Navigating the New Normal: Entrepreneurs Share Their Strategies for Remote Work Success
Welcome to the second installment of our groundbreaking interview series, “The Remote Revolution: Navigating the Future of Work.” In this edition, we continue our exploration into the world of remote work, bringing you the experiences, insights, and strategies of over 20 successful entrepreneurs. These leaders have not only adapted to the rise of remote work but have also found ways to ensure productivity, foster employee engagement, and maintain a vibrant company culture in this new landscape. Dive into this treasure trove of firsthand insights, expert advice, and actionable strategies that will help your organization navigate and thrive in the era of remote work.
Gauri Manglik
Title: CEO and Co-Founder
Company: Instrumentl
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurimanglik/
In my experience, the most successful companies that have adopted remote work are the ones that have a clear understanding of what they are getting into. They recognize that this is not a means to an end, but rather a new way of doing business.
It’s important to remember that remote work doesn’t mean you can hire anyone who is willing to work remotely — it means you need to find people who are already working remotely. These people are more likely to be self-starters because they don’t have the same social pressures of being around their co-workers all day long as employees in an office setting might have.
It’s also important to remember that remote employees aren’t always getting paid less than their on-site counterparts. In fact, sometimes they will be paid more because they’re saving your company money by not having an office space and paying for utilities associated with it (e.g., heating/cooling).
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Surya Sanchez
Title: Founder
Company: DeepIdea Lab
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suryasanchez/
At DeepIdea Lab, we have always embraced remote working, even before it became a widespread practice due to the pandemic. Our small team of four is fully remote and we have effectively adapted to this model by relying on technology and clear communication.
We understand that productivity is not just about the hours clocked, but also about completing tasks effectively. To ensure this, we manage schedules flexibly and have a daily synchronization. We primarily use tools like Slack and ClickUp to stay connected, coordinate tasks, and track progress.
Employee engagement is a vital aspect to us. Even though we are in different locations, we foster a sense of togetherness and camaraderie through regular video calls and virtual celebrations. Birthdays and achievements are acknowledged and celebrated on our online platforms, which helps keep morale high.
Maintaining company culture in a remote environment is undeniably a challenge. While some companies arrange annual meetings, we currently do not follow this practice. However, we have cultivated a supportive and collaborative culture where we are there for each other, even if it’s through a screen.
Our approach to remote work has enabled us to stay productive, engaged, and supportive of each other. As we continue to navigate this landscape, we remain open to learning and refining our strategies to ensure that distance does not hinder our team’s effectiveness or spirit.
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Lee Hemming
Title: Sales Director
Company: ABC Finance Limited
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehemming/
We’ve adapted to the rise of remote work by implementing new training processes for skills and systems that we have had to implement. If we’re taking on an entirely new system, softwares, and way of working, it only makes sense to make sure everyone is trained for these things. You can’t just throw certain team members into the deep end and expect them to swim.
Training is an important part of any company, whether it be onboarding a new employee or as a company develops their services and grows, it’s important to continue training. As soon as remote work started to take hold on our business, we knew we had to implement new training modules in order to make sure our team was ready to do it consistently and effectively.
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Josh Levine
Title: Co-Founder and CEO
Company: Private Market Labs
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-levine-b50a7723/
For me, it’s all about the tools you implement in order to adapt to remote work and excel at it.
Remote work is all about the digital side of life, so loading your toolbox up with the right equipment is imperative. You can’t adapt to remote work, but continue to use the same tools and equipment as you used when everyone was in the same room. You must adapt, not only to remote work, but to new ways of doing things, and just about everyone will say that the right answer is in the tools you use.
And it isn’t about finding the right tools, throwing them into your processes, and forgetting things. New tools are launched all the time and you must be open to changing your ways at all times, even when you are comfortable and in a nice rhythm. We must be adaptable, especially in a remote world it seems.
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Kevin Adley
Title: Lead Attorney
Company: Adley Law Firm
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adley-law-firm/
Once we started working remotely, we had to make sure we working in a secure way and weren’t opening ourselves to any cybersecurity issues. We work with sensitive client information and we need to keep it secure from hackers and breachers. When we work in an office on our company network, that is easy. But when we are all working in different places, it is more challenging and we have to be very direct in how we keep everyone safe and secure.
This meant we had to find someone to help us with our cybersecurity plan. They implemented new tools for us to save and send files, communicate without any potential leaks, and anything else included in keeping us, and our clients, safe.
This is an obvious factor to consider when transferring to remote work (especially for us) and we took it very seriously. It was one way we had to adapt to remote work!
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Dmitrii Kustov
Title: CEO
Company: RegexSEO
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/DigitalSpaceman/
At our company, we were fortunate to have already been working in a hybrid format prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which made the transition to remote work more seamless for us compared to many other organizations. However, this does not mean that we did not face our own set of challenges. One area we had to carefully reconsider was our hiring and onboarding process. We made adjustments to ensure that new employees joining our team remotely still received a warm welcome and were provided with the necessary resources to succeed in their roles.
Furthermore, we recognized the importance of having a reliable task management system in place to ensure effective collaboration and productivity. We dedicated considerable time and effort to finding the right task manager for our team, although we are still in the process of refining our choice to ensure it aligns perfectly with our needs.
To foster employee engagement and a sense of belonging, we have implemented various strategies. We encourage regular team activities, such as weekly calls where employees have the opportunity to engage in small group discussions, getting to know each other on a more personal level. Additionally, we organize company-wide meetings at least once a year, bringing together all employees in one place to foster a strong sense of unity and connection.
We also understand the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance for our employees. In order to support this, we offer each team member the opportunity to take two days off per month with pay. This allows them to recharge and prioritize their well-being, ultimately contributing to their overall productivity and job satisfaction.
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Nancy Stewart
Title: Founder & HR Leadership Consultant
Company: Talent Alchemists
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancykstewart/
The first rule of embracing remote work is admitting remote work is here to stay. Like many, my company went fully remote in the early days of COVID. Initially, the CEO and I would discuss the remote plans in 2-week increments, thinking, surely, this situation can’t last that long. After a few months of this dance, we admitted remote work was the new norm. From there we could implement lasting and impactful change to maintain our culture, productivity, and engagement.
The second rule to creating a thriving remote culture is to design robust strategies that address critical aspects of successful remote workplaces — trust, connection, and collaboration. These strategies run much deeper than tactics like water cooler chat rooms and Zoom happy hours.
I have found two strategies to be highly impactful — investing in manager training and designating an employee experience task force.
Investing in manager development is essential to the success of remote work, as this group has a significant impact on productivity and engagement. Manager development entails training on remote team leadership, effective communication, and employee alignment on common business objectives.
The employee experience “task force” is dedicated to improving engagement and employee wellbeing. Their responsibility is to innovate employee lifecycle programs including, hiring methods, performance management, and career development. Solutions from this team include new candidate assessments, career development templates, revamped onboarding, and employee-led performance review meetings.
Culture, productivity, and engagement can all thrive in a remote work environment. To claim otherwise is to ignore the challenge and innovative thinking required to flourish in the new norm.
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Ryan Farley
Title: CEO
Company: Lawnstarter
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-farley-atx/
One of the hardest parts of the transition to remote work is that the things you look for in your employees, like productivity, connection, and engagement, just look different in a remote environment. If you’re used to using punctuality, presenteeism, and speaking up in meetings as key measures of engagement, the remote world can look like a disaster. What you’re not seeing is people being more productive with the hours they spend at their desks, the quick side chats with key stakeholders to check in on important issues, or the casual side conversations that serve as the glue holding your team together socially.
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Drew Lever
Title: Chief Marketing Officer
Company: Ria Money Transfer
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ria-financial/
Tracking the output is much more important for remote work versus looking at productivity alone. Deadlines are still very much important, so tracking progress is easier for the whole team. Having a tracking spreadsheet ensures everyone is aware of what projects are being worked on, when they’re due and who is responsible. You simply need to change the way you view work, and to not expect it to be the same as working in an office even just 10 years ago.
I find being able to take a challenge and adapt with a more positive mindset makes it easier on everyone to adapt as well. Choosing to see it any other way just makes it more difficult on your team and it can greatly reduce productivity and motivation.
Using software like a tracking sheet that everyone can see simply helps to keep everyone more connected and increases important workplace factors like collaboration and team building.
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Julia Meyer
Title: CBDO
Company: Clever Control
Linkedin: https://ru.linkedin.com/in/julia-meyer-614853191/en?trk=people-guest_people_search-card
Adapting to remote work, for me, was all about making sure my own personal health was looked after. When you adapt new processes and drastically change one part of your life, other elements of your life is going to be impacted.
Once remote work began to take over and I found myself working from home, I knew I had to make decisions to counter any effects remote work would have on my personal life.
I needed to be more strict about finding time for myself, watch the clock for fear of working too much, and even just getting overly stressed because of these new things.
This focus on my personal health and the risks of remote work were apparent to me and that was one thing I focused on as I adapted to this new life.
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Mike Ryan
Title: President/Co-Founder
Company: Cactus Mailing Company
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cactus-mailing-company/
In order to adapt to a surge in remote work, Cactus Mailing has been more deliberate in the scheduling and execution of virtual meetings. Prior to remote work, meetings were more sporadic and organized with a few hours notice. Now, it’s more important to have meetings on everyone’s calendar and to really make the most of this time whenever meetings do happen.
We have more weekly calls, know how important it is to make the most of these meetings, and the ability to be an effective remote team through the use of virtual meetings.
We also have a strict process in how meetings are run, the time we want to spend on each subject, and the goal for each meeting. We use agendas, have one person run the meetings, and also use the ‘Share Screen’ feature to make meetings more effective
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Jan Bruce
Title: CEO and co-founder
Company: meQuilibrium
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janbruce/
Headlines about the challenges of remote and hybrid work are all over the business press. Many of us expected the return to the workplace to feel positive, a signal that we were back to normal. People can meet directly with customers, have a team lunch, attend trade shows and commute via public transportation without fear. However, as we face the future of work, HR leaders express a growing sense that the challenges aren’t only new expectations from workers; managers and business leaders have their own assumptions about the best ways to work. As the CEO of a fully remote, B2B tech company, I recognize that there are some unique aspects to our workforce and work models that we need to manage in order to optimize team and company performance.
Trust and caring in the workplace are integral to the fearlessness and flexibility companies need for growth. McKinsey research has found that companies lagging in innovation are often places where employees have fear and anxiety in association with the risks involved in innovation. Leaders, experts, and employees are still figuring out how to build trust and caring in any workforce, and remote or asynchronous teams face a serious challenge here. Resilient managers have the skills to build the relationships that, in turn, feed agility and innovation. Research has found that agile teams are fueled by collaboration, creativity, and trust. They respect each other’s input, encourage people to be candid, and seize on new ideas, building the momentum that drives productivity. All of this builds the skill to thrive through change.
Here are three specific practices we put in place at meQ to build an environment that builds trust and support for each employee:
1. Weekly Town Hall: The entire company gathers weekly for a virtual town hall. We rotate speakers and topics, and we cover business updates in good times and tough times, in order to build trust and belonging. This is a standing appointment on the calendar, and is one of my weekly highlights. It’s seen by all as a psychologically safe space where any topic is fair game for discussion.
2. Weekly Recap email newsletter: Every Friday afternoon I send an email to the entire company recapping my week featuring highs (and lows). Everything from customer wins to media mentions to reflections from my meetings and travels. We’ve seen that this contributes to our transparent culture and ensures we are communicating in multiple channels.
3. Weekly 1:1’s between all managers and their team members: At the highest level we model this behavior and instill it in team members. This ensures we stay focused not only on the work deliverables that need to get done, but on what each person needs to perform at their best.
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Warner Quiroga
Title: President/CEO
Company: Prestige Homebuyers
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warnerquiroga/
In adapting to the new normal, our company has implemented strategies to ensure productivity, employee engagement, and the flourishing of our company culture in this dynamic and ever-evolving landscape.
Remote work can present unique challenges in maintaining focus and efficiency. We have used various tools and technologies to tackle this, enabling seamless collaboration and communication among our distributed teams.
Cloud-based solutions and digital platforms have been a huge help to us in streamlining our workflow, allowing for smooth coordination and task management across different locations and time zones.
Remote work can sometimes create a sense of disconnection and isolation. We have successfully nurtured a vibrant remote work culture where collaboration thrives, fostering a sense of belonging and camaraderie.
Despite the physical distance, a strong company culture should go beyond boundaries and resonate with every employee, regardless of location. Utilizing the technology, we have created a cohesive and inclusive company culture that unites our remote workforce.
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Steven Roddy
Title: CEO
Company: Pageant Planet
Linkedin: LinkedIn.con/in/stevenroddy
We started as a remote working company, and therefore did not need to drastically, adopt our organizational structure or daily operations when the pandemic hit. However, two things we implement was deeply integrating our core values and creating a binder, which serves as a “how to” regarding every aspect of the company. The core values served as a moral compass to remove the company of bad employees, and to retain the good employees. The binder served as a physical compass that showed the retained employees how to do every aspect of their job.
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Andrew Pickett
Title: Trial Attorney
Company: Andrew Pickett Law
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewburtonpickett/
My company has embraced technology and recognized that remote work can greatly enhance productivity, employee engagement, and company culture. We have implemented strategies to ensure everyone is communicating. Expectations are set, and employees feel supported from afar. We use several tools like video conferencing software, project management tools, virtual team-building activities, and more to do this. We’ve also implemented regular check-ins and culture surveys to ensure everyone is on the same page, and we can make adjustments accordingly.
I can confidently say that these strategies have successfully adapted to the new landscape of remote work. Our productivity has remained strong, employee engagement is high, and our company culture thrives.
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Thomas Niemczewski
Title: CEO/Founder
Company: Dream Chasers
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-n-26883b87/
One of the key challenges that businesses face with remote work is ensuring productivity. Without the traditional office environment, it can be more difficult to monitor employee performance and track progress on projects. However, many companies have successfully overcome this challenge by implementing various strategies. For example, the use of project management tools and collaboration software has become essential for remote teams. These tools help employees stay organized, collaborate effectively, and track their tasks and deadlines. By leveraging technology, businesses have been able to streamline their work processes and ensure that productivity is not compromised in a remote setting.
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Ben Goodman
Title: Founder
Company: CyRisk
Linkedin:
Creating a thriving company culture in a remote environment is a critical aspect of remote work adaptation. Company culture plays a significant role in employee satisfaction, productivity, and overall success. In a remote setting, businesses have had to find innovative ways to cultivate their company culture. Companies have implemented initiatives such as virtual town hall meetings, online training programs, and mentorship opportunities to ensure that their remote employees feel connected to the larger organization. Recognizing and rewarding remote employees for their hard work and achievements has also become even more important. By celebrating successes and fostering a positive work environment, businesses can establish a strong company culture that transcends physical boundaries.
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Danielle Michel
Title: President
Company: Manufacturing Tax Recovery Services (MTRS)
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemichelcpa
Like many others, 2020 presented unexpected challenges and an opportunity for self-reflection. I underwent a mini-existential rebrand during this time, which led to a significant decision for my family’s growth and well-being. Before I knew it, my husband, my 3 kids and I packed up our life in Long Island and relocated to South Carolina. This move was not only driven by the desire to enhance our life quality but also by expanding the scope of my business ventures.
This is where the transformation of MTRS into a fully online tax credit firm began. Although the transition was not without its difficulties, it was a journey I knew I had to embark upon to help my business grow. It was a bumpy road full of a lot of googling of tech terms, but it was one I knew I had to take to help my business grow. Despite the bumpy road, I was determined to adapt and maximize the benefits of the “new normal” for MTRS.
MTRS’s philosophy centers around embracing change and seizing opportunities for growth. This philosophy, born out of personal and professional experiences, became the driving force behind our successful and swift adaptation to the rise of remote work. I recognized the potential that remote work offered to both my personal life and business and saw it as a catalyst for transforming my business model.
Not everyone is cut out for the remote work lifestyle. Prior to MTRS’s transition in 2020, our team was a blend of people from all walks of life, and as we’ve grown, we’ve welcomed new faces into our virtual office.
Through this transition, I have fostered a culture of agility, adaptability, and continuous learning. One of the hurdles in this process is discerning who will flourish in a remote setting. Indeed, it isn’t everyone’s cup of sweet tea. There are those whom I’ve found to excel in such an environment, while others grapple with distractions and struggle to maintain concentration. I continually encourage my team to embrace technology and adapt new skills necessary for a remote work environment, while also understanding human and generational limitations. My team is composed of mainly women, some are empty nesters, some are mothers of teenagers and some call their pets their children. This creates a unique dynamic where I was able to both encourage remote work to the fullest extent, while also leaving an open-door policy for in-person work. (or more like once a week in-person check-in meeting in a cute cafe somewhere in Charleston!)
Moving away from the conventional nine-to-five, Monday through Friday routine allows my team to optimize their productivity according to their individual peak hours. They can seamlessly interweave their personal errands throughout their workday. I recall my own experience as an employee, wrestling with the scheduling nightmares of routine appointments like dentist visits or doctor’s check-ups. Securing a slot on the one ‘late night’ offered by the clinic was an incredibly challenging task, with these coveted late appointments often booked months in advance.
Factor in personal interests or parenting responsibilities, and the juggling act becomes even more complex. With only weekends to play catch-up on household chores, run errands, or tackle the laundry pile, the time squeeze can be intense. However, by harnessing our efficiency and tailoring our work hours to our personal rhythms, we’re able to free up more time for the things that truly matter in life.
By embracing remote work, MTRS has not only been able to expand its client base but it’s also opened doors to new markets and opportunities for me- such as real estate, a passion project of mine that is growing into its full on business (with that same, open-door remote business policy). MTRSs online presence has allowed us to serve clients from across the country, breaking the limitations imposed by geographic boundaries. This transition has not only benefited our company’s growth but also our clients, who now have access to our expertise and services regardless of their location.
I think MTRS’s journey from a traditional brick and mortar tax credit firm to a thriving fully online company has been marked by perseverance, adaptability, and a commitment to growth. As I do for my clients, I maximized the benefits of the rise of remote work to enhance productivity, foster employee engagement and personal growth to cultivate a strong company culture that isn’t limited by the same limitations of a traditional work environment. Through this transformative process, I have seen MTRS not only grow as a business but also expand its horizons, ensuring that MTRS remains at the forefront of an ever evolving business finance industry.
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Ephraim Schachter
Title: CEO and Founder
Company: C-Suite Accelerator
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ephraimschachter/
At some instinctive level, we all understand that remote work arrangements threaten employee engagement, productivity and organizational culture. These are all intertwined and suffer with less personal presence and opportunities for human connection. We also understand that there are competing, perhaps superseding values in our post-COVID world favoring remote work, including better work life balance, location independence and more manageable child care. The net of this from an employee perspective is a more level playing field. Hopefully, we all agree that this is a major societal benefit.
My clients are C-Suite leaders in significant organizations. I counsel them to understand that senior leaders own the responsibility to make remote work doable, satisfying, productive and culture-building. There are three strategic levers I recommend they serve: (1) Foster a sense of shared belonging in a tribe that is special; (2) Keep their attention; and (3) Help people see others and be seen.
I recommend five focus areas to advance this strategy:
A. Reinforce the building blocks of leadership. Since the pandemic, we find ourselves with key leaders, even execs, who’ve onboarded mostly online. Ensure they are carriers of your company’s DNA.
B. Reinforce solid managerial techniques. CHROs are telling me that sustained work-from-home policies have revealed some weak management technique. With less line-of-sight to their teams, leaders tend to either micromanage or barely surface. Suffocation versus abandonment. The remote workforce want their bosses to set clear expectations, oversee implementation, and hold them accountable for their work and results.
C. Reduce siloes. My CXO clients tell me that several years of mostly remote work with sporadic office attendance has left their SVP direct reports siloed; swimming in their own lanes, sometimes in different directions. One approach to deal with it is to reboot the team with a “jumpstart” event to regain bearings and move forward in unison. This can a accomplish a reset of expectations of the entire team around its new and existing strategic and operational goals.
D. Recognize meeting overload and adapt. There are simply too many meetings either crowding out actual work or time-shifting it to pre or post workday hours. This is terrible for morale. I have a theory for why this has developed. In a remote work world, ‘managing-by-walking-around’ has all but disappeared. To get a handle, leaders are compensating with more Zoom. Leaders should emphasize brief one-on-one check-in calls.
E. Model desired remote behavior. I recommend a 3-step strategy for leaders to intervene. “Project, Connect, Protect.” Leaders should project the emotional states they want to spread. Happiness, calmness, confidence and strength. Next, connect via one-on-one and small group interactions that are personal. Over-communicate about strategy, status, and shared values. Encourage employees to connect with each other and find purpose in the work. Finally, protect against disconnect and burnout by preempting them. Don’t reward non-stop work. Don’t expect fewer people to do more of the work for very long.
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Chastity Davis-Garcia
Title: Executive Vice President, Human Resources
Company: Amplify
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chastity-davis-garcia-she-her-hers-0778504/
We have embraced a remote-first approach to our work, recognizing its benefits and taking intentional steps to adapt to the landscape while ensuring we foster employee engagement and nurture a thriving company culture. The way we do this is by leading with a genuine diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) approach. Everyone — from myself to our newly hired colleagues to our CEO, Larry Berger — is driven by a mission to make a positive impact in the world of education, specifically to support educators, and that is reflected in our company culture, from the physical desks of pre-pandemic times to our modern Google Meets.
In our remote work environment, our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have taken on a new meaning, providing support and fostering connection in a new way. Many of our ERGs are identity-based, such as Noir, Pride, Mi Gente, She, Justice, The Tree, and Apiary. ERGs at Amplify have a charter, goals, an organizational structure and a budget; this intentional move from Amplify leadership encourages genuine community building and authentic discussions. Support from leadership, especially in remote environments where it is easy for employees to feel disconnected, is necessary to maintain company values, and also to ensure we are ever-cognizant of our most human endeavor: to connect and support each other and the broader K-12 education field. Events like our Pride Prom hosted by our Pride ERG exemplify our commitment to creating an inclusive and, importantly, a celebratory environment designed to be held virtually, with specially designed matching virtual backgrounds offered. Creating these spaces where employees feel as though they are safe enough to bring their full selves to work and where they are celebrated for who they are sends a strong supportive message.
Transparency is integral to building a healthy remote culture, and we ensure that every person has access to regular updates on our business strategy and priorities through biweekly virtual Town Hall meetings. It’s much easier to come off mute when you know you’ll be listened to and understood, from pitching a new idea to raising a concern.
By incorporating social responsibility into our company culture and business model, we attract and retain talent that shares our values. This dedication to the social good occurs in hybrid, remote and in-person settings. Creating the virtual spaces necessary for employees to be able to express themselves is a top priority, one Amplify strives for through our DEIA work and beyond.
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Joshua Bartlett
Title: Owner and Editor-in-Chief
Company: I’ll Just Fix It Myself
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-e-bartlett/
As a digital publisher, my company is somewhat unique in that we’ve always been a remote-first workplace and all of our employees and contractors are 100% remote.
For me, the biggest adaption that I’ve noticed is that there are simply more employees out there looking for remote work rather than in-office work so my goal has been to be intentional about the way I interview, onboard, and train new employees that might not have experience in a remote-first workplace while emphasizing the opportunity for independence and flexibility in their new role.
To ensure productivity goals are met I am very upfront about my expectations and I break them down into monthly and weekly milestones. Rather than having an hourly requirement each day or week, I instead calculate the value of the work I am asking them to complete in a given timeframe and ensure that I am able to get a positive return based on their compensation.
As long as the employee is able to complete the work within the given timeframe, I allow them to work whenever and however they want to and I know that my business is still moving in the right direction.
New information about updated best practices, tools, etc are communicated asynchronously within our task management software to the entire team. Any questions or updates about specific tasks and projects are handled asynchronously, as well, following a 24-hour window rather than an immediate expectation of a response.
Of course, I still have monthly and sometimes weekly meetings with employees to make sure that we are both engaged in the work relationship.
Overall, great employees thrive in this environment and the pros far outweigh the cons!
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Rachel Olchowka
Title: General Counsel and Chief People Officer
Company: Fetch
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-olchowka/
Remote work is successful when there’s a strong infrastructure in place to support employees, along with clear goals, open communication, and a culture that facilitates trust and accountability.
Fetch embraced remote work at the start of the pandemic and has continued implementing a workplace strategy that allows employees to work wherever they feel most productive, whether it’s from the comfort of their own home or in one of Fetch’s offices. We give employees the autonomy to take ownership of their roles and make decisions about their work arrangements. Empowerment is powerful, — employees are happier and perform better when they can find the right balance between their personal and professional lives, accommodating their individual circumstances. Flexible work arrangements, like remote work and flexible hours, allow individuals to optimize their productivity while managing their personal commitments effectively.
In addition to flexible policies, it is important to support employees with the proper tools and resources they need to be successful. Tools for remote collaboration, chances for virtual and in-person social-impact opportunities, a peer-to-peer microbonus system, a robust communication culture, and providing necessary IT equipment for employees’ home offices are all key musts for an efficient remote workforce.
If there is one thing we’ve found that inhibits company culture, and employee engagement is tracking. It is important to treat adults like adults, by installing spyware on employee devices it is difficult to encourage employee empowerment, trust, and creativity. Along with trust, we personally ensure that folks across our business have ample opportunity to grow and develop; when people feel fulfilled by their work and are developing, they are naturally more productive — no tracking necessary.
When creating new workplace policies, leadership should keep in mind the needs of their employees. Employees want to feel seen, heard, and included by their employer; employers who are mindful of–and responsive to–employees’ needs benefit from these efforts with an engaged and productive workforce. We’ve found success with this model, and I believe that flexible workplace arrangements are here to stay. As more and more companies realize the benefits of flexible work, we will see a continued trend towards more flexible policies. Companies that offer flexible work arrangements will be at an advantage in the future, as they will be able to attract and retain top talent.
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