Remote work is dead inside big tech?
Dany Chepenko
11 replies
Every couple of months, I come across articles from different publications that sound the death bell for remote work inside big tech in the US.
As someone who has been managing a startup of 40 -ish people remotely and following led a nomadic lifestyle for 2+ years now, there's no doubt in my mind that it can be just as practical or more effective than being inside of an office.
The biggest problem for remote work is if employers of FAANG-like companies force workers back into the office. When there's a majority of workers in the office, chat groups die down, and there is an "in" group and "out" group that forms, with the complications that arise from that.
What do you think?
Replies
Anil Meena@anil_meena21
WOW 40ish people working remotely. I think you are blessed with amazing team mates.
I think the biggest thing in the remote working is the intention of the employee. If they are slacking off or may be not working at all or if it effects their productivity, its better to call them in the office or rather let them go.
I think since 90% of the work happens in silo, there is no point of gather a huge team under the same roof.
But I think at the same time hybrid working is very difficult due to same reason which you mentioned in the post.
How are you managing such a big team, what kind of meeting do you do and how often do you need to connect with each other.
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@anil_meena21 I worry less about if people are slacking. If they slack, it's evident, whether in the office or remote. I think we need to trust people, be clear on expectations for what they need to deliver, and help them do so. Being in the office is no solution to motivating people, it simply gives a false sense of monitoring employees' effectiveness.
In my immature opinion, remote is a huge challenge for large companies.
I used to be in a mega company(over 30000 employees) that had a complex organizational structure and connections. Remote didn't seem to find much benefit, except that employees liked it.
But it does appeal to smaller companies, such as my new company, which has only about 10 people spread across 5 regions, including Singapore and China...
It's simple. As long as you can recruit the right people, it will increase efficiency. Because we really save a lot of commuting time, we write more documents instead of always meeting and discussing. We're no longer overly anxious about our work schedule because the project management tools are working so well.
We also save money on office and administrative staff, and we use it to buy some great software.
Everyone is feeling very satisfied at the moment.
@blueeon Hey Kane, thank you for sharing that.
Agree with that, the advantages of being remote for the smaller-size team of the size 10-15 people look more clearly.
> we write more documents instead of always meeting and discussing
That's a nice take. I feel that a strong writing culture makes the remote culture solid in the organization. It is a skill and more time-consuming but benefits long-term. How do you build this habit in the organizations? I feel that's what we need to improve in our team n.
@daniel_chepenko Okay, let me share my experience.
In fact, I don't feel that we're asking for anything on purpose. Because we couldn't easily communicate face-to-face, writing documents naturally became the most efficient way to communicate.
I think these initiatives might be helpful:
1. Recruit people who are good at writing
When hiring, I will chat on IM first to observe whether the candidate can express ideas in words in a rigorous and concise way.
2. Establish a writing culture
When onboarding, I will emphasize in the onboarding document that **writing is better than talking**.
When there is a meeting, I will ask the meeting support person to prepare a meeting document and send it to everyone a few hours in advance. Everyone can read the document first and ask questions on it in advance. It can also be used as minutes after the meeting.
Sometimes I also suggest at the beginning of the meeting that everyone read the document for 10 minutes, before we starting the discussion.
Hope these words are useful.
I think there's a push from large companies to get remote workers back in the office and there's a bias towards making it sound like remote work is over to discourage people from thinking that's an option. However, through discussions I've had with companies across industries, it's not going anywhere and many companies have been yielding in order to retain talent.
@edward_g
I think it takes more time for large companies to experiment and change.
Big companies are used to hierarchical management and face-to-face communication, and managers are afraid of losing control. They may be more worried when they don't see their employees.
As soon as there are more and more success stories, they will consider to try it, or at least try a hybrid work.
I think the last two years have demonstrated that people can be incredibly effective working remotely, and all the fears that people will slack off and not be engaged are unfounded (I mean, those that are disengaged were probably disengaged in the office).
The biggest challenge I see is forging personal connections and maintaining strong team trust. It's very possible remotely, but I think requires a lot of intentionality. I wish more leaders were committed to creating the right infrastructure to support their teams and help them connect, rather than assume the office is the solution.
The hybrid model is a complex one and I agree, poses a lot of risks in terms of dividing the team between those physically together and apart.
Yes, your right
until the philosophy "we live in a technology cycle", i think working remotely is very reasonable.
wherever you are work, company just need a "platform" for controlling all of employee activity