The Distributed Office
We Are Sweet is a successful multimedia agency that operates a distributed office. We have all heard how amazing and/or painful working remotely can be and we’d like to share how we feel about it.
First things first, we’ve never had a physical head office, and we probably never will. When we started the business in 2011 this was somewhat of a taboo, but with a little rebranding, we are very proud to present ourselves as a distributed workforce in 2019.
It’s Finally a Realistic Option
Working-from-home used to be seen as a professional joke, considered an opportunity to watch daytime TV and lounge around in your pants, all while doing no work - probably because everything you needed was in the office and not at home.
In today’s world of 4G smartphones, cloud accounting and good coffee available at the touch of a Nespresso, we finally have everything we need to work from almost anywhere. We use a variety of software at We Are Sweet to manage all aspects of the company. Our business isn’t in the office filing cabinet or only in the minds of our employees, it’s on the web and available to our workforce as needed from wherever they might be.
Software as a Service
We are firm believers that nearly all companies are becoming software companies, or are being replaced by ones that are. Disruptive Tech is a buzz-term we’ve all heard for a long time, it simply means automating traditional roles by using software; Uber isn’t a cab company, Airbnb isn’t an accommodation company and Deliveroo isn’t a Restaurant. They’re all software companies because they’re using software to make their operations more efficient. All of these companies are seen as big players by disrupting tradition. The robots are coming, and they are coming for a large portion of the job market.
Our business is built around software, a huge part of what we do is connecting platforms or extending them to perform additional functionality. We’re fortunate in the sense that we are not reliant on a physical supply chain and our production happens in the digital world too. We understand that a lot of businesses require some form of physical location, but still, many of their processes should exist digitally.
Not Chained to a Desk
Because so many office tools are available and accessible online it’s widely agreed that there are numerous benefits to not being chained to a desk. Here are some plus points we’ve experienced as a distributed workforce working from home.
No Commute
Commuting isn’t fun but it sure is expensive. A 30-minute journey each way, every day results in an additional day of working hours added to your week. Few are blessed with a commute as short as this and we don’t think anyone enjoys being stuck on public transport or in traffic wasting time, money and energy.
No Interruptions
It’s much easier to get work done when people aren’t constantly interrupting you with questions or distractions. If you want a break, we say take a break. Productivity is so much higher when people are able to tackle tasks at their own pace. 15 minutes away from your screen can be the space you need to breathe and think of the solution to the problem you are working on.
Your own hours
People work a variety of hours at We Are Sweet. Some start earlier, some finish later, some take a 4-hour lunch break. We like to be flexible enough to allow people to have a life. If you need to go out and collect a package or run some important errands, we are happy for team members to do that. All we ask is that people pull their weight and meet the client’s schedules. If we’ve planned projects effectively, this doesn’t affect our service in any negative way.
Your environment
Some work best with loud music, some in silence, some to rock music, some to classical. Some like the aircon on full, some like the heater on. Blinds open, windows closed, bright posters, padded cell. We all have our environmental quirks and preferences; many people often alter these to fit their mood too. The beauty of remote working is you choose how you like your surroundings. If you want to work in your pyjamas, go for it!
Be comfortable and be productive!
Inspiration
When everything you need can be accessed through a laptop or phone, you are free to move. My desk in London is set up just the way I like it (see image above) but at the time of writing this article, I am actually on the Pembrokeshire coast (see image right). It’s refreshing and inspiring. I have no other distractions and access to everything I need! I have worked everywhere, from a beach in the Philippines to my local coffee shop. A change of scenery is often the brain-reset you need to crack on with work.
No Eye Contact
Working remotely isn’t all lullabies and roses. It certainly comes with challenges too. We understand the importance of working together face to face as much as we appreciate the productive free space of isolation. Here are a few of the challenges we have had to overcome working in a distributed fashion and our approach to turning these into positives:
Face to Face
Challenge: Occasionally a distraction is exactly what is needed. There is no denying that some old-fashioned face to face can speak the unspoken words that convey ideas.
Our Approach: We meet up when we need to. Most of our consultancy happens in person and if we see a reason to get the team in a room then we do just that.
The Vibe
Challenge: Some people are empowered by wearing a shirt and sitting in an office. It feels “worky” and sometimes it gets shit done.
Our Approach: If you want to wear a shirt and tie at home, working 9-5 with one hour for lunch, you can. If you want to walk around the block and grab a coffee before you log on in the morning to get you in the zone, you can do that too. We’ll even help you arrange a hot desk at an office if that’s what you need.
We’re social creatures
Challenge: Humans work in groups. Being in your own perfectly sculpted environment may be comfortable but it can also be lonely. Making a conference call can feel a lot more intrusive than grabbing someone for a quick chat if they’re sat at the desk next to you.
Our Approach: We arrange catch-up calls and we encourage the team to talk. Our team members enjoy the distributed office approach and they all understand that you can interrupt as needed, you just might need to wait for a response sometimes.
What’s the password?
Challenge: Finding Wi-Fi is pretty easy these days. Most of the time it’s reliable and fast. But there are still times when you simply can’t get a good connection, there’s no mobile coverage or no local Wi-Fi at all. If you can’t get online, it can potentially bring your work to a complete halt.
Our Approach: If there’s something urgent, you can usually find another web connection nearby. Grabbing your laptop and heading to a coffee shop will often be sufficient. In extreme cases you can even tether your mobile phone connection. If there’s nothing you can do about the lack of Wi-Fi then relax and use that time to work on something else. Even big corporate offices suffer from technical problems. Unlike We Are Sweet, they also fall victim to not being able to move to somewhere they can continue to work.
Steering a Distributed Ship
We trust our team, we’re not on their case about where they are or exactly what they are doing. They respect this approach and as a result, we see great work being produced. There are occasions where people have to stay a little later to complete something specific but we think that’s a great trade-off for being able to spend time with your kids, do your shopping, go for a haircut or whatever else you aren’t usually able to do when working from an office.
We encourage everyone to ask for help when they get stuck but if the team are asking the same questions over and over again then we haven’t done a good enough job of showing them where the answers are or how to find them. Communication truly is king. Phone calls, instant messaging and screen sharing make it feel like we are all in the same room. We like to keep everyone informed and up to date with what is going on.
Even more importantly, we document everything. If you need to know something in the company, it's likely you won’t need to bother anyone because it is already written down in an easy to understand format and saved in the correct location, so you know where to find it. If there isn’t a documented answer, we involve the appropriate people to figure it out and write it up.
We use a variety of tools to achieve this which we will cover in more detail in the future. Here are some of the platforms and services we use to keep things operating smoothly: Slack, Basecamp, Monday.com, TeamsID, Proposify, OneDrive, Dropbox, Breathe HR.
Distributed Growth
Geographically we are based in London, but our team live and work all over the UK. Talent and skill are spread across the country and across the globe. However, opportunity is not. By searching for raw talent outside of a commutable distance we are able to attract really skillful team members from a much wider search area.
We still meet all potential employees face to face and we make sure they are comfortable with working remotely. We don’t need to rent desk space, so this money goes towards buying our employees the best equipment and creating a workspace that they are able to do their best work in. A proportion of the saving also goes towards our regular team days, where everyone will meet up for an activity, often followed by food and a few drinks - all on us.
Meeting and Greeting
As with all companies, different team members may work independently or collaboratively on various projects. We take a day out of the office every couple of months to get the whole team together so it's not all work, work, work. We choose something fun between us (anything from go-karting to escape rooms) and take the time to make a social occasion for everyone to get to know each other outside of our day to day projects.
For meeting clients, we like to use The Office Group lounges. A monthly subscription allows us to hop into any of their various spaces in popular London locations. Coffee on tap and plenty of seating provide an informal but professional space for us to spend face to face time with clients. If there’s a group of people or we need a little more privacy, TOG allows us to easily book a meeting room within any of their buildings in London.
The Virtual Office
We have always worked as a distributed team. Therefore, our virtual office is the real physical one that doesn’t exist. We’ve contemplated what this would look like and continue to consider if it would benefit We Are Sweet as we grow.
It would mean a huge financial outlay to find somewhere that will house up to 10 people. We will then need to kit the place out with lots of expensive equipment and spend more money making it feel like a place you want to be and not another glass box. Logistically getting everyone there would be very difficult given how spread out our team are.
For the foreseeable future, we will be investing in the team, in individuals, in tools and equipment. It’s this which allows us to provide a great service. We will not be investing in a physical office.
Our Conclusion
Working remotely comes with benefits as being in an office comes with benefits, both also have cons of course. For us, the benefits of the distributed office far outweigh those of us all being stuffed into a single room. Our industry is incredibly forgiving with little need to be in a specific place or time outside of meetings.
Modern technology allows us to enjoy the way we work. We choose when and how we work, we choose music to suit the mood and we create great work that we are proud of as a result. We don’t have meetings that aren’t useful, we don’t pretend to be busy to fill empty time. When the work is done, we tell the team we are done for the day and we log off.
People say that when you love your work, work isn’t work. That might be a little philosophical for the real world. But we can certainly make not going to work a more enjoyable experience for our team.
What do you think?