Thread by @chris_herd

In the last 12 months I've spoken to 2,000+ companies about remote work

Here are their biggest concerns and how they are overcoming them

[ a thread ] 💻🏠🌍

😴 Burnout: Having seen the effects that lockdown enforced work from home has had on people, companies biggest concern is their teams burning out

Many are implementing wellness days where their teams get a unplanned day off once every 2 months

🎳 Collaboration: Not being able to get around a whiteboard is something companies are concerned about

Many are using tools like @mural to overcome this and finding they can do much of what they did in the office there

🗣 Communication: Verbal and written culture changes how organizations function

By shifting from a spoken to a written culture they can become more inclusive and ensure knowledge is retained inside a company rather than being lost when people leave

👏 Human Connection: ‘We are social animals and need social interaction’ is a frequent criticism of remote work

Companies are finding out that remote teams can actually have closer relationships with colleagues

They also get more time with friend and family

🦄 Young People: Living in shared accommodation in an expensive city means junior employees often don’t have space to work at home

This is not an issue with remote work necessarily, instead it’s a challenge of having to live close enough to commute to an office daily

🏃‍♂️ Losing Talent: We have spoken to a lot of companies who think workers will leave more frequently if they are remote as it’s easier to do so

In reality, companies that are remote see remote workers staying for longer because they built the lifestyle they want

⚖️ Gender Inequality: Woman being forced out the workforce during Covid is an unacceptable problem

Many companies have done a terrible job of addressing this

Some are only starting to react

🚪 Accessibility: It turns out the office is a difficult place for a lot of people to work from

Remote work should enable organizations to be more inclusive, accessible and diverse but it won’t just happen

Companies need to design their organization or things could end up worse

😤 Motivation: Trusting professionals to do their job without constant surveillance by management is still a concern inside some companies

The pandemic has shown that remote work works and remote workers deliver incredible results

🚨 Distraction: Companies were worried that workers wouldn’t get their work done from home as there are so many other things people can do

Now they’ve seen how much more work gets done, they’ve realized how destructive office are for productivity

💥 Culture Destruction: Many companies worry that remote work destroys their culture

Most have found that it doesn’t get destroyed it simply changes and must be more purposefully maintained than in an office

🍀 Serendipity: Water cooler chat is often used to illustrate the importance of luck in solving organizational challenges

Instead, companies have recognised that trusting problems to luck is dangerous

Creating ‘collisions’ between different people is now a focus

🤕 Injuries at Home: Companies are incredibly scared about people getting injured while working from home

Many of them are moving to provide the same equipment workers had in the office to avoid this

Those who don’t will be sued when injuries happen

👩‍⚖️ Compliance: Remote work has the potential to cause major legal issues for companies

Most will only allow their team to work remotely in places where they have a legal entity in order to avoid tax & legal issues around operating

😞 Isolation: People worry about individuals not having enough time with other humans

This is a challenge caused by Covid enforced WFH with lockdowns rather than remote

Remote work is typically less isolating than working in an office

🚧 Boundaries: Splitting work and home life while working from home during a pandemic is almost impossible

The best way people have managed it is by creating rituals to split them

E.g. some put shoes on to signal the start of the workday and take them off to end it

🤘 Time Together: Working remotely does not mean never getting together in person

Every company is thinking about the frequency they need to come together physically in order to operate effectively as a team

🔐 Security: People accessing sensitive data in unsecured locations via machines and internet connections that are not protected is a major issue

Many are addressing this by ensuring the right settings are installed and the right hardware used

💻 IT Equipment: Most people began with the pandemic with just a laptop at home

They quickly realized having the right peripherals and equipment were critical to productivity

This is a very difficult challenge to overcome with people dispersed

👨‍🏫 Training: Developing programmes for employees is a massive issue the largest orgs face

They were unprepared for this and had to act quickly. Many developed incredible virtual programmes on the fly

Training is now better than it has ever been inside many companies

📈 Career Advancement: Junior employees not spending time with managers is viewed as a potential challenge of remote

Instead, it’s an opportunity most companies have taken to define paths of progression more formally rather than by who you drink with in the pub after work

✈️ Onboarding: Getting stuff to remote workers is hard. Fixing is when it break is a nightmare. Getting it back when people leave is almost impossible

Every company we talk to is looking for ways to resolve this easily

Why do so many companies talk to me about remote work? FirstbaseHQ.com