Work Together Anywhere

Take-Aways
 Many employees now can easily work from home.

 Enabling employees to work remotely is becoming a basic management
practice.
 Going remote requires robust online communication, effective file storage and
a viable collaboration plan.
 Telecommuting firms must boost remote workers’ morale and hold effective
online meetings.
 Some firms fear that going remote will impair productivity, but it does not.
 Go remote little-by-little. If something doesn’t work, reverse your steps and
try something else.
 For telecommuting to succeed, remote workers need the right technology,
tools and software.
 Working remotely can make workers and their managers better at their jobs –
and can make them better people, too.
Summary
Many employees now can easily work from home.
Today, thanks to advances in the information- and file-sharing capabilities of the

internet, many workers can do their jobs from remote locations. They often can set
their own schedules and work when it best suits them.
“Everything is in the cloud. I’m as effective from home or when I’m traveling
abroad as I would be if I was in the office.” (Personify sales director Nick Timmons)
Companies increasingly permit flexible work arrangements, including remote work.
In 1995, only 9% of employees worked remotely; by 2015, 37% did so. In 2016, 43%
of employees in the United States worked remotely at least occasionally. Companies
that fail to offer telecommuting may find it increasingly difficult to recruit new staff
members and to retain their best employees.
Enabling employees to work remotely is becoming a basic management

practice.
Companies offer telecommuting to achieve multiple advantages:
 “Stay competitive – retain and attract talent” – For many employees,

working remotely is an essential – even nonnegotiable – condition of employment.
Some companies can’t find the expert talent they want in their immediate area, so
they must hire remote workers. In 2013, Indianapolis-based Formstack, a data
management firm, went to an “office optional” arrangement for all new hires. By
2018, only 35 of Formstack’s 80 employees lived in or near Indianapolis.
 “Grow and shrink the company” – With project-based, remote workers,
companies can easily increase or reduce the size of their workforce based on business
trends and other factors. Software developer Teamed, for example, sets up virtual
teams of remote workers from around the world for specific software projects and
then releases them when the projects conclude.
 “Reduce costs, increase profits” – Cost saving is the primary reason
companies are “going remote.” Organizations can save substantially by reducing
overhead through telecommuting; the average firm saves $10,000 annually for each
full-time telework employee. Employers can also save on salaries. For example, a
California firm can pay a programmer in Hanoi much less than it pays a programmer
in San Francisco.
Going remote requires robust online communication, effective file

storage and a viable collaboration plan.
An efficient telecommuting operation requires easy and quick online

communication; an accessible, shared location for file storage; and a
workable system for easy collaborati0n among remote employees. Executives and
employees must share a vision about telecommuting, and everyone needs access to
the same basic information about the details of the process.
“Managing a remote workforce isn’t terribly hard as long as your rapport with
your remote employees is strong.” (Fog Creek Software vice president Allie
Schwartz)
Numerous tools enable active collaboration with remote workers. Consider the
example of software developers who successfully interacted remotely for many years
to create award-winning software products. Advanced tools that help remote workers
feel close to one another include group chat, video conferencing, and virtual office
and telepresence software.
When they have an opportunity, employees should make the most of their face-to-
face webcam time with managers and colleagues, so they get to know the people with
whom they work at a distance. This is particularly relevant for team members
in different cities or countries. International teams must coordinate
communication across time zones. Some remote teams handle this by organizing on
a north-to-south basis instead of an east-to-west basis. On some teams,
members work in shifts so some are busy during normal hours and others work
during “off hours.”
Some workers believe they must be colocated – that is, in the same office space – to
be effective. But as Bill Krebs, the founder of Agile Dimensions, explains, “People
think they want to be colocated. What they really want is high-bandwidth
communication.”
Telecommuting firms must boost remote workers’ morale and hold
effective online meetings.
Expect resentment – and eventual trouble – if you micromanage remote workers.

You provoke resistance when you demonstrate that you don’t trust your distant
workers and monitor everything they do.
“Thank-you notes, short sweet messages and birthday acknowledgments are much

more relevant and important when you are all remote.” (Trade Conductor CEO
Soulaima Gourani)
Managers should compliment remote employees who do good work, and companies
should express appreciation to virtual team members. For example, some firms
deliver snack boxes to remote workers in recognition of work well done. Other
companies provide gym memberships or house cleaning services, or organize
Yammer groups like book clubs, cooking groups and pet photo sharing.
To run error-free online meetings, you and your remote workers need robust, stable
internet connections and high-quality technical equipment, especially video-
conferencing gear and noise-canceling headsets to eliminate background noise.
When you hold virtual meetings, record them for workers who can’t participate.
Make sure those in attendance can comment without interrupting the speaker. For
video meetings, moderators can use virtual meeting cue cards that read, for example,
“You’re on mute” or “Slow down” or “You’re frozen” to ease problems. Group chat or
instant messaging work well for audio meetings.
Some firms fear that going remote will impair productivity, but it does

not.
Telecommuting raises concerns for many leaders who are unfamiliar with it. One
such worry is productivity. Managers can’t see if remote workers are doing their work
except by evaluating how well they meet their objectives. But, in fact, remote teams
are often more productive than office-based teams because they must meet
quantifiable metrics.
Some companies use monitoring software and devices that log every action

the remote employee takes. This kills trust. Instead, managers should focus on
results. They will know quickly enough if remote employees don’t achieve their goals.
“A lot of what we’re looking at is not new. It’s just that technologies make
working from anywhere possible for a lot more people.” (Virtual not Distant
director Pilar Orti)
Telecommuting means that companies must update their security protocols.
American Express, JPMorgan Chase, The Hartford, ADP, UnitedHealth Group and
Wells Fargo all made the transition to greater security. Most companies’ routine
approaches to data security will cover their remote teams. According to Global
Workplace Analytics, 92% of managers with remote employees report no data
security problems.
Go remote little-by-little. If something doesn’t work, reverse your steps
and try something else.
Companies must make the transition carefully. Monitor and evaluate each step.
Scrum, a part of the agile project methodology, offers a worthwhile model to follow
when your company embraces telecommuting.
“Try things in little chunks so that there’s limited risk and an opportunity to change
quickly if things don’t work.” (Amino Payments senior vice president Jeremy
Stanton)
Scrum is iterative, in that it involves small, measurable milestones that build on one
another. A scrum planning team meets after every milestone, reviews progress and
decides to endorse the approach, adjust it or try something different.
For telecommuting to succeed, remote workers need the

right technology, tools and software.
Technical barriers to communication are vanishing quickly. Companies must ensure

that telecommuting employees have the tools, apps, software and hardware they
need, including an effective computer, fast internet, headphones, a webcam and
reliable video conferencing tools.
“The key to making a success of remote working is finding your optimal

combination of skill set, tool set and mind-set.”
For maximum efficiency, remote workers and teams rely on “crystal-clear, high-
bandwidth communication.” Each worker needs to know how his or her telecom
tools work. New remote tools, technology, software and high-tech gadgets appear
constantly, so while this list of options isn’t definitive, it does offer some proven
alternatives:
 “Brainstorming and planning” – Using a Web Whiteboard allows for

quick and easy online collaboration. Dropbox Paper provides a remote workspace
that facilitates creation and coordination. MeetingSphere One helps remote teams
arrive at group outcomes during conference calls.
 “Decision-making” – Ideaflip helps remote teams refine and shape their
ideas. Loomio encourages smart discussions among remote teams and helps them
make intelligent decisions. Yabbu enables fluid discussions among remote workers.
 “Document editing” – Draft, a leading version-control s0ftware, lets one
remote worker or another make changes to a master document, but the changes
don’t become part of the final document without approval. Google Docs enables
remote workers to group-edit a shared document.
 “Group chat” – Front is an inbox remote workers can share. The most
popular remote-communication tools are Slack and Skype. Twist helps remote
workers stay on topic during online conversations.
 “Video conferencing” – Amazon Chime improves audio and video quality
for online meetings. Catch creates video messages that disappear after 24 hours.
Through Google Chrome, Loom lets workers share computer screens with others on
their virtual team.
 “Online meetings” – Instant Agenda lets remote workers create agendas,
track action items, record decisions and poll attendees. Lucid Meetings helps remote
teams schedule times, send calendar reminders, agree on an agenda, log action items
and gather user feedback.
 “Password management” – Dashlane and Last Pass can manage all your
passwords. Zoho Vault is an online password manager for teams.
 “Virtual assistants” – Moneypenny meet the needs of “any time, any place”
remote workers. VirtualEmployee and Zirtual are popular virtual-assistant programs.
 “Feedback” – Officevibe enables candid remote team feedback. Team
Canvas helps remote work teams resolve disagreements.
 “Virtual office” – Pukkateam lets virtual team members observe each
other’s online status. Sococo creates online avatars for remote workers that all can
see. The software offers a gathering place for chatting.
 “Handy gadgets” – Chatlight is for video chatting. Rocketbook is a
“magical” pen-and-paper notebook with digital connectivity that furthers
remote worker communication. Sidecar lets workers attach tablets to laptops to
function as additional monitors.
Working remotely can make workers and their managers better at their

jobs – and can make them better people, too.
Being a remote worker means you must learn a new style of communicating and
become more adept at sharing. Participating on a virtual team will call on you to
learn about other people and to become more attentive to their needs. You must
learn to bond with your colleagues across distances and in new ways.
“A lot of tools will help you collaborate, but they won’t necessarily help you get to
know each other personally. We’ve gone high-tech, but we also need to go high-
touch and develop empathy for each other.” (PlayPrelude CEO Howard B. Esbin)
For managers, supervising remote workers requires being willing to trust them. As
you learn to do that, you’ll improve as a manager, and you and your team
members can grow together to become better people.

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Take-Aways

 Many employees now can easily work from home.

Today, thanks to advances in the information- and file-sharing capabilities of the

Enabling employees to work remotely is becoming a basic management

Companies offer telecommuting to achieve multiple advantages:

 “Stay competitive – retain and attract talent” – For many employees,

Going remote requires robust online communication, effective file

An efficient telecommuting operation requires easy and quick online

Expect resentment – and eventual trouble – if you micromanage remote workers.

“Thank-you notes, short sweet messages and birthday acknowledgments are much

Some firms fear that going remote will impair productivity, but it does

Some companies use monitoring software and devices that log every action

For telecommuting to succeed, remote workers need the

Technical barriers to communication are vanishing quickly. Companies must ensure

“The key to making a success of remote working is finding your optimal

 “Brainstorming and planning” – Using a Web Whiteboard allows for

Working remotely can make workers and their managers better at their

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