Lots of people are joining the remote work force lately, and with the very important goal to reduce the spike of infections and lessen the impact- this is a great thing to be doing.  We hope you're able to do so.

If so, welcome to the remote world, it's really an excellent place to be. We've been doing it @Cloud since we started in 2008. We never had an office; never even tried to work together daily. We didn't have that "working out of the founder’s basement/attic/living room dining room phase.”  We just skipped it and never looked back. We definitely appreciate that we're fortunate enough to be able to do this, and we hope you are too.

I've personally experienced a few different in-office/ remote models - work all the time in an office with a longer commute, work out of an office but mostly on the road, work from home and office split, and even work from home because the main office was in Amsterdam, but this is the first time that an office didn't even exist as an option.

Remote, but Nearby

One thing to note before we dive into any lessons learned, @Cloud we mostly all live in Massachusetts, except for a few who moved out of state and/or out of the country. This is important to note that the bulk of us live within an hour of Boston because that enables one of the things we like to do, which is a work together day once a month as well as outings. On those work together days we pick up some time at Workbar or District Hall.  We work the day and then share a little time out on the town as schedules and commutes allow. We also do outings at least twice a year to take a pause and say thank you for all the hard work.  All of these things are on hold for now- but we still video chat once a week for a "watercooler" meeting.  Nothing too work related, but we all get together for some non-work conversation- current events, cool things we saw/ did- it often turns into a little show & tell. I highly recommend it.

WFH won't be exactly what you're expecting

If you've never done it before, everything you think is going to happen probably won't…

Personally:  "It'll be great, I'll eat healthier, I'll work out every day, I'll have so much time, the house will be clean, and I'll make dinner for the family every night.”  Snopes says, "Possible but not Probable."

Professionally:  “I'll never be late to a meeting and I will have a ton of time to get everything done that I need to. I can sleep late, wake up right before my call, and still make it on time.  I'll be ahead all the time and be able to really focus!"  Snopes says, "Partially True."

On the personal side, everyone is different but I've found without establishing a routine you'll be un-showered and skipping lunch most days, and still in your "inside clothes" at 6pm.  You'll be thinking what's for lunch and everyone else will be looking for dinner. Get a spot to work, get up and walk around when on conference calls that aren't video, and remember to open the window/go outside when you can, safely. If I have to mention that you shouldn't try and work with The Office on in the background "just for noise", then I'm not sure anything I write will help you.

Professionally, all the above.  Of course, while you will be able to focus more than in an open office setting, you will also need to interact with others and make progress. We use slack, phone, join.me, zoom, SharePoint, email, and video team/discipline meetings.  It's best to learn to control it all, so it's not overwhelming, but it's hard not be distracted by it, AND it's hard not to expect an immediate or reasonably quick response. That is, I think, the biggest downside to any instant communication tool.  It sometimes feels like the client/customer/coworker is snapping their fingers at you for attention like a rude restaurant patron. Of course, I then turn that lens on myself and realize I probably send 50+ @persons a day. I'll be better, and I would never intentionally snap my fingers at anyone for their attention. The bottom line is to be a good co-worker you must find the line between pushy and overwhelming, and how to protect your time to get things done as well as be available when needed.  Oh, and good luck if you have little ones with you.  Just remember to Mute when you're not speaking. There are lots of other posts about muting and background noises/ pictures.  I know we'll all be more flexible with that, maybe the best thing to do here is search for "conference call bingo" and use that as a starter of what not to do...

You'll get even better with tech

The good news is for the newly remote workers, you're likely already comfortable with these tools, and relying on them more heavily without being able to track someone down will be the biggest problem. The other barrier might be becoming your own IT professional when something doesn't work at home. As long as you can screen share, someone will be able to help you.

As an employer, you're going to just have to trust that you've hired good people and they're going to get their job done, but you should already be doing that. I'm not going to convince you that people don't have to be watched in order ro produce but this experiment might.

I think you're going to like this, I know we do. Welcome home everyone.

BTW, if your company does go back to mandating in-office when it's safe to do so, let me know.  We're growing and hiring.

Mike