive Brands
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-g-hadley
“In my role as CEO of Evive Brands, I have witnessed firsthand the transformative potential of a remote work environment. Far from being a challenge, we saw it as an opportunity to redefine traditional operational models. Our journey was less about adapting to a remote setup, and more about proactively choosing a path that prioritized flexibility, diversity, and technological innovation.
At Evive Brands, we believe that our commitment to quality service is not just a business philosophy, but an intrinsic part of our way of life. Recognizing that our team members are the bedrock of our service offering, we have striven to create an environment that fosters happiness, fulfillment, and professional growth. Our fundamental understanding is that when our employees feel valued and engaged, they are better equipped to deliver a service that is exceptional and unparalleled.
This mentality permeates through our entire operation. We’ve created a culture that places trust and open communication at the forefront, encouraging our team to collaborate effectively regardless of geographical barriers. In doing so, we’ve managed to maintain not only our commitment to excellence, but also a sense of community and camaraderie amongst our staff. We’ve found that remote work is not a barrier to maintaining a strong culture; rather, it provides an opportunity to build one that truly reflects our values and mission.”
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Brett Martin
Title: Co-founder and President
Company: Kumospace
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettlucasmartin/
Kumospace was created with the goal to increase employee engagement for fully remote and distributed teams. The virtual office space within the platform allows for teams to have those water cooler moments, building a sense of community. Keeping lines of communication open ensuring a flow of information that helps act as both a sounding board and a quality check on projects and initiatives that are in process. The rise of remote work has additionally encouraged flexibility between work and life. Kumospace as a platform as well as a remote team itself is built with that flexibility in mind. When employees feel that they can be flexible on when they can get their work done while balancing being full time employees and full time family members they are more likely to be creative and productive in accomplishing their tasks.
The success of distributed teams is based on open and transparent communication. The pandemic gave rise to several tools for employees and clients to keep in touch in the workplace, now obviously we have our favorite, but the key is to communicate openly. No matter the size of the team — near-constant conversation is a crucial driver of success.
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Charlie Saffro
Title: CEO & Founder
Company: CS Recruiting
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaffro/
Working from home has always been part of our culture at @CS Recruiting.
When I think back to the early days and how/why we made a decision to be a hybrid office, I have to chuckle because it was a silly and potentially hasty decision at the time.
However, now that I look back, I can see that it was one of the best decisions we made from the start.
I remember meeting @Beth Herberholz on a snowy day in December 2011 for an interview. Beth and I were introduced through a mutual connection and I had just made the decision that it was time to hire our first employee and start scaling the business.
When I met Beth, she was a recent Michigan transplant and enjoying what life had to offer in the “big city.” One of the perks of living downtown was that she didn’t need a car.
Beth checked every box in terms of what we were looking for in our first employee. She was bright, motivated, had relevant experience and a good head on her shoulders. But, she still didn’t have a car. And, our suburban office was 25 miles away from her apartment in the city.
In our initial conversation, Beth made it clear that she wouldn’t be up for a five day commute. In order to get to our office, she had to take a bus to a train and then walk several blocks to our office.
Instead of walking away, I told Beth that we’d figure out something that worked for both of us.
And we did.
It was that moment when we made Beth the offer and agreed to a split schedule with 3 days in the office and 2 days at home. This model proved to work and eventually led to her being home 3 days a week and in the office the other two.
Every employee that we hired after Beth was given the same opportunity. We had some learning curves and bumps along the way, but we figured out our remote management style and used the right technologies to keep our team in check. We learned early on that by allowing our team to work from home, we showed them that we TRUSTED them. This type of trust and flexibility shaped our culture and set the tone for our management style moving forward.
Fast forward to when the pandemic first hit, and offices closed nationwide. We watched companies in our industry crumble under the pressure and heard panic from candidates that worked at companies large and small. We heard from our network that many of these companies were not prepared from a technology standpoint…they were still using desktop computers and didn’t have the network or bandwidth to support a remote team. As business started to ramp back up, companies realized they weren’t set up to interview, hire or train new hires remotely and they didn’t have the resources to make important hiring (and retention) decisions during the height of the market.
Since then, we’ve all seen how the pandemic shifted mindsets and eventually led to somewhat of a “new normal” working structure across the globe. Many companies (like ours) quickly realized that it COULD work and it was up to leadership to implement the right policies and send the right messages to keep their teams engaged and connected. We’ve seen other companies mandate in-office presence and while some essential businesses have an obvious reason to do this, a lot of companies have stuck to their office model out of sheer tradition or possibly….fear.
Over the last several months, I’ve had many conversations around the virtual vs. office set up and I’ve been caught a bit off guard when people have challenged our decision. I’ve heard comments like “there’s no way that will work long term” or “how do you know your colleagues aren’t just sitting on their couches watching Netflix all day?” The answer is simple and goes back to the connection we established with our team on day one when we made the initial deal with Beth. We TRUST them. We set our team up for success and recognize the value of flexibility.
In addition to the general skepticism, I’ve had many clients ask specifically about interviewing and training in a virtual setting.
Prior to the pandemic, we naturally relied on our office space for interviewing, onboarding and training. As long as we had the space, it made sense to bring candidates in for interviews on our in-office days and to have them work in-person for the first few weeks in the role. Like many other companies, the pandemic challenged us to figure out how to recruit virtually for ourselves. I won’t lie and say it was “easy,” but I will say that our team did a great job by putting a lot of thought, time and attention into making it work. Huge kudos to our Director of Recruiting, @morgan shutman for giving this her attention and figuring out a sustainable and scalable strategy that allows us to confidently grow remotely.
What we’ve found is that it’s just as easy (and more efficient for everyone) to conduct @zoom interviews. You can learn a lot about someone from their presence and demeanor on-screen and we’ve developed a system where we hold 1.5–2 hours for an interview and multiple interviewees jump on and off to make the best use of the candidates time.
Additionally, training new hires virtually has become very normal to us and we are also finding value in the ability to stay focused and efficient with our training schedules. @Robert Glazer writes about virtual training and provides a ton of guidance and templates in his recent book “How to Thrive in a Virtual Workplace.” If you are setting up virtual training or looking to implement a new system, I highly recommend you check it out!
If you’ve already made the transition to remote work, or this is something on your radar, it’s important to know that it is possible and the evidence will continue to build as companies take this leap and maintain growth and profitability. Anything is possible if you set expectations, have the right leadership mentality and trust your team.
A company that lets their employees work from home will always get the ”best talent in the country.”
A company that insists on hiring people to work in the office will always get the “best talent in their neighborhood.”
Additional Thoughts:
Moving to a fully remote model was the best decision I made as a leader.
Our team is happier.
We’re more productive.
And selfishly, I’ve discovered that I am the best version of my (professional) self. Here’s why:
1. There is no question that I am way more PRODUCTIVE when working from home. There is something about being in my own space that keeps me motivated and working harder. I’m not tied to a desk or conference room and can make myself comfortable and stay stimulated by changing my scenery throughout the day.
2. There is something so liberating about the way I get ready for the day when I work from home. Yes, I still shower, do my hair and apply some makeup. Yes, I make sure that my outfit (waist up) is presentable. But speaking as a fashion conscious female, not having to coordinate a full outfit, shoes, accessories and a coat saves me major time, energy and fashion anxiety.
3. Working from home with access to my kitchen keeps me way more nourished than when we had an office. I’m the kind of person who works through lunch and doesn’t realize I’m hungry until it’s too late. Now, I eat when I’m hungry and I have a full fridge to ensure I have fresh food and options.
4. I feel extremely privileged to be able to see my kids at the end of their school day (vs. waiting until I got home from the office) and being able to lead by example under their observation. Prior to the pandemic, my kids rarely saw me “in action” at work. They’d see me on my laptop or taking a work call here and there but it doesn’t compare to the hustle they now observe on a daily basis. My kids finally understand what I do and how I spend my working hours and there’s a lot of merit in that.
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Dan Salganik
Title: Managing Partner
Company: VisualFizz
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansalganik/
Our company was launched as a remote-friendly organization due to a love for travel and a need to accomplish something that truly wasn’t available for me. I built an organization that is remote-friendly for all team members and our clients. The reason we developed this type of organization is due to the fact that we felt that we simply did not need to pay for an office, nor did we feel the need to require our team to commute between 30–90+ minutes per day. It was a waste!
We started our firm to be mobile friendly and then actually pivoted to a hybrid structure with a downtown office. That said, it was never required to be in the office- it came recommended to build culture. We always kept the business remote-first and continue to do so post-covid. We’ve since gotten rid of our office and did not feel the need to come back to it.
One of the major shifts that the organization has seen is that we were only hiring in Chicagoland and Illinois. During/after COVID, we opened up hiring to all of the United States. We now have team members throughout 4 different timezones domestically and 7 timezones globally.
Overall, the shift is very positive. The main downside is we wish we could meet more frequently, locally, as a team for culture purposes. We would love to have our team meet in person for happy hours, but we understand that remote-friendly work came with a price. We feel there are more pros vs. cons.
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Te Wu
Title: CEO
Company: PMO Advisory Advisory
Linkedin: –
My organization has adapted and implemented a number of remote work tactics to keep productivity high, keep employees interested in their work, and cultivate a flourishing company culture. Communication and Collaboration Tools are the standard method and procedure at my company. In order to work together despite being in different locations, companies have adopted a variety of communication and collaboration solutions. Real-time chat, video conferencing, file sharing, and project management are all made possible by tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet. The use of these tools makes teamwork easier and keeps productivity high.
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Bob Smith
Title: Founder
Company: Starlinkzone
Linkedin: –
Health Promotion Activities for Workers is the method and practice that is widely used in my company. Businesses have prioritized employee wellness efforts in response to the concerns raised by the negative effects of remote work on workers’ health. Some examples are promoting regular breaks and exercise, as well as mental health education and counseling services. Businesses can keep their employees motivated and productive if they care about their health and happiness.
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Alex Contes
Title: Co-Founder & SaaS Expert
Company: ReviewGrower
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcontes/
My company follows the tried-and-true method of “Acceptance and Socialization in the Digital World.” Companies plan social events online and give out virtual awards to remote workers to make them feel appreciated and part of a team. Employees might feel appreciated by their peers and superiors through online appreciation channels, virtual team lunches, and virtual awards ceremonies.
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Ryan Steinolfson
Title: Business Owner
Company: Accelerate Marketing
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryansteinolfson/
My company, like many others, has adopted the strategy and practice of engaging in team-building activities online. Businesses have embraced online team-building exercises as a way to increase employee participation and strengthen the company culture. Coffee breaks, games, happy hours, and retreats can all be held online. Participating in this kind of events might help people feel more connected despite their geographical separation.
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Michelle Gamble
Title: Company Owner
Company: 3L Publishing and PR
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gamblerisley/
We were a remote work company years before the pandemic mandated workers return to their home offices. I’ve always been focused on results, not on how someone spends their time to get those results. I believe in setting deadlines and holding people accountable to those deadlines. It gives people the opportunity to effectively manage their own time without my oversight. If they fail to make those deadlines then our work relationship ends. It’s like trusting someone until they give you a reason not to.
When it comes to company culture, I run a tight ship with a small team. We meet via Zoom and review our projects together. It’s great to use the share feature so we can see the visuals and discuss. We’re all very easygoing, professional and focused on the final product. It creates a friendly, collaborative and cooperative team environment where individual skills are acknowledged and rewarded. I think the best way to describe our working culture is friendly, talented people who love what they do and support each other as we do it.
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Wendy Wang
Title: President
Company: F&J Outdoor
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-wang-155071280/
F&J Outdoor, an outdoor furniture cover store, has embraced the remote work model fully, implementing strategies to maintain productivity and create an engaged team. We leverage cloud-based project management tools to keep track of goals and deadlines and create a space for real-time collaboration. We’ve also dedicated considerable effort to fostering a virtual company culture, from online team-building activities to regular video catch-ups and wellness check-ins, ensuring that no team member feels isolated.
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Lynn Greenberg
Title: Founder and CEO
Company: Pivt
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-greenberg-3515865a/
At Pivt, we’re on a mission to make anywhere feel like home and combat the social isolation many people face today in an upwardly mobile and remote world. We do this internally by prioritizing wellbeing, human goals, and employee check-ins. We also make a point to be very intentional about culture, goals, and bi-annual team off-sites.
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Noel Griffith
Title: Chief Marketing Officer
Company: SupplyGem
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/griffithnoel/
When it comes to adopting remote work, it’s crucial to have a strong focus on communication and transparency.
I do think remote work can be more challenging because there’s not as much opportunity for face-to-face communication — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still possible! I’ve made it a point to schedule regular video calls with my team members, and I also use Slack to communicate with them. This helps us keep in touch without having to worry about getting together in person all the time, which is great for our productivity and my sanity.
The other thing I do is make sure we have plenty of opportunities for collaboration and teamwork. We do this through group meetings (which we have every week), but also by making sure everyone has access to each other’s work so they can give feedback or ask questions if they need help with something.
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Valentin Vasilevskiy
Title: Founder
Company: Business Booster
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasilevskiy
We want to make working from home as lively and fun as if we’re all in one building, each in our own room, doing our jobs online. We use three main ways to do this:
The first problem with working from home is not knowing if someone is really working, how long they’re working, and if they’re not just messing around.
Solution: Everyone uses a special app to track their time. They turn it on when they start working and off when they take breaks. This way, we can see who’s online and ready to chat about work. Managers can check how hard everyone is working. Most of us have flexible hours and track our time to match. The app also asks workers to say what task they’re working on.
The second problem is feeling alone. People are all in different places, and it’s hard to feel like a team.
Solution: We hold exciting Zoom meetings in different ways:
Company meetings, or all-hands meetings, happen every week to keep everyone in the loop and involved. A big rule: always turn your camera on for virtual meetings. This helps everyone to stay professional and tidy. Managers can ask this of their team members. If there’s an emergency or someone’s home situation isn’t great, we can make allowances. Since we don’t see each other in person much, having the camera on helps us stay connected.
Team meetings: Managers have quick Zoom chats with their teams every day to talk about plans and give updates. This helps us stay on the same page.
One-on-one meetings: Managers have regular Zoom chats with each team member to talk about their needs and worries. During these chats, a manager can help with tricky situations, make new plans, or talk about big projects. They can also talk about who should do what tasks or hiring new team members.
The third problem is needing a simple, clear way to train employees and help the team work together online.
Solution: We made a system called Tonnus to manage our work-from-home team. It’s like a digital handbook for our company, with all the rules and guidelines available online. Each worker gets their own learning materials, and we can see how they’re doing.
In Tonnus, we also show the company’s structure, with each person’s job and tasks. For example, our receptionist needs to check emails and calls every morning. But they might forget or run out of time, which could make us lose clients or look bad if we answer late. In Tonnus, we can give the receptionist a regular task called “Process incoming requests”. To finish this task, the receptionist has to show a screenshot proving they’ve dealt with or passed on the requests to the right team members. This makes it easy for the manager to check everything.
Plus, Tonnus is where we keep track of all other tasks and important numbers.
By using these ways and tools, we want to make working from home fun and productive for our team.
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Mollie Newton
Title: Founder
Company: PetmeTwice
Linkedin: https://www.petmetwice.com/
Establishing clear communication channels. We’ve embraced a wide range of remote collab tools like video conferencing platforms (Zoom, Google Meet), project management software (Trello, Asana), and instant messaging platforms (Slack) to facilitate communication and collaboration among teams. We have regular team meets, one-on-one check-ins, and using appropriate comm channels for specific types of communications. Emails are formal, Slack is for project specific queries. We’ve also established that we’re making work-life balance a priority and make sure that our team understands that we’re flexible in our work arrangements. We’re on different time zones, provide flexible working hours, and encourage one another to take breaks and maintain a healthy balance.
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David Remstein
Title: CEO
Company: FinMason
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3528661/admin/feed/posts/
FinMason, a leading investment data and analytics firm, has been utilizing remote work for about the past five years, even before the pandemic made this issue come to the forefront. The company is headquartered in Boston with employees and teams distributed around the United States and overseas. From our perspective it is not universal to say it works or doesn’t. Remote work needs to be the right fit and every organization is different.
It works best when a few key pieces of the remote work puzzle are in place. These include strong leadership to manage and a well thought out plan to utilize remote workers; remote workers who understand their obligations to the organization and agree to well-designed metrics for measuring success and are open to implementing course corrections when metrics aren’t met; and enjoyable and meaningful work where there are clear paths set up for career growth and promotion regardless of location.
On the other hand, there are some instances where it’s more of a challenge to make it work. These include instances where you have high turnover positions that require strong management and where frequent hands-on on-boarding is necessary; entry level positions where new employees need a lot of mentoring and in-person training; when employees are distracted at home; and at failing companies that are in significant distress or in rapidly changing markets where more hands-on management and collaboration could be more effective in turning things around and inspiring teams.
Overall, the opportunity to hire remote workers opens the door to finding incredible talent anywhere and at FinMason we’ve been very keen on that. But we do — and other companies should — understand what the limitation are to remote work and how to work around or through them when necessary.
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Erin LaCkore
Title: Founder
Company: LaCkore Couture
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-lackore-104008219/
I’m thrilled to see such a timely series focusing on the future of work. As the CEO of the jewelry brand LaCkore Couture, the rise of remote work has profoundly impacted how we operate. We’ve navigated the challenges and benefits of this new reality, implementing strategies for maintaining productivity, fostering engagement, and preserving our culture.
Our key strategies include utilizing collaborative digital tools, fostering a culture of trust and accountability, and encouraging open communication. We’ve learned that in a remote environment, establishing clear expectations and providing the right tools for employees are crucial. Employee engagement and well-being have been addressed by balancing work and personal life, promoting regular social interactions virtually, and offering flexibility to cater to individual needs.
The future of work is here and we’re excited to play a part in shaping it.
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Daniel Novela
Title: Founder/President
Company: Novela Law
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielnovela
I have built it as a virtual corporate and art law firm, with of-counsel attorneys for skills my law firm does not have and with collaborations with other attorneys to create new companies, such as Lotus Title, for other skill sets such as real estate title and closings.
The staff works as needed, including secretaries and paralegal assistants. In addition, I use Upwork to locate staff. I have scaled a law firm without the fixed overhead. I work remotely most of the year, travel internationally extensively, and run it all from my laptop. I decided to go virtual because i was overworked, tying to do everything, but wanted to travel and not be fixed to a location, managing people. I never step away mentally, but physically I travel the world. I have done this since 2014, so pre-covid. However, it is much easier now since the stigma of working remote is gone.
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Dick Grove
Title: CEO / Founder
Company: INK Inc. Public Relations
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dickgrove/
In the case of my company, which I launched in 1992 under a different name and coming on the heels of many years working with major firms and organizations, remote work has been the cornerstone of our model for 30 years. When I created the company, I knew I wanted the best available seasoned pros to be a part of it. But as I wasn’t in New York or Los Angeles, which is where most of the industry was based at the time, I took a leap on the still very new and unproven model of a remote workforce at a time when faxes and pagers ruled the business world. There were very few freelancers working remotely so not only was I taking the leap but my early staff was as well.
As I was well-connected in the industry, I was able to recruit knowing how attractive an alternative work environment would be. Just as it is today, no commute, independence and time flexibility are very attractive for those in certain industries. And knowing that top pros have a built-in drive to succeed, I also knew they didn’t need a baby-sitter. But I soon realized that while leaving a team to their own devices to do their jobs well served one part of the equation, what was missing was the daily, physical interaction and comradery that comes from an office experience. And that’s not any different than today.
While we now have many tools to attempt to recreate the “water cooler” conversations, whether it’s group chats or Zoom calls, there’s still something to be said for real-time, face to face communication. What I started doing is actually visiting my team wherever they were located. It clearly couldn’t be too frequently but I found that just spending some one-on-one time with my team would create a similar dynamic as would be found in an office. It’s something that I still try and do today. Following that, my go-to has always been the old-fashioned telephone where talking about work is far secondary to sharing non-work topics. I want to know what my team is up to, how their lives are going, where their interests lie. Not only does that provide me with insight on how to best manage them but it creates a bond and lets people know that we’re all in this together.
While I’m not a Luddite when it comes to new technologies, although I will say AI is a different animal, I’ll always maintain that for all the advantages that come from digital communication, it will never replace in-person interactions. We’re a social animal and need that type of bonding. So while leadership may take every digital step necessary to keep their workforce engaged, positive and productive, they shouldn’t forget that on the other end of the Zoom call or email, is a person with a full life who has works options. And if they’ve chosen to align themselves with you then you need to align yourself with them. That won’t come through a list of emailed tasks and deadlines or updates via Zoom calls. It comes through caring about the well-being of your team which is something that, in my experience, pays dividends in many ways.
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