Not even a little bit.
This isn’t just me pontificating that all is swell after our decision in Spring to go from hybrid to fully remote. We take a quarterly pulse survey with our team (we’re researchers so we’re just livin’ the brand!) and then a more in-depth annual employee survey (which was last month). While our culture is by no means perfect, scores have improved and, more importantly, feedback from the team is that they love the flexibility along with finding value in some of the conscious efforts we are doing to stay intentionally connected.
At the time we decided to go fully remote, story after story appeared in the news along with my own personal sphere of many companies moving in the opposite direction. Yikes! Did we miss the memo that we are supposed to be in a physical office together more? It’s always a bit uncomfortable when the rest of the world seems to be moving in the opposite direction, but we dug into our conviction this was the right move at the right time.
If you’re thinking about going fully remote or just trying to balance a hybrid work environment, here’s what we learned doing it.
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Timing is Everything
We had to manage a lot of change the last couple of years. Our hybrid model had served us very well to help support the changes. Our culture was more fragile in my opinion and, with most of the team in the Vancouver area, balancing flexibility with at least one full day a week together in the office worked. We then hit a point where it didn’t feel as necessary.
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Identify the Barriers
In 2022, post Covid vaccinations and the world opening up, our CEO did interviews with everyone on the team. It was almost unanimous – they wanted to come in twice a week but have flexibility to do so. We didn’t mandate it, but few came in twice, some once, and many not all for weeks on end. We identified there weren’t enough meeting rooms for all the video conference calls happening with each other, clients, prospects, and research participants.
With our lease up, we switched to a dedicated coworking office space which provided all the meeting rooms we needed. We had everyone agree to coming in on Tuesdays so we had critical mass instead of fragmented disparate days of the week. It also helped people psychologically get into the groove. It’s like an overwhelming menu with too many choices – telling me I was coming in Tuesdays got me in a groove. Then my other day was flex.
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Ideate the Gaps
When we decided to go fully remote, we brainstormed as a group what we needed – physical, technical, social, psychological. Some things we netted out with included:
Monthly team day
Some months this is pure fun, other months it’s training, sometimes it’s just working together and eating (it’s always about the food!). -
Regularly Evaluate
For almost 5 years now, like most companies, we’ve been trying to get it right with our physical and social work culture. It’s not perfect and I know it will continue to evolve. Surveys are great with the team but just checking in 1×1 regularly with each other is critical. We’re fortunate to be a small company that can be nimble, adapting to the needs of the individual as well as the entire team.
Connections fund
Kind of like those old school expense accounts but in this case it’s intent is to use for coffee/drinks/lunch with a colleague(s).
Rethinking meetings
With fewer in person connections, we’ve reworked the right meeting formats, content, and people attending without overdoing it.
Client Meetings in Person
There was a time that this was the default. Then the world changed and we were content to do everything via video conference. We’re trying to strike that balance with more in person presentations and workshops. It is helping build the relationships with each other, our clients, and helps shake up what can be a small geographical world for some of us.
What have you learned on your physical office space journey?