Remote work guide

Hi! Welcome to Behind the Curtain, a newsletter about people dynamics in start-ups.

Remote work has become the norm in the post-pandemic world. But it’s not only black or white, and dealing with it can be challenging. We will delve deeper into this topic with the help of NordVPN , The Remote Company , and Near Partner . Buckle up!

Remote work isn’t just a trend anymore, it’s become the norm in our lives. Whether it's to provide flexibility for employees, save money on office space, or enhance productivity, the realities of remote work are upon us. However, it wasn't so long ago that working from home was almost unheard of for a full-time job. While working from home can be a great option for those who choose it and are willing to manage their own workflow, there are still some aspects perceived as challenging - driving team dynamics and working in synch.

Today our world has become increasingly interconnected, and so believes Ilma Tiki Tikki, the CEO of The Remote Company , who is an expert in this subject. She built a multicultural team that is based in 35 different countries and as you can guess from the company’s name, all people are working remotely. As she explains in her book “Leaving the Base Camp”, her decision to build a remote team was personal - she loves traveling and being able to choose where and how to work sounded exciting. But it’s not only a pleasant way to work -? it can be a fantastic learning opportunity - hiring remotely and having a team in different locations opened the doors to new markets and cultures.

We sat down with Ilma to talk in our “Startup Recruitment Failures” podcast and she elaborated more on remote work and her company. They have been doing that for the last 8 years - so it's not a pandemic that brought this. Organizing cool workations helps to keep the team spirit alive - such as everybody gathering in Bali and living together for the whole winter!

However, Jonas Karklys , Co-Founder at NordVPN shared that even though teams had all the infrastructure needed to efficiently work remotely during the pandemic, it might have affected people’s emotional relatedness to the company. One thing is to organize workflow, make sure that everybody is oriented to the result and everything is planned ahead and for this, it does not matter where the person is based. But ensuring people are still emotionally invested and feel like they are part of the team, is much more challenging.?

The feeling of belonging to a company or a team is critical and it’s important to work on it. Everybody needs to be equally involved and self-motivated. Although finding this inner motivation might be complicated for some people. As Pedro Pinho Veloso , CEO and Founder at Near Partner states, they don’t have a problem with remote work, but they do have a problem with people who don’t do the work - whether remotely or in the office. They have encountered some misalignment with a fresh hire who thought working remotely means flexible days, and flexible hours - to the point of not even attending planned meetings on time.

Lack of emotional relatedness to the company, and finding self-motivation to follow the workflow and stay productive seem to be the main challenges faced. However, being able to deal with these challenges comes from within and by adjusting your own approach - evaluating your role in the company, identifying your own goals, sharing ideas, and being heard by your colleagues. The feeling of isolation might lead to bad thoughts, so it’s important to communicate and see if those bad feelings are real.

What do you see as the main challenges and benefits of remote work? Share in the comments below!?