Less Remote; More Flexible;

Less Remote; More Flexible;

5min read

10x recently announced a decision to move to a fully remote enabled organisation which means ‘10x-ers’ are no longer required to work in an office unless they want to.?

In reality, this was probably never really in doubt given that for the past two years we have been working this way, and in that time as a business we have launched two banks on opposite sides of the world and won new clients across the globe.?

These wins made debates about productivity and the effectiveness of remote working somewhat redundant. In fact, working across multiple time zones has made remote work a blessing.

The benefits to me are clear;

·???????We can widen our talent pool.?In the tech talent wars if you do not offer remote working, you’re unlikely to attract the best and the brightest. I heard on the corporate grapevine, some organisations have mandated return to the office have lost 20% of their talent in one fell swoop.?

·???????10x-ers can work from another country on a permanent basis if they wish. This means we can source new talent from new geographies - pretty handy when you’re a fast growing scale up.

·???????Colleagues can balance work and home life more effectively. The school run, coaching the sports team, and eating dinner with the family have become realistic for the many and not just a lucky few.?

·???????The savings are real. Commuting, lunch from Pret every day and avoiding London priced pints have to some extent made us all wealthier, and even if those savings are about to be eroded by rising living costs, I think the majority are firmly quids in.?

I have to be honest; I’ve tried to adopt ‘hybrid’ working approaches for my teams, spending a few more days in the office in order to make the ‘new normal’ a little more like the old normal, desperately clinging on to the pre-pandemic world.?

But as we made the difficult decision in December to close the office for the Omicron outbreak and mandate working from home once again, I came to the realisation that in 2022 we needed a fresh start to give people clarity over our future plans.

But why did I personally find getting to this decision challenging??

I can’t lie; I had it pretty good at the beginning of lockdown #1. My partner and I built a shed at the bottom of the garden. It’s a bit more glam now with insulation, French doors, under floor heating and air conditioning. It’s my own private oasis away from knocking doors, barking dogs and the demands of domestic life.?

We recently welcomed a cohort of engineering graduates to the 10x family via a partnership with?Sparta Global. After spending three months on Zoom at a coding bootcamp, the crew were used to fold up desks at the end of their bed, mum and dad’s dining room table or some other not so comfortable location to work from. And despite spending eight hours a day together on Zoom, these new entrants to our business had never personally met each another.??So it made me reflect on some of the nagging doubts I had about our move to a fully remote organisation.?

For many, a private study, garden office or even a quiet place to work will be elusive. People that are in the early stages of their careers are often in shared housing, or living at parents to save for the house deposit, so how do we ensure the ability to work comfortably and effectively??

The energy in our office was electric when the engineering graduates came in to learn about 10x and to meet their cohort, line managers and other colleagues. Conversations reverberated around; experiences were shared and knowledge was gained. Pizza and beer were consumed.

So, for those in early stages of their careers (and new joiners) I am worried about how these human interactions, experiences, connections with the culture of our business, and embedding the 10x DNA can continue to happen from behind a screen, and how we ensure that?remote working doesn’t end up feeling too remote.

I am also concerned about how our wider teams maintain human connection. For me, this is critical as without it our interactions become dehumanised. We have all experienced some those quick and short email responses, and I worry that without the connection it can be too easy with the Zoom camera off, to think less about the impact to the person on the other end, and the importance of building a good collaborative working relationship.

Of course, we can do things to prevent this; social quizzes, fun Slack channels, all-hands, town halls. We’ve provided the collaboration tools and they are actively in use. And we’re being innovative too with Vox Pop videos to help disseminate information more effectively than a 60 minute Zoom. But I don’t think this replaces that human connection (at least until Zuckerberg’s Metaverse advances….?).?

This is a big worry for me, that?through remote working and lack of connection our organisation and our human connection become remote… could this dilute our culture?

So, my aim is to focus less on the remote working and more on?flexible working?as I believe that’s what people want;?control over their own work lives, the flexibility to work in the most convenient location for them, during the times most appropriate for them.

It’s important we retain a physical office space and presence, so people have a ‘home’ and a place that embodies 10x, and that we invest in making the space work for those that prefer it as their place of work, and that come to connect with colleagues. The move to flexible working was never about saving costs, it was about offering flexibility to our colleagues.

We will continue to ensure that we bring people together that share a similar time zone, at least on a quarterly basis so they can make those important human connections, enjoy each other’s company and collaborate creatively.?

Being a global business 9-5 isn’t the reality anymore so we need to take time to understand the individual needs of each of our colleagues around their core hours. So as an industry,?let’s double down on flexibility?where it makes sense for people.?

For me, that means a couple of days a week in the office, regular meet ups after work to share stories and then my splendid isolation at the bottom of the garden. For the rest of my 10x colleagues, well, it’s up to you, we’re entirely flexible.

Keen to hear others thoughts and ideas on how we make remote working less remote, and keep that human connection.