I mostly talk about Database Administration, but today I want to touch on being ‘Distributed’.

No, this isn’t the databases being distributed around the world, but the people.

As the initial shock of COVID dims, a permanent crater has been left on the surface of many companies.

Let’s talk about the need for companies to adopt a Remote First mindset!

Being forced into remote work

Let’s be honest. COVID sucks.

Peoples lives have been upended, some destroyed. All industries have been turned upside down. Many businesses in all industries have been devastated, having to close doors.

Some industries were harder hit than others.

Truckers, retail workers, restaurant workers, first responders, and countless other professions were not “lucky”.

This isn’t for them, though.

This is for businesses that have been lucky enough to be able to adapt and enable a remote workforce.

And while it may not have been business-as-usual, it cannot be classified as devastating.

However, in theses industries, remote work has been an inevitability for a long time.

Executives of companies in these industries have treated adopting Remote Work like it was their worst nightmare.

And now, that nightmare is coming true!

Benefits of remote work

I’ve been working remotely since 2006.

I can anecdotally attest that remote work offers a lot of benefits to both sides of the employee/employer relationship.

Employees get flexibility to live where they want to, when they want to. At the very least, they do not need spend a huge chunk of their lives commuting.

Employers get access to a wider talent pool and, dare I say, a more diverse one?

Studies have shown productivity increases when enabling remote work, such as those discussed at the end of this Freakonomics Podcast on the open office.

Remote work is not for everyone

It’s definitely true that working remotely is not for everyone.

I have friends that, while happy they could continue to work through the pandemic, they can’t wait to get back to the office.

Some of the excuses executives give for being against remote work such as the energy of in-person collaboration and the difficulty of building culture in a remote workforce are very real drawbacks.

Some people thrive on being around others and are more productive that way.

It is harder to build culture remotely.

Companies need a Remote First mindset

But building that culture isn’t impossible. It takes intentionality and a different way to communicate.

But great executives and leaders have been doing that anyway.

Most people are more productive with fewer meetings and disruptions. Some people get drained by being around people too long.

The point is: Companies don’t need to force one way of working. They need offer flexibility.

When I first starting working remotely in 2006, that initial period of adapting took me 6 months.

Most people this year didn’t have that luxury of time to adapt.

Part of the reason it took so long for me to adjust was the tooling just wasn’t that great.

We didn’t have Slack or Zoom or Google Meet or even Microsoft Teams. We didn’t have Jira or Trello or Basecamp. However, tooling won’t be the reason remote work fails at a company.

The main reason for my adjustment was that, being the only person remote at the company at the time, the communication and collaboration was focused on those in the office.

The feeling of being disconnected was heavy.

As companies that can enable a remote workforce settle into the aftermath of Covid, as they continue offering remote work as an option to reap the benefits, they will need to adopt a Remote First mindset.

A Remote First mindset starts with adapting your communication styles to make your remote teammates feel included no matter where they’re at, or when they’re at.

Conclusion

COVID has taught us many things.

Among those things is that Remote Work is possible, and in some areas, better than before.

The tooling to allow for remote work was already in place, and the pandemic has forced it to get better. And it will continue to do so.

This goes beyond tools though.

While many companies have already recognized that they will need to offer the flexibility to their employees to work where and how they want, to be successful and thrive post-COVID, they will need to stop making excuses and adopt a Remote First mindset so that their workforce feels connected no matter how Distributed!