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I've spoken to 1,500+ companies about their plans for remote work Post-Covid
Here are the things I heard will happen in 2021
[ a thread ]
Here are the things I heard will happen in 2021
[ a thread ]
HQ's are finished: companies of all sizes will cut their commercial office space by at least 40-60%The will give their team the choice to work from home 2-4 days a week, and come into the office 1-2 days a week
Fully distributed: ~30% of the companies we talk to are getting rid of the office entirely and going remote-firstCompanies doing this have seen their workers decentralize rapidly, leaving expensive cities to be closer to family
Access talent: The first reason they are going remote-first is simple – it lets them hire more talented peopleRather than hiring the best person in a 30-mile radius of the office, they can hire the best person in the world for every role
Cut costs: The second reason they are going remote-first is because it lets them be far more cost-efficientSpend $15,000 / worker / year on office space or provide the best remote setup on the planet for $1,050 / worker / year
Remote burnout: The productivity inside the companies we've spoken to has gone through the roofTheir biggest concern is that workers burnout because they are working too hard
They are actively exploring ways to combat this
Remote onsites: 60%+ of companies we talk to are thinking about ways to use time together physically to improve culture, communication and cohesionThe most popular we hear is flying the teams into remote locations for ~week. Portugal & Puerto Rico seem to be the most popular
Personal choice: The smartest people I know personally are all planning to work remotely this decade90% never wants to be in an office again full-time
50% never wants to be in an office again full-stop
Companies have to be remote because of this
Async by default: This is the thing organizations are struggling with mostThe majority of companies have replicated the office remotely and it is causing strains that are beginning to show. Most want to be more remote but don't know where to start
Personal injury: Reports as high as 60% of people report back, neck and repeitive strain pain. Companies haven't moved quickly or done enough to prevent them Most will remedy this by providing better, ergonomic equipment to workers going forward
Universal problems: Doesn't matter the size of the organization, every company is dealing with the same thingWe spoke to early-stage companies, publicly listed tech companies, to legacy incumbents with hundreds of thousands of employees
All will be more remote-friendly
Pollution reduction: Many companies we've spoken to care massively about the environmental impact that eradicating the office – and the commute – will have 108 million tons of Co2 less every year
Quality of life: Even more importantly, companies are realizing that they don't need to expect workers to waste 2 hours a day commuting to sit in an office chair for 8 hoursAlmost every company we talk to believes that their workers will be happier as a result of remote work
Remote pressure: A few companies we've spoken to have decided to be more remote than they initially intended because their competitors already did itThere is a fear inside companies that if they don't go remote they will lose their best people to their competitors
Remote fear: Most companies aren't scared about the quality of work that will be producedThey are scared about intangible things they can't measure
'quality of communication' && 'collaboration in person' && 'water cooler chat'
Many have realized these were excuses
Culture concerns: Almost every company we spoke to was concerned about the erosion of their 'culture'They've realized they need to be more purposeful than in an office. There's about an even split of companies who think culture has improved, stayed the same, or gotten worse
Diversity & inclusiveness: 80%+ of companies we speak to see remote as something which will let them improve diversity and inclusiveness. - single parents
- carers for family
- people with health conditions/impairments
Companies have to do a far better job in this area
Outcome over time: The measure of performance in the office is how much time you spend sat in your seatThe measure of performance while working remotely has to become outcome. Tools that enable this to be tracked more accurately are something we are asked for a lot
Surveillance Destruction: Some companies are moving to surveil workers by recording screens & expecting them to be active during set hoursCompanies doing this are struggling far more with remote than those who are not
The lack of trust doesn't let people do their best work
Timezone Issues: Most of the companies we talk to are happy to hire workers across different time zones to work remotely. They are comfortable with a time difference of anything between 1-5 hoursAnything more than that they view as problematic
Written over spoken: Documentation is the unspoken superpower of remote teams. The most successful team members remotely will be great writersCompanies are searching for ways to do this more effectively. Tools that enable others to write better will explode
Interested in why these companies are talking to us? http://FirstbaseHQ.com
