EdTech industry enthusiast | Cofounder and CMO/CPO at CodeGym.cc, a platform for learning Java.
Flexibility and adaptability are in a startup’s nature; otherwise, it wouldn’t survive. But how far can a company go by adjusting to ever-changing external circumstances?
For example, after the war started on February 24, 2022, my company embraced a hyper-distributed work mode—and even learned to benefit from it. I believe that our conclusions may help other entrepreneurs overcome their fears and question their false beliefs about remote work.
The Distributed World
Before the pandemic, many organizations were skeptical about the productivity of remote work. Managers didn’t believe that people could deliver results without direct supervision. The reality proved them wrong: Remote work saved many companies from bankruptcy or other severe consequences during the pandemic. And, slowly but surely, it became common. For example, a recent Atlassian study found that 71% of knowledge employees work outside the office at least one day a week.
Also, McKinsey conducted research and analyzed 2,000 tasks used in 800 different jobs in eight countries. Researchers concluded that 20–25% of workers in advanced economies could work from home 3–5 days a week. They note that this number is at least four times more remote work than before the pandemic.
Many people would like to work from home if employers would allow them. And one of the top reasons is well-being. For instance, in Atlassian’s study, 50% of Gen-Z respondents said they were happier working from home, the same as 49% of Millennials and 37% of Gen-X.
What’s In It For Business?
Evidently, employees prefer to choose where to work, and every year, more and more people want the flexibility that remote working can provide. But what about companies? Is this type of work beneficial for them?
Actually, I think it’s better to ask a different question: Do they have another option? For example, one study discovered that people who don’t feel they can be productive, healthy or happy working anywhere are 7.7 times more likely to want to quit. And those who can work in any location are 2.3 times more likely to stay in the company (and it’s true even for high-turnover industries). So, if a company can’t provide much-needed flexibility to its employees, it may encounter serious problems sooner or later.
Most managers understand the need for change, but not everyone is ready to do something about it. We often don’t believe remote work can be as productive as on-site. And we may even be right: For example, a recent Stanford study says that fully remote work is associated with about 10% lower productivity than entirely in-person work, primarily because of communication- and culture-related issues. At the same time, hybrid work doesn’t affect productivity.
Addressing The Challenges And Making It Work
Before the pandemic, my team enjoyed spending time together. We used to meet at the office, chat and have more or less formal gatherings. Covid-19 changed that, but we returned to the office as soon as it got safe. And then the war began. Many employees left Ukraine for other countries, and some settled in different parts of Ukraine. We became a hyper-distributed team. I won’t lie: Managing it isn’t a piece of cake.
There are typical problems that we, like many other companies, experience. Here’s what I’ve learned is important.
• Building and maintaining a strong team spirit: Online events may be a good place to start (and we successfully conducted them during the pandemic), but what if your employees live in different time zones? In this case, you’ll have to be creative. For example, hold asynchronous events (quizzes, trivia, etc.).
• Keeping everyone on the same page: Internal communication may become a real issue, especially between different teams. Moreover, people may not always understand where the company is going, although they want to know that. To solve this problem, executives should dedicate significant time to talking to people, explaining the company’s current strategy and the steps needed to achieve it, asking for feedback, and answering employees’ questions. And here’s a tip: Save the recordings of these meetings and share them with those who couldn’t attend (and there will be such people if your team is hyper-distributed like ours).
• Providing tools for productive work: Sometimes, our productivity isn’t a matter of motivation or engagement but technical capability to perform and deliver expected results in time. For example, in Atlassian’s study mentioned above, only 51% of respondents said their companies provided them with remote collaboration tools. Can we expect high productivity if we haven’t given our people tools for it? Of course not. So, I recommend asking employees about what they lack and return to this question every few months.
At this point, you may ask, why bother managing a distributed team if I can hire locally? However, even if your circumstances are not as complicated as ours, you may find unique specialists in other cities or countries. Multiple possibilities appear when you remove limitations and stop thinking about location, focusing on a candidate’s skills and value match instead.
Beyond Distributed
There’s one more thing I’d like to share with you. I’m convinced that a value and cultural fit is at the heart of successful remote work. And I’m sure if our company didn’t have it, it wouldn’t survive several years in such unordinary circumstances.
When people truly believe in their company, they are willing to go the extra mile. Moreover, they are honest with you. Remote work in times of war may be exhausting, but we are open to each other about it. I understand what my employees are going through, and they also understand my condition.
Sure, our example may seem extreme to you, but I think there’s a precious lesson behind our story. No matter where your company operates and how big it is, it’s important to work according to your values and treat people like partners. In this case, even the most complex problems in hyper-distributed teams become solvable.
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