Our journey towards unconditional remote working began about 3 years ago. The truth is that even before that, there was occasionally the need to work from home for various reasons, such as because of mild indisposition and as a precautionary measure for our colleagues at the office, or for other personal reasons which usually had to do with our roles as caregivers and caretakers of other dependent family members. However, any solution put in place was ad hoc and there was no particular policy, best practice or structure to frame it.
Moving forward we decided to implement a remote working policy applying a strict framework and quite a few restrictions trying to be as precise as possible and cover any and all scenarios. Restrictions at that time included a limited number of days per month, or the ability to combine these days with official holidays or leave days. Thinking about it retrospectively, I believe we did acknowledge the need, but we went about it with caution because of 4 main reasons basically:
However, as time went by people did make use of the remote working days all the more often, and we noticed that even with that strict framework – or because of it I will add now, years later – there was a relative commotion; someone had to track and monitor the use of the benefit for all team members, teams had to coordinate so that at least one team member was at the office when their counterparts wanted to work remotely – the reason for the latter was so that they could take care of what could not be taken care due to technical challenges remotely, and of course to take on any calls at the office – and in-team and across-company communication was impacted.
What we realized some time later was that people wanted to use their remote-working days, but there was a misconception about it: that this did not entail much of ‘working’.
Therefore, on the one hand we had a misconceived benefit which strained our daily workflow, and on the other hand the definite need for time out of the office – at that time the majority of our team consisted of women, and mothers, who had to combine their work with parent-teacher meetings, childcare when schools were closed or when kids were ill etc.
Examining all aspects of the situation, we concluded that:
So what could we do about it?
Well, first we had to debunk the misconception. How we did it? We eliminated all restrictions and we replaced our rigid policy with just one simple rule:
Everyone can work remotely at any time and for whatever reason – or no reason at all – as long as they are fully capable to perform whatever needed as part of their daily workflow, as if they were at the office, and not hamper or in any way impact the workflow of their counterparts.
We did not realize it at the time, but the change in perspective happened instantly. Remote working was no more seen as a mere benefit provided by the company with all the ifs and buts that usually go with official benefits, but instead as a measure that supported work-life balance and that enhanced the business continuity for improved results and the achievement of targets. This in turn led to a series of actions initiated from the team itself and not from the management of the company:
It did take time, and it did take an effort, a joint effort, but here’s what we have achieved:
some of our team members have worked remotely from an island while their kids are vacating with their grandparents for the whole summer period while spending more time with their family and extending their vacation; others have worked remotely from home for a fix number of days per week to tackle childcare challenges since a school day differs from a working day and consequently reduce the expenses of childcare; some other however have made use of remote working to handle less pleasant circumstances, such as to take care of close ones with long-term illnesses or special needs.
Indeed, we are safe in our comfort zone; we know how things go, we know how to deal with them, we can safely predict what might go wrong and where, and we have our contingency plans in place. But what happens when something like COVID-19 happens?
The solutions were there long before we had to use them, technology is being developed long before we actually needed it, knowledge and know-how is already there in other industries and set-ups and ready for us to take it, adjust it and use it in ours. However, doing it amidst panic and in lack of any other alternatives can create chaos and cause system failures where they should not exist. For every new technology to be implemented and used, it takes research, testing, feedback, optimization and planning. Doing that in an emergency is not the best of options. We can do so much better than that just by not settling with the ordinary.
So here’s a quick guide on what to expect and how to navigate the remote working waters.
…in the conception stage
…in the implementation stage
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