Embracing Remote Work

I know that many of you read that title and rolled your eyes so far into your head you saw your brains. I would love to start a discussion (through this blog) about how we change that so that you smile when you hear those words, but I understand why you rolled your eyes.

The Covid pandemic put us (as a global tribe of humans) in the difficult space of trying to figure out how to work at the same kitchen table where our partners/ roommates/ siblings/ parents/ children might be working or attending school at the exact same time, and acting as teacher, parent, co-worker, and often IT support for others in our lives (I’m looking at you, mom). 

Suddenly, our livelihood depended on our computers in a new way (read: I know many people who’d never heard of Zoom or Google Meet before March 2020), and EVERYTHING had to be done from our homes, which were not appropriately set up for working remotely on a regular basis.

I was one of the privileged humans already working remotely with a company that managed remote work incredibly well. Suddenly, my colleagues and I weren’t “those weirdos who work from home.” We were experts in remote work. We thought wise HR professionals and CEOs would be seeking us out in droves to learn our secrets. 

We had a global team of employees and contractors with skills that ranged from Legal expertise to Software designers and everything in between. Our HR team was distributed across three countries - the US (East and West Coast), the UK, and China - and we worked seamlessly, in an open, authentic, healthy way that is key to joy in a work culture.

So, while everything I listed above changed (I am the worst elementary school teacher in the history of humanity, for the record) and I could no longer travel to meet with my colleagues around the globe (pre-Covid, I traveled the world for meetings with our teams), my work day wasn’t so different.

I counted my blessings as I watched folks navigating through a fledgling and forced remote landscape. While I was grateful to advise a few HR folks and CEOs who were referred by friends or found me on social media, I was surprised by how few people reached out to me and my colleagues at other great pre-Covid remote orgs.

Everyone was busy trying to reinvent a wheel that we’d already been riding along on smoothly for years. Sadly, the wheel they were inventing was square and super bumpy.

During the first year of the pandemic, I’d talk to customer service professionals at other companies (like my internet provider, as an example) who would apologize to me because life was happening around them during our call (partner on a call, baby crying, etc.). 

I’d think I was reminding them that there was nothing to apologize for, saying things like, “No worries, I understand that you suddenly had to bring your work home. I’m sure it has been stressful. I hope your managers are being patient as you find a way to manage it all.” Often, those words would be enough to make professionals cry on the other end of the phone because for the first time in months, they felt understood.

I’d find myself talking crying professionals back from the sadness and overwhelm when they finally felt heard as I’d tell them that one of the things I found most enjoyable about my job was meeting the children, partners, pets, and parents of my co-workers around the world. I also asked what they felt they could do to make it easier for them to work from home, given their particular circumstances (work from a different room, set office hours with their partner so that they both weren’t taking calls in the same room at the same time, etc.). 

I told them that one of my coworkers was having construction done in her home and sometimes took calls from the bathroom because it was the only quiet room in her house. I told them about the many times I’d seen partners walk by wrapped in towels or been on video calls with executives when all 3 of their small children came home from school and ran into the room in the middle of their very important presentation. “I am coming into your home. How rude & foolish would I be if I didn’t expect your home life to be there?”

It’s a very simple thing that too many of us, as professionals in the People Ops space, have neglected to pound into the heads of our managers and executives so that they could convey it with grace and ease to their teams. 

We are going into people’s homes; their dogs will bark, their doorbells will ring, their cats will jump on their laps or keyboards during meetings, their children will cry or call for them, they will eat (especially if you schedule a meeting during meal times), and they may be working from their kitchen tables, couches, or an ironing board set up next to their bed because they were not prepared for full-time work to fall into their homes. None of this is ever cause for an apology.

Fast forward to February 2022. So many of those same people have figured out how to make remote work work for them. They’ve moved into bigger homes, rented a coworking space, or converted their garages into offices so that they can find ease and balance within their work lives. While the journey hasn’t been smooth, kids are now back in school/daycare, and parents aren’t feeling the deep pressure we were feeling a year ago. 

Many workers are now seeking ways to stay remote by leaving their current companies while many others are trying to find ways out of going back to the office while staying at jobs they actually enjoy.

All of this is happening while too many managers are rolling their eyes and thanking their stars that the “remote nightmare” is over. Sadly, they are doing this at their own peril.

I say all of that to ask you, fabulous readers, the same questions I asked those crying professionals - What would it take (or what would you need) for you to appreciate and embrace remote work?

I look forward to your responses because I believe, with my entire being, that remote work is here to stay and that if we, as People Operations professionals, don’t learn to embrace and celebrate it, we’ll lose top talent to companies that do. I know that remote work isn’t for everyone, but also know that yesterday, someone reached out to me looking to join the fabulous company I work with because her current employer won’t give her the flexibility to work remotely so she can take care of an ill relative in a different state. 

She is just one of thousands who actually enjoy their job, but aren’t willing to simply go back to the “old ways” (yes, I’m calling brick & mortar offices old ...which is OK, I think, because I also call myself old).

I’m deeply curious to hear from those of you who can’t find your way to embracing remote work. I’m also happy to help you embrace remote work if you’re trying, but just can’t quite wrap your arms around it (pun totally intended). Finally, I also want to hear from those of you who started working remotely because of Covid and have fully embraced it.

Thanks for being a part of this conversation. I look forward to all that comes from it!