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When exactly can a company/startup go full remote?

posted by: Dawny33 on 2016-06-14
tagged: remote
score: 3

I know there are a lot of questions about remote working. However, this one is different.

Generally, there is a notion which says that the bonding between the first 10 members of the company is very important.

So, can a startup be full-remote from the #3 employee (2 are co-founders) and still have that bond and speed which the startups who have their first employees in the same office/dorm?

Is it advisable? Or is there an advised time/size//milestone after which a company can go full-remote and keep enjoying the same pace of growth as the ones which aren’t?

Why I want to go full-remote?
Simply due to the multiple advantages of the full-remote team structure.

Answer 9484

posted by: Marcus D on 2016-06-16
score: 1

This is primarily opinion based question, but actually in the current work environment in the UK and Australia (and other countries), a higher and higher percentage of workers are moving to fully or partially remote working, so I think this is an important question.

That being said, I think there are some basic things that can assist or detract from building a team of remote workers that are effective as a team.

Here are some aspects of “team” that can be potentially lost or diluted by full or partial remote working.

Trust. This is often built up by working together in proximity
Communication. Using video conferencing and text-based communications isn’t as good as face to face
Efficiency. Knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses is often best understood by working closely together.
Humor, anger and other emotions. These are lost in a lot of contexts when you lack face to face.

You say

there is a notion which says that the bonding between the first 10 members of the company is very important.

I can see the logic in that, but I’d tweak it slightly and say that the bonding between any members of a team, like the management team is critical, so when new members come in, their inclusion is very important to have a effective working relationship.

In some ways you could say that any team that works closely together would need that extra bond to be as effective as they can be.

Some experiences

We run a data consultancy with a London office, but purposely have a policy of flexibility in remote working, but generally we are all in at least 40% of the time, mostly by choice as we like each other. A long term employee works from another country but flies over about once a month for a week. This seems to work fairly well in maintaining connection between him and the rest of us. Though he does feel somewhat isolated when we have discussions in the office which he isn’t present for. So we try to take extra steps to overcome this by take extra time to build relationships with each other over lunch/evening.
A partner company recently changed from office-based staff to all remote working, but once a week they would rent meeting room space and have time that they would work together in the same space to reinforce the personal connections.

Answer 9509

posted by: D J Sims on 2016-06-19
score: 0

I rarely see companies offering remote positions. When it happens it’s for some logistical or political reason, usually not a legitimate one.

For example, one company I worked for had a CEO in Bellevue and a cofounder in the Bay Area. Because the team was already dispersed and the CEO perceived (wrongly, in my opinion) that renting multiple office spaces or consolidating the company would be too hard, we were 100% remote.

There have also been nepotism cases where certain people aren’t really expected to show up for work.

Lastly, if the role requires a lot of teleconferencing or travel, companies may think it’s easier to go remote than to properly organize their operations.

In programming, there are few legitimate reasons to offer remote positions. If people aren’t being watched then they’re going to spend all day playing video games.

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