Remote work: nine-months in

I recently asked our team about their experience working fully remotely 9 months in. A few themes stood out:

Time

The team felt they had more time as a result of not commuting. Time they've spent with family, kids, pets, being active through exercise or sleeping in. Though how they spent this time required deliberate thought, to clearly set boundaries between work and home. Some Yarnoers found it difficult to stick to routines whether that was meditation, exercise or time for deep work. And felt they needed to focus on taking breaks since they could theoretically keep working through.

Communication

Being fully remote has forced us to evolve how we communicate with each other and underscored the importance of communicating with context, especially if what we're writing won't be read in real-time. We're communicating more regularly with video to the team too which can be a richer medium than text. Our practice of regular shoutouts in the #thanks Slack channel has contributed to more positive feedback being shared than previously.

In-person connection

The team spoke to the value of in-person catchups on a semi-regular basis, to collaborate, share laughs and food together. We've been doing this quarterly for our team strategy sessions and will look to increase this frequency in 2021, possibly by encouraging teams to catch up when they wish on a frequency that works for them.

Responsibility

One theme that's stood out to me is we're asking Yarnoers to carry more responsibility for how they spend their time than previously. In an office people are often on a similar schedule; when they start, take breaks, have lunch, leave for the day. These can be prompts for us to ask ourselves should I take a break now? or everyone's leaving, should I go too? In a fully remote environment, those prompts aren't there, and there's an assumed responsibility that Yarnoers manage their time in a way that's best for them, which on reflection is a big ask. I know I struggle to do it! Definitely, something I'll be actively working on in 2021.