This Is How We Went Fully Remote In One Day

4. Stand-up meetings are essential

• Make them video calls
• Do the tasks you take on
• At the end of the day commit and push
• Let your team know what you’re done with and what you need help with

This is mostly to stick to the normal practices at work, and to put a frame around the working hours.

5. Let us know what you need

• If you need any tools to work from home, let us know
• The quarterly “pimp my workspace” allowance came early

This "pimp my workspace" may require some explanation. Coding Sans provides an allowance every quarter for every employee to spend on whatever they need to do their job better. This quarter was provided early, to make sure everyone got whatever they needed to work from home.

How productivity changed when going fully remote

Communication became less effective

Even video calls aren’t the same as being in the same room, but this is the closest we can get right now. Our project managers estimate a 10-20% productivity loss due to communication, and other companies seem to back this up.

Whenever meetings turn into email exchange, the efficiency drops dramatically further. They often become an endless back and forth, so only use emails and chat messages if you’d use the same in the office too. Replace meetings with video calls whenever possible.

Danny Scott, CEO of CoinCorner:

“I’ve seen my own productivity slow, especially as what would normally be a quick chat over something is turning into emails and messages backwards/forwards to come to a decision - sometimes even over tiny activities.”

Focused work became more efficient

Focused work actually became more efficient. This was observed in every team of Coding Sans, and we received similar reports from other companies as well.

It makes sense if you think about it: there are less distractions at home than in an open office. You have an easier time getting into the zone, staying in there, and getting work done.

So, remote work seems to have both an upside and a downside.

But as we know, it’s not all about efficiency. We’re lucky enough to have learned about the dark side of remote work from a Level-up Engineering podcast:

Katie Womersley, VP of Engineering, Buffer:

"Remote developer teams often have mental health issues that people don't talk about. It could make your teammates less productive, less healthy, and more likely to quit and go work somewhere in an office where they feel better.

Anxiety and depression correlate with feeling lonely or being isolated. Naturally, when working remotely, people often work from home most of the time. Many but not all developers find themselves more introverted, so they’re not going out every day with a ton of friends.

One thing we see is that the rate of anxiety and depression is higher with remote workers. The most practical advice is to be very open to talking about mental health with people. It affects their work and their ability to be a successful teammate on the job.

Remember, a manager is not a therapist; it's not your job to solve the issue, but it’s your job to be aware of it and to make sure your teammate gets proper help. Get them to see a doctor, go to a co-working space, do some exercise, or get a therapist before it ends up becoming a real health problem."

Learn more about managing remote developers from Katie Womersley!

How to stay sane working remotely during quarantine

We’re constantly testing new methods to keep everyone sane. Well, at least as sane as we are on any other weekday. Which isn’t much, but it’s still a challenge.

Use video calls

We prioritize video calls over other forms of communication. This is the closest to face-to-face communication, so it satisfies everyone’s need for that as much as possible under these circumstances.

Stand-ups

Daily stand-up meetings are an essential reason to talk to other people. Even if you work in complete isolation on a deep but one-person problem, you still get to talk to your teammates at least once a day.

It’s standard practice for our developer teams, but with the forced remote work happening, even the marketing department implemented a version of it. Everyone finds this human interaction useful and refreshing.

Company-wide check-ins

We do weekly all-hands meetings, where every team reports about their progress to the entire company. We added an extra element to this practice: a check-in circle. Every individual says hi and shares how they’re doing handling the current situation.

Due to the individual check-in circle, the meeting takes an extra 30-40 minutes longer, but it keeps us all in touch, so it’s well worth the time.

Discord simulates office discussions

With Discord, you can get in the same channel with your team, and you can talk whenever you need to. It’s easy to escalate, and other teammates can join in at any time. Or, they can simply mute it to keep the focus up.

And more

We’ve also had ideas to replace the weekly company yoga class with an online class for the time being. At this moment, it’s still in the idea stage, but who knows what the next weeks hold.

Miranda Lievers, COO of Thinkific:

"Some of the ways our team is staying connected include an asynchronous "watercooler" Slack channel, open Zoom channels to drop in and out of coffee chats with whoever happens to be taking a quick coffee break, spinning up a group Pictionary game, or adhoc show-and-tells by team members who do things like give a tour of their space or even give a quick baking demo over lunch! 

It can be counter-intuitive to think about the non-work-related impacts of working from home, but keeping team members engaged and connected socially goes a long way towards maintaining culture and individual mental health, even when the team is no longer face to face."

How should managers and leaders handle remote work in the COVID-19 pandemic?

Have your reports stay at home

There is nothing more important right now. Have everyone stay at home as long as they can do their work remotely. Support them with this in any way you can, even if you have resistance from higher-ups.

We’ve asked other tech companies how they are handling the COVID-19 situation, and this is universally agreed on by everyone.

Anupama Singh, CTO, BrandLoom:

"A good manager MUST enforce working from home for all the employees. Also, encourage healthy communication between team members, and be understanding of their needs. For example, due to the lockdown, your employees may need some extra time to pick up groceries or essential items.

Be supportive and assure them that their safety and needs come first. Create a positive, supportive environment for your team."

Expect some productivity loss

As we detailed above, you may even gain some productivity in certain areas, but there is a necessary loss in others. If your reports are completely new to remote work, cut them some slack. The same goes for yourself: you may be less productive, especially while you’re adapting to the new situation.

Accept that.

Obviously, you shouldn’t allow anyone to chill out and ignore work, but don’t be too harsh to anyone either. Adapting to the current circumstances is tough.

Sean Pour, co-founder, SellMax:

"The productivity has gone down around 15% if I were to estimate. I think it’s a combination of people being a bit depressed over not having social interaction as well as people being afraid and thinking about the outcome of the pandemic.

We try to create a water-cooler setting with the game days, and let people hang out and have a good time. We think giving them a budget for buying food helps increase their morale.

In order to take care of their mental health, you’ve got to do your best to keep everyone happy and smiling. If that means less work completed for a healthier team, I am all for it. When people are happy, they're more productive, so fewer hours doesn’t necessarily mean less work."

Check in daily with your reports

The daily stand-up meeting is a given, but it’s useful to do a check-in beyond that. It shouldn’t be all about progress at work. Talk to them about how they’re doing, and really listen to them.

This genuine human interaction will go a long way to maintain everyone’s sanity and productivity. It shows them you really care, and that helps a lot when people are in isolation or when they are surrounded by the same people.