How To Make "Work Remote" Policies WORK

I'm seeing a ton of organizations attempting to navigate the world of "remote work" right now and asking lots of questions about "work remote" policies. I'll share ours below...

How do you effectively run an office with "work from home" policies? Well, we've been doing it for some time now...and we've been doing it successfully! The key?

Trust. 

It all boils down to your ability to trust your employees. I trust Cyclone Social team members to do their jobs effectively and follow our processes.

Our processes? Yes. We do have actual processes and policies in place for "work from home" or remote work practices. It's important to have standards and it's important that those standards are shared with the team, understood by the team, and followed by the team.

Cyclone Social's Work Remote Policy:

Cyclone Social’s flexible work policy allows all full-time team members to work remotely when needed. "Working remote" (WR) is when a team member is working somewhere other than the office for a block of time between 9am-5pm EST Monday-Friday, and is still reachable via regular communication methods. This is the appropriate designation for working from home, working from a coffee shop, or working while on vacation. While we offer flexible work at all times, team members need to do their best to plan ahead on the days they will be "working remote" and also be aware of the negative effects "working remote" too often can have on internal communication. Cyclone Social team members are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with our values and policies no matter where they happen to be working. Working remote does not change any deadlines or excuse them from meetings previously scheduled. After all, the entire purpose of "working remote" is to be working and available. 

Team members are expected to be working in the office between the hours of 9am-5pm EST Monday-Friday unless their calendar specifically states they are "working remote" or out of office. Failure to properly communicate with the team when you will be available/unavailable runs counter to our values of Compassion and Consistency and is unacceptable. The best policy is: anytime you will not be in the office, make sure it is on your calendar.

It's also important to note that our company values are: Compassion, Competence, and Consistency Above Self-Interest and everything done at Cyclone Social should follow these values. If we find that an employee is not following our core values, we have a deeper problem. If an employee has an issue being Compassionate, Competent, or Consistent and they have an issue doing any of those things above their own self-interest, well...then we have a "culture" problem.

Now for employees: respect the fact that your employer is working with you to allow remote work right now. This is a difficult time for so many companies, employees, and families. Be part of the solution, don't create another problem. This does not mean that your employer is giving you a mini-vacation. This does not mean you're substituting work for chores, social events, walks in the park, child care, sleeping in, grocery shopping, etc. You are still getting paid to do your job during this time, be sure to respect your employer enough to follow through on your end of the deal!

Employers: when it all comes down to it, your employees just need to know they can be trusted. They should be held accountable for their results, not their time (unless, of course, you literally are just paying them for their time). As long as you trust your employees and clearly communicate your policies and expectations, you should be fine!!!

If you're having issues with your staff and the new remote work plans...maybe you have a deeper cultural issue. Or maybe you have a trust issue. Or maybe you have both.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help!