CHAPTER 2
How Remote Working Benefits Employers

Chapter 1 conveys that it’s absolutely possible for unsupervised employees to make essential contributions to their employers’ objectives. Expanding on that concept, in this chapter we’ll look at the many ways offering employees the option to work remotely benefits employers. We’ll also identify some concerns about the potential pitfalls of the remote option—as well as the means of avoiding such drawbacks. Ultimately, growing evidence indicates that, for many companies, in a wide range of industries, the pros of the remote option far outweigh the cons.

Reasons to Offer the Remote Option

The trend is undeniable: more and more companies are offering flexible work options to their established employees and/or are hiring remote staff. For example, according to a joint 2017 Eurofound/ILO (International Labour Office) report, in 1995 just 9 percent of global workers telecommuted; by 2015, that figure had grown to 37 percent.2 And in the United States, a Gallup poll in 2012 found that 39 percent of employees worked away from the office at least some of the time; by 2016 that figure was 43 percent.3

This trend strongly suggests that companies that don’t offer the remote option endanger their long-term viability, especially given that reasons to welcome remote working are steadily advancing. Some would go so far as to say that “remote work is the future, [and] those who push against it are on the losing side of history.”5

The companies I interviewed shared the following reasons for going remote: to stay competitive, to retain and attract talent, to grow and shrink the company as needed, and to reduce costs and increase profits.

STAY COMPETITIVE—RETAIN AND ATTRACT TALENT

“You have companies that have distributed teams as a means for flexibility. But you also have companies that are doing it because they’re in a city where it takes some people two hours to get to the office.”

—ROBERT ROGGE, cofounder and CEO, Zingword; cofounder and advisor, Managing Virtual Teams 6

Let’s take another look at the 2017 “FlexJobs Super Survey” discussed in chapter 1. (See the sidebar to follow.) For many employees, the option to work remotely isn’t just a desirable perk—it’s a necessity. So only the employers who provide that option will be able to retain those employees.

Given that numerous sources—such as the Center for American Progress, Forbes, The Huffington Post, and the Society for Human Resource Management—state that it generally costs a company (much) less to retain an em- ployee than to hire and train a new one,8 the remote option is a wise consideration.

As for attracting new talent, in some cases the “right person” for the job is simply not to be found in a company’s immediate vicinity. For example, Formstack is a data management solution company in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 2013, though their client base was growing, they couldn’t find the talent they needed nearby. So they transitioned the entire company to what’s known as office optional  in order to incorporate new hires from outside the area—a solution that’s worked well ever since. As of early 2018 they have a staff of around eighty people, only thirty-five of whom are near Indianapolis.

Ralph van Roosmalen had the same experience. He worked with a company that needed to increase production, but they couldn’t find enough software developers locally in the Netherlands. So they looked beyond their borders—and hired teams in Romania and the United States.

This scenario is one that Hugo Messer knows well:

In some parts of Europe, there is a scarcity of talent, and it’s hard to find people with the right skills. We help companies from Europe find people in India and the Ukraine. The European companies can grow and become more profitable by adding people at a lower cost. At the same time, they create jobs in another country.

—HUGO MESSER, distributed Agile expert and founder, Bridge Global and Ekipa9

Another angle to this is the high cost of living in many metropolitan areas. As freelance project manager Fernando Garrido Vaz relates: “It can be difficult and expensive to put together a good team in certain locations. It’s either very expensive to hire people, or there’s a lot of competition in that geographical area. Many companies have chosen to be remote because it was the only way to gather a good team.”10 One such organization is NanoTecNexus, which requires experts in nanotechnology in its mission to accelerate advances in the field. Not surprisingly, nanotech experts are not concentrated in any one city. But given that founder Adriana Vela embraced the remote option, she’s been able to assemble an effective, specialized team—whose members happen to span the United States and Canada. To Adriana, “The right person is what matters first, regardless of where they are.”11

Hassan Osman expands on that stance:

One benefit of virtual teams is the access to talent. Competition in large organizations is cutthroat, and you need to stay ten steps ahead to survive. At Cisco, we can hire anyone in the world who has access to an internet connection. That gives a huge competitive advantage. Having that sort of access to talent keeps us nimble, and at the forefront of technology.

—HASSAN OSMAN, PMO manager, Cisco Systems (note, these views are Hassan’s, not Cisco’s)12

But there’s an additional angle to this too. The flip side is that more and more workers value the option of working remotely—and those workers will favor the employers who give them that option. In some cases the benefit is purely gain. For example, Peter Wilson runs a company that connects Australian businesses with talent in the Philippines. Since the Philippines is commonly plagued with heavy traffic jams, it’s a big incentive for Filipinos to work from home; that incentive translates to remarkable loyalty. In other cases the benefit more pointedly avoids a loss. As the authors of the U.K.-based Timewise Flexible Jobs Index state: “Employers are cutting themselves off from a proportion of the candidate market by not stating their openness to flexibility in their recruitment advertising. These ‘lost’ candidates include some of the very best available talent.”13 The same sentiment resounded amongst my interviewees as well.

We’re going to see that companies will need to become a lot more flexible. The “you should be glad that you have a job with us” attitude doesn’t work anymore. Companies have to start meeting the needs of the employees to get the best-quality work out of them.

—LUIS SUAREZ, data analytics adviser, panagenda14

In the beginning working remotely was about tightening the budget to increase productivity and efficiency. But now it’s much more of a business imperative. The millennials are coming into the workforce, and they have a different view on working where and when they like—rather than working in a fixed place and being paid for the number of hours they put in.

—CHRIS RIDGEWELL, director, Wisework Ltd.; principal and owner, Charterhouse Consultants group15

Finance executive Jeremy Stanton puts it the most bluntly: “Companies that can support remote working will outperform companies that don’t.”16

GROW AND SHRINK THE COMPANY

“For the company that doesn’t need a full-time person, employing remote staff on an as-needed basis is incredibly useful. The company doesn’t need to pay someone if there’s not enough work, and they don’t have to pay for office space.”

—LAURA ROOKE, customer support specialist, GoLightly, Sgrouples, and AgileBits Inc.17

In yet another hiring angle, the flexibility of hiring remote workers—specifically, project-based hiring—gives companies the freedom to expand and contract depending on their current needs. For example, Marc Hughes and Ajay Reddy are cofounders of ScrumDo, a platform that helps teams organize, manage, and collaborate. (For more, see “Technology & Tools” [ p. 301] in the RESOURCES section.) The pair scale their business up and down depending on the projects they’re working on.

Teamed.io does the same. As founder and former CTO Yegor Bugayenko describes: “We build distributed teams for every project. Every time we want to develop software, we gather people from different parts of the world who know particular technologies, and we put them together on a virtual team. This team creates a piece of software, delivers it to the customer, and then we let these people go. And we start another project.”18

REDUCE COSTS, INCREASE PROFITS

A major factor in considering the remote option is assessing the potential return on investment. Indeed, all the companies I interviewed cited cost savings as the biggest factor behind going remote. Allowing employees to work remotely saves costs in a number of ways.

We’ve already mentioned the often significant savings of KEEPING A VALUABLE EMPLOYEE rather than hiring a new one.19

Another savings often cited concerns OVERHEAD—the physical station that the in-house employee requires. Of course, if you have few remote workers, a few empty desks won’t have much impact. But on a larger scale, the savings on real estate could be significant. (See the sidebar to follow.)

In addition, THE COST OF HIRING PEOPLE OFFSHORE CAN BE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than hiring local talent. The difference in salary between a programmer in San Francisco and one in Hanoi or Santiago is vast. As financial services executive Jeremy Stanton points out: “Working remotely, you can get great people at a reduced rate without it feeling like a reduced rate to them. The employees can get a premium salary for their location—and they have the added benefit of not having to move.”20 Freelance consultant and Agile coach Mario Lucero adds: “Many U.S. companies prefer to work with South American software developers and testers because we are a lot less expensive. My salary in Chile is about 30 percent of what the same Agile coach would make in the U.S. That kind of cost savings is something that companies can’t ignore.”21

But even some who benefit from reduced costs nonetheless consider such to be only of secondary importance. For example, Victor Ingalls, VP of world service for American Express, shares: “Some companies view a remote workforce as a means of reducing operating cost. We view it as an investment in finding the very best talent—so we can deliver the superior service our customers expect.”22

On the other hand, one argument some make against offering the remote option is the cost of doing so. As gets covered in later chapters, the companies that make the greatest success with remote workers take care to invest in high-quality equipment. And since coming together in person can be at times preferable, even necessary, there are costs associated with travel and local hospitality. In addition, some would say that the distance between team members can lead to a reduction in productivity—though note that most others claim remote working often increases productivity. (See the sidebar to follow for some potential figures.)

Since all those costs can add up, many view the remote option as an unattractive expense—even if it’s one they ultimately take on. Management consultancy director Chris Ridgewell points out: “In the U.K., lots of managers in traditional organizations see flexible working as a cost. We’re implementing these flexible work options to appease the employees because they demand it, but that’s a cost to us.”23 And yet, that view can change when it becomes clear that the ability to attract and retain staff isn’t the only financial benefit. Many of the company leaders I’ve interviewed cited additional plusses, like hitting targets earlier and increased productivity. Increased client satisfaction is another advantage; clients in other time zones benefit greatly from working with employees in their same time zone—or workers equipped to work in their time zone. As start-up technologist Tiziano Perrucci notes: “I’m often up in the middle of the night working online with a client in another time zone. I can do that comfortably because I’m working from my home office.”24

If you’re ready to learn more about how to get started, head to Part III—Successful Remote Teams 101: Transitioning and Hiring. Or, if you seek more lay of the land first, keep reading.

Common Concerns About the Remote Option—and Their Solutions

What about productivity?

There’s no denying the fact that managers who want to offer flexible work options are taking a risk. If offering the remote option hits a snag, the responsibility falls on their heads. So, many find that keeping the status quo is a safer course. For example, Judy Rees recalled working as a manager at Teletext. “I gave someone permission to work from home for one day a week. But I remember that sinking feeling of, ‘This is a risk. If this goes wrong, it’s on my head. If I say no, there is no risk to me.’ A lot of managers are judged on not losing—rather than on winning.”29

This view is widely shared:

As a manager, you want to know that you’re getting your money’s worth, and that people are working as you expect them to.

—MARCUS ROSENTHAL, self-employed senior business consultant 30

The key issue still is trust. If I can’t see you at your desk, you’re not working.

—CHRIS RIDGEWELL, director, Wisework Ltd.; principal and owner, Charterhouse Consultants group31

The concern about unsupervised workers has led some to utilize monitoring software to serve that purpose. Indeed, one of my interviewees recommends companies consider this option. But many others advise against that approach; see the sidebar to follow.

So how can managers be assured that workers are working? One answer can be found in replacing a time-oriented mind set (like being at the office during set hours) with a results-oriented mind set.

Managers have a fear of people not being productive when they work from home, that they’re just going to slack off and watch TV. That fear only exists before people start working from home. Once they do, and they are actually productive, managers can see that they are getting their work done. So it’s just a fear of the unknown.

—BRIE REYNOLDS, career development expert and senior career specialist, FlexJobs 36

With a results-oriented mind set, work is the results we deliver. As such, results-oriented managers are tasked with holding team members accountable. Workers know this; we know we need to demonstrate our productivity. In exchange for being allowed out from under a command-and-control workplace, we gladly take on a share of the responsibility of meeting our shared goals. As Agility Scales CEO Jurgen Appelo often says: “Management is too important to leave to the managers.”

In other words, we all have some responsibility for ensuring our teams and projects thrive, no matter where we are.

Plus, keep in mind that productivity results from engagement. According to a worldwide study conducted by Towers Watson, “the single highest driver of engagement is whether or not workers feel their managers are genuinely interested in their well-being.” In 2012, “less than 40 percent of workers felt so engaged.” As for more recent assessments, according to the 2017 Gallup “State of the Global Workplace” report, “worldwide, the percentage of adults who work full time for an employer and are engaged at work—[meaning] they are highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and workplace—is just 15 percent.”37 But an employee granted—indeed, entrusted with—the remote option has every reason to be engaged, involved, and highly productive.

We’ll look at many productivity solutions in the chapters to come.

What about effective collaboration?

“Soon we won’t be talking about virtual teams anymore. We’ll just be talking about teams.”

—PILAR ORTI, director, Virtual not Distant 38

It can’t be denied: in-person collaboration can be extremely effective. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to replicate that efficacy remotely without feeling that we’re cutting corners. Indeed, many technologies and methodologies have long demonstrated their importance in the virtual setting. As software executive Marc Hughes notes: “A lot of people prefer being colocated and organizing their tasks on a giant board on the wall with the sticky notes and everything. And that’s great if you’re all there. But as soon as you have one person who’s not in the office every day, you need some kind of virtual tool that everyone can see and manipulate.”39 Fortunately, there are many tools for running effective virtual brainstorming sessions. (For more, see “Technology & Tools” [ p. 301] in the RESOURCES section.)

In an article on Medium.com, Karolina Szczur points out that a lot of colocated work already utilizes remote-friendly means. “Coworkers can be effectively asynchronous while sitting in the same office — when working on multiple projects or taking extended amounts of time to reply to messages. Lack of synchronicity is part of every workday.” She continues: “Some, especially bigger organizations, don’t realize they’re already doing remote. From outsourcing to specialists to daily communication happening without face-to-face interaction at all — a plethora of emails, messages, and discussions conducted online. Oftentimes the amount of actual in-person work boils down to a minimum.”40

Keep in mind that developers have been collaborating online for years now—which means we can benefit from their perfected software and processes. When two programmers, whether colocated or remote, work together on the same code, they call it “pair programming”; one person codes while the other simultaneously reviews the work. In person, two developers will sit at one workstation together; but remotely, using video and screen sharing, they can collaborate more easily, comfortably, and efficiently—especially if others want to add to the conversation. As you can imagine, a video call sharing screens is much more feasible and productive than what is called “mob programming,” when several workers huddle around one computer.

Continuing on the topic of communication, product director Christina Ng expresses a common concern: “What’s hard for companies who are going remote is that there’s not enough culture established about documenting things, because it’s so much easier to just walk over to the next cubicle, talk to your coworker, and make a decision right there and then. This is especially true for start-ups, when things move so fast that you just need to get things out as soon as possible. It takes a different kind of culture to include those who aren’t there in the day-to-day decisions.”41 Fortunately, that “different kind of culture” doesn’t require reinventing the wheel; we simply need to be deliberate in establishing new processes. We’ll revisit this at length in chapter 8 and 9.

“Take the time to learn new ways of working. It’s only strange until we get used to it.”

—AGILEBILL KREBS, coach and founder, Agile Dimensions42

What about the camaraderie aspect of working together?

Another product executive, Sumant Kowshik, notes an additional concern shared by team leaders and members alike: “Even though we’ve made rapid strides in collaboration, I think we still struggle with the idea of being together. What’s missing are the hallway conversations, or where you can just turn around to the person next to you and ask a quick question. Plus of course going out and having coffee or lunch with people, or having ad hoc brainstorming sessions. All of that is still missing—though I also think that technology will continue to bridge the gap.”43 Indeed, cultivating a sense of closeness is an essential element of effective teams. As it happens, technology and practices can address this important concern as well—which we’ll discuss at length in chapter 8.

That said, some forms of social bonding or collaboration simply call for in-person face time, such as the start-up or brainstorming phase, which can require more back-and-forth interaction. In such cases we can schedule those meetings—just like companies have always done.

Let’s rewind maybe twenty to forty years. For a brainstorming session with the heads of a division, everyone had to fly in—and that was quite expensive. They’d be together for a couple days for a big company summit, but with only forty-eight hours of time together.

—VANESSA SHAW, workplace innovator, Human Side of Tech44

An additional benefit of remote-working strategies is the ability to extend the collaboration and camaraderie of in-person interactions well beyond the two-day summit mentioned above. As more and more businesses embrace the remote option, and report their success in doing so, larger companies are starting to recognize that distributed teams can be as professional and successful as traditional on-site ones—often even more so. This is possible because the tools and strategies that enable successful remote working are beneficial regardless of each member’s location. (We cover this more in the Reasons to Try Out Remote Working Now section lower down.)

What about technical challenges?

As technologies advance, it’s becoming easier to engage productively with remote colleagues. Gone are the days when our only option was to crowd around a spider phone, yelling to an invisible coworker over a crackling connection. And advanced communication capabilities are getting more affordable and more accessible every day. As Andrew Montalenti, CTO of tech company Parse.ly, puts it:

Fully distributed teams are only going to get better—and more common—over time. Our tools are simply getting great at this stuff. For example, Google Hangouts [now Google Meet] offers group video conferencing for large teams for free. At Parse.ly we use Google Hangouts to hold full team meetings. So, face time is now distributed too, and multi-computer collaboration is getting easier even in asynchronous modes. I also think some technology will enable collaboration methods that were simply deemed impractical in the age before distributed teams. So, technology—and, in particular, audio/video technology—will help distributed teams along in the next ten years. We’re moving away from one-on-one conversation as the primary way to collaborate and toward many-to-many. I also think that the world has not fully internalized the degree to which technology systems impact collaboration approaches. I’m quite excited about the future.45

(For more, see “Technology & Tools” [ p. 301] in the RESOURCES section, both the Collaboration and the Communication portions.)

Of course, that’s the big-picture portion of tech. As for the individual, tech-support angle, booking software company Timely recommends connecting with “dial a tech” services.46

What about security?

One concern regarding the swift pace of technological development is the challenge of keeping up with it all. To enable their productivity, team members (remote or in-house) will want to try out new applications for keeping them connected, oftentimes using company computers. But for many companies, adopting a remote-working doctrine calls for revisiting security protocols. As management consultancy director Chris Ridgewell points out, “Many large organizations use fixed technologies, and so they don’t allow things like ‘bring your own device’ because of concerns about security, data protection, and legal ramifications.” But the trouble is, “because of that, technology is leaving these companies behind. Whereas the smaller businesses [that embrace technology] are moving fast.”47 To again quote Jeremy Stanton of Amino Payments: “Companies that can support remote working will outperform companies that don’t.”48 That translates to: if you don’t attract top talent, others will. In some contexts, companies resist the remote option at their own peril.

And so the solution is to address security concerns from the perspective of striving to make virtual technologies both safe and effective. And some very large, very security-focused employers have embraced the remote option, as demonstrated in FlexJobs’s “100 Top Companies with Remote Jobs in 2018” list (p. 122 in the Part II EXTRAS). A few players there include ADP, American Express, JPMorgan Chase, the Hartford, UnitedHealth Group, and Wells Fargo. The point is, it can be done.

Reasons to Try Out Remote Working Now

“Things that seemed fantastical six years ago are commonplace today. All of us in this emerging field are pioneers looking for traction, ground, and a common language.”

—HOWARD B. ESBIN, CEO, Playprelude.com49

RETAIN THE STAFF YOU ALREADY HAVE

It’s worth reiterating: the remote option isn’t just about attracting new talent. As HR consultant Dirk-Jan Padmos points out, remote working is more and more a benefit that companies offer their employees. As such, companies are realizing the importance of retaining their established workforce. So even if you’re not ready to take on new remote hires, you’d be wise to take steps to retain the talent you already have. As this new way of working becomes standard, more workers will come to demand the benefits of work-life freedom.

REMOTE-FIRST: EMERGENCY BACKUP PLAN

Whether or not you plan to fully allow flexible work options at your company, it’s good to have the processes in place that make it possible to work outside the office in case it’s unexpectedly necessary. Consider various unavoidable events that can keep workers from their desks: traffic jams, public transit delays, sick children, inclement weather. With a minimal amount of preparation, your workforce won’t have to grind to a halt on account of a sudden contingency. This concept is called “remote-first.”

There are many situations where someone needs to stay home, like to wait for the plumber who will be coming somewhere between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM. My employees were perfectly capable of working from home. The benefit to them was that they didn’t have to take a day off for the plumber. And the benefit to me was that they didn’t go away for a day in the middle of a project with impending deadlines.

—MAARTEN KOOPMANS, owner, Vrijhed.net50

So, what kind of preparation are we talking about? In a word: access. At the minimum, employees would need to have:

  • access to reliable technology, such as phone, computer, and high-bandwidth internet connection;
  • access to necessary contact info; and
  • access to the files they’re currently working on.

Again, this is just the bare minimum. Making a company fully resilient to the unexpected calls for a bit more—details of which can be found in Chapter 5: Transitioning Toward the Remote Option.

REMOTE TOOLS AND STRATEGIES ARE BENEFICIAL REGARDLESS

“Companies don’t have to have remotes. But if they have communication processes that make it easy for a remote team member to work with them, they’re going to be better off. All the things that make it possible for a remote team to work are things that you’d want anyway.”

—JEREMY STANTON, SVP of engineering, Amino Payments51

The checklist of what makes remote working successful is equally applicable to running an efficient company:

  • effortless and fast communication;
  • shared, designated place to store files;
  • ready means of conversation and collaboration;
  • having everyone on the same page; and
  • working toward a common vision.

Many of my interviewees emphasized: companies would be wise to ensure the above items are securely in place before trying out the remote option.

It just so happens that the flip side of what it takes to go remote well also serves as a caveat for not going remote, or at least not just yet. HR consultant Dirk-Jan Padmos offers: “Working together in an office forces a certain tie between people. Colleagues are forced to interact with each other, and that keeps things relatively organized. If you add remote working to teams who don’t already communicate well, it will only amplify the problems.”52 (Since good communication practices are particularly important, we cover communication at length in the chapters to come.)

Agile coach Ralph van Roosmalen takes it further: “Working remotely makes structural problems very visible in an organization. If you lack vision, communication, team building, etc., those insufficiencies will be a real issue when working remotely. You could blame distributed working, but in most cases the glitches are the result of a deeper problem.”53

This is not to dwell on the prospect of “deeper” concerns plaguing the consideration of trying out the remote option. This is just to say the better informed you are, the better off you’ll be. Of course there are organizations—or particular roles in those organizations—that simply aren’t in a position to embrace the world of virtual work. But unless that’s a given in your situation, just as a remote-first company is resilient in the face of emergencies, a company or department or team willing to examine its capacity for remote working is well on its way to improving its in-house operations—even if no one actually goes remote.

One last point: the remote-work resource Remote.co asked 135 “remote-friendly” companies a series of questions, including what advice they would offer a group considering the remote option.54 Quite a few said: “Go for it!” Now, the more conservative and/or unconvinced readers might think, Well, that’s fine for you to say, but our configuration/industry probably wouldn’t work with the remote option. But if you whittle past the enthusiasm of those for whom remote working is a great setup, even the more sober respondents ultimately give similar advice. In essence, give it a try. While it might be that it’s truly not for you, the preparation required to give it a decent chance will make you stronger in the long run. And if you make it work—and nearly every respondent thinks any company can make it work if they’re diligent and smart about their choices—well then, you’ll have expanded your horizons beyond what you previously thought possible.

The benefits of remote employees far outweigh the costs and obstacles you will face. Overcoming and mastering the differences in culture and language allows your company to appeal to a vastly wider audience. Take these challenges and make them your company’s strengths.

—DEVEN BHAGWANDIN, Work Afar55

So, in summary: if you haven’t thought about remote collaboration options in a while, you might be surprised by what’s possible. We’ve come a long way, and it’s getting better all the time.

Remote Reminders

REASONS TO OFFER THE REMOTE OPTION

  • Offering the remote option allows employers to retain and attract the talent they need to remain competitive; this benefit can be essential when a project calls for specific expertise.
  • Retaining strong employees costs less than the cost of replacing them.
  • Hiring project-based remote workers enables growing or shrinking a company as needed.
  • Many companies find that remote staff enable them to reduce costs and increase profits.
  • The global talent pool allows for a more diverse workforce, whose greater breadth of worldview can bring about fresh ideas, greater innovation, and better solutions.

COMMON CONCERNS ABOUT THE REMOTE OPTION—AND THEIR SOLUTIONS

  • There are many ways to address concerns about off-site productivity—starting with replacing an hours-based perspective with a results-based one. The simple fact is that studies show that remote workers are often even more productive than their on-site colleagues, in part because they work during the time when they would have otherwise been commuting.
  • Various tools and practices are remarkably effective at enabling both productive collaboration and essential team bonding among distributed teammates.
  • Large, very security-focused employers have demonstrated both the viability and the benefit of embracing the remote option. When set up by expert hands, virtual technologies have proven to be both safe and effective.

REASONS TO TRY OUT REMOTE WORKING NOW

  • It’s worth repeating: offering the remote option is a prime means of retaining the talent you already have.
  • At the minimum, establishing the office as “remote-first” enables work to continue unabated regardless of whatever traffic, weather, or other city-wide emergencies may occur—not to mention employees needing to stay home on account of family illness or awaiting the ever-elusive plumber.
  • It just so happens that the tools and strategies of successful remote working are beneficial to all teams, regardless of where they work.

NOTES

  1. 1   Lucius Bobikiewicz, “Powerful Online Collaboration with Simple Spreadsheets,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 6 July 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/45-powerful-collaboration-with-simple-spreadsheets.
  2. 2   Eurofound and the International Labour Office (2017), Working Anytime, Anywhere: The Effects on the World of Work, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, and the International Labour Office, Geneva, 2017.
  3. 3   Gallup, “State of the American Workplace” report, 2017, http://news.gallup.com/reports/199961/7.aspx?utm_source=gbj&utm_campaign=StateofAmericanWorkplace-Launch&utm_medium=copy&utm_content=20170315.
  4. 4   Ariane Hegewisch and Janet C. Gornick, Statutory Routes to Workplace Flexibility in Cross-National Perspective, Institute for Women's Policy Research, 31 December 2007. See also Emma Plumb, “Work Flexibility Legislation Worldwide,” 1 Million for Work Flexibility blog, 4 September 2014, https://workflexibility.org/work-flexibility-legislation-worldwide.
  5. 5   Martin Fowler, “Remote Versus Co-located Work,” MartinFowler.com, 19 October 2015, https://martinfowler.com/articles/remote-or-co-located.html.
  6. 6   Robert Rogge, “An Interview with Managing Virtual Teams,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 12 June 2014, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/interview-managing-virtual-teams.
  7. 7   Brie Weiler Reynolds, “Workers Are More Productive at Home: Here Are 25 Companies Hiring for Remote Jobs,” FlexJobs, 21 August 2017, https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/productive-working-remotely-top-companies-hiring.
  8. 8   Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, “There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees,” Center for American Progress, 16 November 2012, https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CostofTurnover.pdf; Jason Hesse, “The True Cost of Hiring an Employee? Much More Than Their Salary,” Forbes, 30 October 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonhesse/2014/10/30/here-is-the-true-cost-of-hiring-an-employee/#1ebe13c76326; Julie Kantor, “High Turnover Costs Way More Than You Think,” HuffPost, 11 February 2016, updated 11 February 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-kantor/high-turnover-costs-way-more-than-you-think_b_9197238.html; “Why Retaining Current Employees is Cheaper Than Hiring New Ones,” infographic by Mind Flash.com using information provided by Society for Human Resource Management, SHRM.org. Included in Matthew Gates, “Cost of Keeping Employees vs. Hiring New Employees,” Confessions of the Professions, http://www.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/keeping-employees-infographic.
  9. 9   Hugo Messer, “Managing Remote Teams,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 26 November 2014, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/13-managing-remote-teams-hugo-messer.
  10. 10 Fernando Garrido Vaz, “Build Reputation in the Freelance Economy with Fernando Garrido Vaz,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 2 March 2016, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/89-build-reputation-in-the-freelance-economy-with-fernando-garrido-vaz.
  11. 11 Adriana Vela, “How to Be Efficient on the Road with Adriana Vela,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, video and transcript, 3 August 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/49-how-to-be-efficient-on-the-road-with-adrian-vela.
  12. 12 Hassan Osman, “Influence Your Virtual Team,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 3 November 2013, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/5-managing-your-virtual-team-hassan-osman.
  13. 13 Karen Mattison and Emma Stewart, Timewise, The Timewise Flexible Jobs Index 2017, http://timewise.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Timewise_Flexible_Jobs_Index.pdf.
  14. 14 Luis Suarez, “Engaging Remotely with Social Networks,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 19 January 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/21-engaging-remotely-with-social-networks-luis-suarez.
  15. 15 Chris Ridgewell, “Implement Flexible Working,” interview by Lisette Suther-land, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 22 October 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/episode-1-implement-flexible-working-chris-ridgewell.
  16. 16 Jeremy Stanton, “Being Deliberate with Onboarding and Culture with Jeremy Stanton,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 17 November 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/10-being-deliberate-with-onboarding-and-culture-jeremy-stanton.
  17. 17 Laura Rooke, “Remote Technical Support,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 1 December 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/14-remote-technical-support-laura-rooke.
  18. 18 Yegor Bugayenko, “Extreme Results-Oriented Working with Yegor Bugayenko,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 10 November 2014, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/extreme-results-oriented-working-yegor-bugayenko.
  19. 19 Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, “There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees,” Center for American Progress, 16 November 2012, https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CostofTurnover.pdf; Jason Hesse, “The True Cost of Hiring an Employee? Much More Than Their Salary,” Forbes, 30 October 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonhesse/2014/10/30/here-is-the-true-cost-of-hiring-an-employee/#1ebe13c76326; Julie Kantor, “High Turnover Costs Way More Than You Think,” HuffPost, 11 February 2016, updated 11 February 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-kantor/high-turnover-costs-way-more-than-you-think_b_9197238.html; “Why Retaining Current Employees is Cheaper Than Hiring New Ones,” infographic by Mind Flash.com using information provided by Society for Human Resource Management, SHRM.org. Included in Matthew Gates, “Cost of Keeping Employees vs. Hiring New Employees,” Confessions of the Professions, http://www.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/keeping-employees-infographic.
  20. 20 Jeremy Stanton, “Being Deliberate with Onboarding and Culture with Jeremy Stanton,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 17 November 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/10-being-deliberate-with-onboarding-and-culture-jeremy-stanton.
  21. 21 Mario Lucero, “Create Big Results with Small Changes,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 2 February 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/23-create-big-results-small-changes-mario-lucero.
  22. 22 Victor Ingalls, VP, world service, “American Express Remote Company Q&A,” interview with Remote.co, January 2016, https://remote.co/team/american-express.
  23. 23 Chris Ridgewell, “Implement Flexible Working,” interview by Lisette Suther-land, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 22 October 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/episode-1-implement-flexible-working-chris-ridgewell.
  24. 24 Tiziano Perrucci, “A Remote Team Perspective with StarterSquad,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 16 February 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/25-a-remote-team-perspective-with-startersquad.
  25. 25 Larry Alton, “Are Remote Workers More Productive Than In-Office Workers?,” Forbes, 7 March 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryalton/2017/03/07/are-remote-workers-more-productive-than-in-office-workers/2/#77544c4f78f5.
  26. 26 Global Workplace Analytics, “Costs and Benefits,” http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/resources/costs-benefits.
  27. 27 Global Workplace Analytics, “Pros and Cons,” http://www.globalworkplaceanalytics.com/pros-cons.
  28. 28 Judy Rees, “Discover a Common Language,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 13 April 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/33-discover-a-common-language-with-judy-rees.
  29. 29 Marcus Rosenthal, “Teleport with the Kubi Teleconference Robot (Revolve Robotics),” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 29 December 2014, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/18-teleport-with-the-kubi-teleconference-robot-revolve-robotics.
  30. 30 Chris Ridgewell, “Implement Flexible Working,” interview by Lisette Suther-land, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 22 October 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/episode-1-implement-flexible-working-chris-ridgewell.
  31. 31 Peter Wilson, “How to Hire and Onboard an Offshore Team with KIStaffing,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 20 June 2016, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/95-how-to-hire-and-onboard-an-offshore-team-with-kistaffing.
  32. 32 Marissa Lang, “Employers Can Collect Reams of Worker Data Through Electronic Tracking,” San Francisco Chronicle, 17 October 2017, updated 19 October 2017, https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Employers-can-collect-reams-of-worker-data-12282997.php.
  33. 33 Piero Toffanin, “Work as a Digital Nomad,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 23 March 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/30-work-as-a-digital-nomad-with-piero-toffanin.
  34. 34 Bart Van Loon, “How to Hire Offshore Staff,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 9 March 2015, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/28-how-to-hire-offshore-staff-with-bart-van-loon.
  35. 35 Brie Weiler Reynolds, “Communicate Proactively and Build Culture,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 5 August 2015, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/56-communicate-proactively-and-build-culture-with-brie-reynolds.
  36. 36 “Why Appreciation Matters So Much,” Harvard Business Review, 23 January 2012, https://hbr.org/2012/01/why-appreciation-matters-so-mu.html; and Gallup (2017), “State of the Global Workplace” report, Washington, DC.
  37. 37 Pilar Orti, “Humanize Remote Work,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, 3 November 2014, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/4-humanizing-remote-work-pilar-orti.
  38. 38 Marc Hughes, “Align Your Remote Team in ScrumDo,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 16 November 2015, https://collaborationsuperpowers.com/64-align-your-remote-team-in-scrumdo-with-marc-hughes.
  39. 39 Karolina Szczur, “Building Remote-First Teams,” Medium, 3 May 2016, https://medium.com/@fox/building-remote-first-teams-a98bf8581db.
  40. 40 Christina Ng, “Validate Your Work from Home Excuses,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 7 August 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/51-validate-your-work-from-home-excuses-with-christina-ng.
  41. 41 AgileBill Krebs, “Collaborating in Virtual Worlds,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 8 December 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/15-collaborating-in-virtual-worlds-agilebill-krebs.
  42. 42 Sumant Kowshik, “Embody Your Team Online with Personify,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 30 March 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/31-embody-your-team-online-with-personify.
  43. 43 Vanessa Shaw, “Helping You Tech Better,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 7 September 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/54-helping-you-tech-better-with-vanessa-shaw.
  44. 44 Andrew Montalenti, CTO, “Parse.ly Remote Company Q&A,” interview with Remote.co, July 2016, https://remote.co/company/parse-ly.
  45. 45 Ryan Baker, founder and CEO, “Timely Remote Company Q&A,” interview with Remote.co, February 2016, https://remote.co/company/timely.
  46. 46 Chris Ridgewell, “Implement Flexible Working,” interview by Lisette Suther-land, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 22 October 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/episode-1-implement-flexible-working-chris-ridgewell.
  47. 47 Jeremy Stanton, “Being Deliberate with Onboarding and Culture with Jeremy Stanton,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 17 November 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/10-being-deliberate-with-onboarding-and-culture-jeremy-stanton.
  48. 48 Howard B. Esbin, “Tuning Your Virtual Team,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 22 October 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/episode-2-tuning-virtual-team-howard-esbin.
  49. 49 Maarten Koopmans, “How to Eat an Elephant,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, 5 February 2013, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/hire-right-people-remote-working-Maarten-koopmans.
  50. 50 Jeremy Stanton, “Being Deliberate with Onboarding and Culture with Jeremy Stanton,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 17 November 2014, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/10-being-deliberate-with-onboarding-and-culture-jeremy-stanton.
  51. 51 Dirk-Jan Padmos, “Management Is a Skill, Not a Job,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, 23 April 2013, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/management-skill-job-dirk-jan-padmos.
  52. 52 Ralph van Roosmalen, “How to Manage Three Remote Offices,” interview by Lisette Sutherland, Collaboration Superpowers, podcast audio, video, and transcript, 9 February 2015, https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/24-managing-three-remote-offices-with-ralph-van-roosmalen.
  53. 53 Remote.co, “What Advice Would You Give to a Team Considering to Go Remote?,” https://remote.co/qa-leading-remote-companies/what-advice-would-you-give-to-a-company-considering-to-go-remote.
  54. 54 Deven Bhagwandin, “Managing Cultural and Language Divides Within Your Remote Team,” Workafar.com, 22 November 2015, http://www.workafar.com/managing-cultural-and-language-divides-within-your-remote-team.
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