The world has moved from traditional office settings to a more digital means of work since the outbreak of covid19. The world continues to change just to meet the ever-growing technological advancement; the uncertainties of global pandemics have come as a result of an inclusive community of people. There is a likelihood of having another spread of diseases to keep people away again.
Remote work can be defined as a working style that allows professionals to work outside of a traditional office environment. Imagine it this, instead of commuting to and from your office with a designated desk but, while with remote work, employees can execute their responsibilities and even surpass their goals by doing it wherever they are pleased and also keeping to deadlines.
Some companies find the transition quite difficult due to their dependence or over-reliance on the old ways of doing things. The process takes time, stressful, and as a remote culture is developed internally before it can be exported.
The efficient result can be achieved in remote work by a team of dedicated, focus, and discipline employees who are committed to their meet goals for the organizations. There is a need to adapt to this trend of work to facilitate the process of work even when you can’t congregate in an office atmosphere.
The founder of Automatic, Matt Mullenweg the company that runs WordPress, which holds almost 36% of the websites online. The company was established in 2005 and doesn’t have an office space though they’ve over 1,272 employees across the globe of different nationalities. The employees are scattered in 75 countries and they collaborate online which is how Matt decided to operate his company, he was least affected by the pandemic. Quite recently, Matt Mullenweg was a guest on a podcast hosted by Sam Harris title – Making sense podcast to discuss what he calls the level of remote work, he distributed among his team. Base on that conversation and the other relevant points made - this post will open up the topic and delve into the details of what he meant.
1. Level -1 Non Deliberate Action
Mostly this is the starting process for companies looking to work from home or anywhere else. At this level, the company hasn’t taken any intentional decision to pursue remote working for a long time.
At this level, the company team can continue the basic daily task such as sending and receiving emails and the use of free license apps that allow conferences or meetings on their smartphones. Sometimes, an organization needs to purchase license software to get the best and secure app for their meetings. This is the level most companies were at before covid19, companies are unprepared for the transition at this stage.
2. Level- 2 Recreating the office online
Level 2, is the stage most companies are currently at or will soon be. This is time to adapt to the new working environment and abreast with the changes it comes with. At this point, the company’s employees can use more secure video calling software with instant messaging along with an email.
Getting this tool is a big step towards achieving a proper concept of working from home or anywhere else. Things become more sociable; where you can easily interact with a co-worker over the medium of the company instead of over phone call.
3. Level- 3 Adapting to the new medium
This is the level you begin to adapt to the new environment and adjusting to the change that will enable you to run your day-to-day activities as normally as possible. The company can create a shared document folder that can be accessed by all the employees online and edited by other team members concurrently in real-time. Software programs are available to facilitate this process, an example is OneNote by Microsoft.
Chat and text communication can be easy without the need to walk to a co-worker’s desk or the other side of the office. Employees will need to be clearer in their messages and email communication.
Mullenweg’s approach to a meeting is quite impressive, deducting from the podcast:
Only be held if necessary and the outcome of the meeting can’t be achieved via email, phone call, or instant messages. Not make the meeting any longer than it needs to be. You don’t want to waste time with pointless small talk, using the time wisely will result in a meaningful, more productive meeting.
Have an agenda for the meeting and set goals for what you want to accomplish for the meeting. Give it a purpose.
There is no need to invite employees that may need to be there. Have everyone agree on what the next steps are and set due dates so you don’t have the same meeting twice.
Don’t use meetings just to communicate simple information. This is where an email or messaging is more suitable.
4. Level- 4 Asynchronous Communication
At this stage, the great thing about remote work is there many things that do not need instant response. Communication needs to be weighed and measured especially in formal settings; remote work allows you to evaluate and measure your response. In most cases, people can wait to get a response at your convenient time. If there a sense of urgency then a phone call should be the way forward, this should be initiated when someone needs a critical response.
Giving yourself more time to respond to something grant you the chance to weigh other options, as opposed to thinking of a response on the spot which may not be of much use. At this level, your response needs to be constructive and informative to ensure you are ready to send the message back and forth. A message of that type should include;
Companies that are practicing asynchronous communication have disassociated productivity and output with a physical presence on the “factory floor”. The industry has grown from the industrial revolution where of course workers had to be visible in the factory and output was directly related to the hours spend with their machines. Working from home allows employees to be more flexible with which hours they work etc. Automatic is at Level 4, says Matt Mullenweg.
5. Level - 5 Nirvana
This stage is where your distributed team works better than the in-person team. Matt Mullenweg equates this level with emphasis on ‘environment design’. Adapting to your work environment to be your own and doing things to benefit you personally. It’s more like providing flexibility, a personal environment, and space to further enhance your individual and team performance than it could ever be achieved in traditional office settings. When an individual is fully absorbed into his/her environment, it provides them time to exercise and do other activities to keep fit and stay healthy.
Mullenweg claims Automatic is at Level 4 but he assures that any organization can adopt traits of Level 5. If employees can do things such as a little bit of exercise whilst working at home that they wouldn’t be able to do in the office, then this could boost the morale of the employee as they are feeling healthier and happier. Inevitably, happy and healthy employees will produce higher quality work as they are thinking more creatively and working more productively.
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