As we’ve moved to virtual work, we haven’t just coped, we’ve actually thrived. We are more focused on the things that have the greatest impact for our customers, associates and the business. We are making quicker decisions and acting. Meetings are now more inclusive of people regardless of location, level or other differences. We have great momentum and need to figure out how to carry it forward.
—Suresh Kumar, CTO at Walmart
We began working remotely long before the COVID-19 pandemic. That is, long before remote work became mainstream. Although remote work had already been a reality in the IT industry since the advent of the Internet, it had always been a fringe movement, primarily dominated by questionable “outsourcing” business models. Companies were usually operating a remote model in order to cut costs, and not in order to attract the best talent.
These remote workers were usually part of a larger on-premise organization: A model in which the majority of decisions were made in the office, while some members of the engineering team were remote. In short, we were the “guys working from home,” operating in an environment whose hierarchy, communications, and day-to-day business were geared toward an in-person setting. The pandemic changed all of this drastically: Almost overnight, companies were forced to become “remote first,” as opposed to “remote friendly.” Consequently, every aspect of work changed—both from the engineer's and the manager’s perspective. We will cover these changes in detail throughout this chapter, but in a nutshell, remote work amplifies the good and bad aspects of a company’s culture and way of work. Specifically, our mode of working (remote vs in-office) affects how we communicate, collaborate, and trust each other, as well as how we balance our work lives and how we secure our data.
Communication
Communication is one of the building blocks of your business, and by switching into a remote setting, you automatically eliminate or limit the types of building blocks that you can use. Just like the type of material affects how much electric current can flow through it, the medium of communication affects your business’ productivity, culture, and flow of information. By losing or reducing in-person contact and turning communication, asynchronous teams tend to become more productive as people’s schedules become more flexible allowing them to work during hours in which their personal productivity peaks. Furthermore, employees do not lose time and energy commuting to work; they can spend more time with their families, make healthier food at home, and won’t have their work interrupted by the noise and distractions that are a given in many office environments (the loud espresso machine, the noisy coworker, people walking past your desk, etc.). In other words, the remote worker, at least most of the time, has a much higher level of control over their environment. At the same time businesses save money: No offices means no rent or energy bills, no lunch or snack costs, and no cleaning staff or security guards.
While these are significant benefits, they come at the cost of narrowing the building blocks that you have available to build a good business. That is, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and you are paying for it by (i) making communication the most important pillar to your organization’s success while (ii) at the same time making it much harder to implement effective communication successfully. An in-person team can get away with shoddy or ambiguous communication, as information flows through different channels—non-verbal cues, water-cooler chats, and so on. Therefore, a team is still likely to be able to execute (at least to some extent). The remote model however removes all other channels of communication and leaves you with a very narrow means for disseminating information.
In other words, by adopting a remote model, communication suddenly becomes the most important thing to execute correctly and, at the same time, the hardest. The reason for this difficulty lies in the mode of communication itself: Most remote communication is done by text, using chat tools such as Slack or Wickr. Consequently, this means that important aspects of verbal communication (such as intonation, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, body movement, and posture) are either poorly translated or lost altogether. Once we lose their help, we realize that these “aspects” of communication are in fact resources that we rely on quite heavily. By not having those cues available to us, we are forced to craft a better message in order to avoid confusion or ambiguity. This, in turn, often requires more energy and attention—something that many people new to remote work often neglect. The unsurprising result is miscommunication.
A conceptual model depicts Persistence, Hanlon's razor, clarity and precision, being nice and friendly, and maintaining focus as the five elements of written communication.
The five elements of good written communication
Context
Our medium of communication also has a big impact on context. In verbal communication, a group tends to stick to a certain topic while different members of the group are discussing it. However, this is incredibly hard to achieve via text, as the very nature of textual communication is that it is asynchronous. As people exchange messages at different times, the innate priority brought about by verbal communication is absent for textual communications. To complicate things further, chat rooms are generic and persistent, which results in the tendency to reuse the same chat room for different subjects as most or part of the people we’d like to read certain messages are already present. This results in different topics being discussed at the same time and following and keeping track of what is going on much harder.
Last but not least, a part of your team may not be available during certain working hours— either because they are located in a different time zone or because simply they work different hours, and for that reason issues with communication cannot be clearly elucidated in a matter of minutes. For example, a task poorly specified to someone in a different time zone may need to wait until the next business day to get started because the message recipient was not able to understand what was needed. Combine that with time-sensitive tasks, and the demand for clear communication becomes evident.
While we painted a rather bleak picture of textual communication it should be noted that not everything related to textual communication is challenging. On the contrary: one very positive aspect of it is the fact that we can search for what was said in the past, making it easier to ensure everyone involved in the conversation is aligned. The issues mentioned above may also affect the searchability of a message but the simple fact we can go back in time and double check if we properly understood something is a feature not available in a verbal conversation.
Cultural and Behavioral Red Lines
The quickest and most effective way to prevent communication mishaps is to once again establish clear boundaries. Within the context of communication, that means clearly defining your company’s culture and how you expect workers to behave, and to then draw very visible lines of what is and what isn’t acceptable when on company time. One example of such a behavioral red line is the rule that subject matters should remain within the realms of what is professionally acceptable. This does not mean that colleagues cannot be friendly with one another or form friendships. Instead, it means that any topics that do not pertain to the core business of the company, or that risk damaging the company’s culture/image and which have the potential to cause harm, injury, or outrage should be strictly prohibited. Companies that neglect professional standards when it comes to internal communication risk walking down a slippery path—a path that does not need to be traveled if clear cultural and behavioral red lines are established. Put more bluntly, “drawing behavioral red lines” means not allowing employees to share (using company’s media or using the company’s brand) propaganda or hate speech or any other content that might harm or needlessly offend others.
Oftentimes, once an “anything goes” approach to communication takes a foothold, it is difficult to root out. On one hand, contentious messages will upset workers. On the other hand, you risk creating a fanatical base that will cry wolf once you silence them. If you ignore one polarizing message, the employee that is being reprimanded for sharing another polarizing message will begin pointing fingers. The laissez-faire approach to communication in which one simply permits everything may sound tempting, but in reality will become extremely difficult to defend. As both a leader and a representative of a company, your first-most loyalty (during working hours) should be with your customers, product, and coworkers. That includes protecting and encouraging their psychological well-being and avoiding unnecessary conflicts. Depending on the culture of your company, the easiest, and most ethical, way to achieve this is to simply cut short any attempts at divulging and discussing polarizing topics. Simply do not allow it. Period. You are not founding a democracy. Instead, you are part of a professional organization whose mission is to execute, to produce a product or service. Within the context of your job, your ethical obligation resides with executing your responsibilities accurately and fairly, in a way that does not leave a trail of bodies behind. Remember: sometimes it’s OK to be a bit authoritarian. Therefore, coming up with a clear, concise policy that anticipates this, and then sharing this policy with everybody before the problem happens, will save you headaches.
At this point, we hope readers don’t jump to a conclusion that indicates that we do not value free speech. That is not the case, and the opposite is true (free speech is crucial and a fundamental right in our society). We are simply saying that, as a leader, you need to make sure that employees are happy and feel safe, and that as a consequence, workplace environments are not a natural or appropriate place for discussing all types of topics (that’s what town halls, books, Reddit, pubs, family dinners, friends, political gatherings, or rallies are for).
Collaboration
It takes no genius to see that, in order to build great things, everybody must be in the same boat. A lack of collaboration between both individuals and teams means that unnecessary inefficiencies are introduced into the process of building your product. Instead of being able to focus on building the product, individuals will need to waste energy fighting with others. Good professionals will neither be able to give their best, nor will they be able to help others give theirs. This will inevitably all contribute to the creation of a toxic, high-churn work environment.
“Collaboration” trickles down from the top and is rooted in company culture. Uncooperative individuals in leadership positions will breed uncooperative teams below them. Fortunately and unfortunately, company culture can be difficult to change, and the feeling of “togetherness” and “belonging” is defined by the company culture as a whole. It is therefore crucial to get this right early on. A company that does not instill the importance of collaboration and belonging early on will find it difficult to do so later. In that sense, companies are like ships: the larger the ship, the more difficult it is to turn it around. A small motorboat can change course quickly. A large oil tanker will require a long time to turn around.
As companies adopt remote working models, how we collaborate with one another changes. While sitting alone in our homes, the feelings of “togetherness” and “belonging” can erode. Changes in the mode of communication may cause us to view or interpret colleagues differently, and an organization can quickly lose the human touch that an office brings. Suddenly, building a product can become more abstract, more clinical.
It is therefore crucial that leaders emphasize collaboration more than they normally might in an in-office setting, where the mere presence of like-minded colleagues can already instill a sense of purpose and meaning. Empathy, emotion, self-control, and regular video calls become increasingly important in order to help people remain grounded in reality. The more abstract our coworkers, the company mission, or the product becomes, the more difficult collaboration will be.
Trust
The importance of trust in an organization is self-evident, but just like communication, on a remote team, its importance is increased significantly. On the one hand, the employee needs to trust that the employer will pay him, of course, that seems obvious and certainly is not exclusive to remote work. However, imagine that the company is in the United States and the employee is in South America. Does this employee have any real chance of receiving his money if the employer refuses to pay? Could this employee spend the required time and money to access the US justice system? Would it be worth it?
On the other hand, the employer also needs to trust his employee more: Would the employer know for sure that this employee is allocating the time agreed by contract on the project?
It is no accident that platforms like Upwork, that mediate the relationship between employer and employee(or contractors if you will), have grown significantly,1 as one of their main features is the responsibility that they assume on behalf of both parties (hence decreasing the need to trust each other).
A model indicates Openness, honesty, recognition, and autonomy are four major factors of trust.
The four elements of good trust
With that said, let’s take a closer look at the individual elements that help build a high-trust environment.
Research shows that employees working in companies with high levels of trust experience 74% less stress; 106% more energy at work; 50% higher productivity; 13% fewer sick days; 76% more engagement; 29% more satisfaction with their lives; 40% less burnout.2
Honesty
Honesty is usually the first thing that comes to mind when we think about trust. It is also the most important. Without honesty, there is no trust. Period.
Current problems facing the company (if you don’t acknowledge them and your employees or coworkers do, then they won’t believe you are able to address the issues)
Expectations (be clear about what you expect from others and on which terms)
Future (don’t oversell what the company or team can achieve; don’t cross the line between optimism and delusion; be realistic)
From a personal standpoint—regardless of whether one is leading or being led—it is important to understand the context and consequence of lies. Most of us tell lies not necessarily because we want to deceive the other person, but because it is easy. It is more comfortable to lie than to be direct and honest. We rarely consider the true impact that this has on our surroundings, however. In his book, Lying, Sam Harris highlights quite eloquently that it is not we—the liars—who get to decide whether a lie is big or small, innocent or not, but the people who we lie to, since “people lie so that others will form beliefs that are not true. The more consequential the beliefs—that is, the more a person’s well-being demands a correct understanding of the world or of other people’ opinions—the more consequential the lie.”
So the next time you tell a lie—no matter how small—remember that the consequence of lying is that others will form beliefs and judgments based on the lies that you tell them. This results in a breakdown in trust, which results in collateral effects for which we all pay a heavy price. Once again, this is what Sam Harris means when he writes that “I have never been burglarized, but I’m paying the price for people who commit burglary, through insurance and other costs.”
Recognition
Recognition plays an important role in trust as it highlights that the work being done was relevant and that the employee performed it well. Research shows that “recognition has the largest effect on trust when it occurs immediately after a goal has been met, when it comes from peers, and when it’s tangible, unexpected, personal, and public. Public recognition not only uses the power of the crowd to celebrate successes, but also inspires others to aim for excellence. And it gives top performers a forum for sharing best practices, so others can learn from them.”3
Autonomy
Trust is a two-way street, and autonomy is the best way to show people that you trust them. By giving someone autonomy over their work, you give them the freedom to execute their work to the best of their abilities. That is, you show that you trust the professional’s expertise, creativity, and judgment.
Openness
Openness refers to the ability of a leader to share information with the team, as well as receive feedback. It is important to understand that many leaders confuse sharing information with relaying information. The latter simply involves forwarding knowledge that other people created. Sharing refers to making joint use of the knowledge. When a leader shares information openly they both relay, question, discuss, and apply information together with their coworkers, and are not afraid to show uncertainty or vulnerability. The latter implies asking for help, and is a very effective way to build trust as it demonstrates that one is able to recognize the limits of one’s knowledge while also showing that one values the opinion of others.
Work-Life Balance
It is easy to see the benefits that remote work can have on our work-life balance. No commuting and complete choice to live wherever one would like, the ability to travel and see the world, homemade food, more free time/more time with family, better chances to lead a healthier lifestyle as well as a greater degree of overall flexibility are all invaluable advantages of remote work.
Overextend the working hours – Extend a few hours of work because you are feeling especially productive.
Work at unusual times – Can’t sleep properly? Maybe you can advance some work for the next day.
Check work-related content during leisure hours – Since I have my laptop here, maybe I should check some Slack messages or email to prepare for the next working day.
The above are only small examples of a whole range of behaviors that we can easily slip into if we are not conscious of them. By making them habits we run the risk of excessive stress or even burnout. Luckily, most of the negative aspects of working from home can be avoided by establishing a predetermined schedule that determines start and end times for work—just like we’d have in an office environment. Without such a fixed schedule, working from home can backfire and become a source of stress as it can lead us into the trap of assuming that we should be working anytime simply because we can. Remember: the fact that one can does not mean one should.
Data Security
Keeping data safe was always difficult, but it became a lot harder during the advent of the COVID pandemic, when remote work suddenly became mainstream. Sensitive data began leaving offices en masse, migrating into people’s homes, and often leaving the hardware of the company to which this data belonged. At the same time, company workstations started connecting to office networks through unsecured media, exposing credentials and other sensitive information to whoever controls this communication medium. This coupled with a change in habit and behavior—such as the increased usage of company equipment for private purposes (leisure browsing, checking private email or social media) lead to an explosive mix of data breaches and cyberattacks. A recent study conducted by IBM and the Ponemon Institute4 analyzed over 500 data breaches, across 17 industries and found that:
The average cost was $1.07 million higher in breaches where remote work was a factor in causing the breach, compared to those where remote work was not a factor. The percentage of companies where remote work was a factor in the breach was 17.5%. Additionally, organizations that had more than 50% of their workforce working remotely took 58 days longer to identify and contain breaches than those with 50% or less working remotely.
- 1.
Do not permit the use of work equipment for personal use. Ever
- 2.
Only connect to office networks through a secure VPN
- 3.
Enable and enforce 2FA on all systems
- 4.
Enforce the use of strong, one-time passwords
- 5.
Keep all software up to date
- 6.
Continued education and awareness around scams/phishing attacks
At this point, we want to emphasize that the above list is not exhaustive. We are not security experts, and entire books and university degrees have been dedicated to the topic of security alone. A company can follow our above recommendations to the T, and of course still fall victim to a wide range of attacks. However, following them should greatly diminish the risks brought about by the move from an in-office to a remote setting.
Conclusion
After working from home for a large portion of our joint careers, we arrived at a rather obvious conclusion: working from home rules! Its benefits are crystal clear: less wasted time and energy, more freedom and more control for workers, and reduced bills coupled with access to a much larger talent pool for companies. The COVID-19 pandemic has merely reinforced the model’s feasibility. Nevertheless, leaders within companies of any stage and size must be conscious of the trade-offs that remote work brings with it. By being aware of how the home office affects how we communicate, collaborate, and trust each other, leaders can implement strategies that counteract any of the negative effects that are the direct result of the loss of personal contact. Furthermore, companies can mitigate the risks imposed by the potential loss of work-life and additional security threats.