Due to the COVID situation, remote work has become the new business norm. Will anyone even remember in a couple of years’ time that things weren’t always as they are now? Some companies, however, had adopted a remote working style long before the pandemic.

Written exclusively for Expat Network by Alconost

Alconost has been an officeless company since it was founded back in 2004. This style of work seemed reasonable for a small provider of localization services. Seventeen years have passed since then, but we still strongly believe that remote work is the most effective way for a company to operate.

In this article, we’ll take a look at six tips for how to organize remote work while remaining efficient.

Flexible Hours

If you have employees from different places, there will be a time difference, so you need to bear that in mind. In addition, don’t forget that some people work better in the morning, while others are night owls who are more efficient during the evening. That’s why our first recommendation is to allow your employees to choose their working hours in order to make full use of their capacities.

No Micromanagement

Micromanagement affects teamwork, the general atmosphere, and overall productivity. In our company, we don’t ask people to install special software or apps that track working hours. It’s impossible to build trust like that. If you give your employees freedom, they’ll aim to produce efficient and visible results in the form of happy clients and successful projects. The result is what we value the most!

A Flat Team Structure

No middle management. Anyone can discuss their ideas with the CEO or ask any other team member for help. This also allows us to implement the best ideas without undue formalities and delays.

Top Talent

We think that it’s better for any company to have workers who are passionate about what they’re doing and don’t just sit for eight hours thinking about how to look busy or whose main goal is just to make money. Yes, mistakes are unavoidable, and people may burn out, but we try to motivate and encourage every one of our employees. And if someone decides to leave us, at least it’ll be on good terms.

Proactive Team Members

As we said, we do not constantly keep tabs on our team members, so we highly value when individuals step up and propose ideas, make decisions, find solutions, and take responsibility. We value workers who are independent, full-stack units, as much as they can be.

Work-Life Balance

According to many studies, flexible remote work improves the productivity of employees. It causes less stress and allows you to spend time with family and friends. That means that you have more time for your hobbies, a healthy lifestyle, and continued education. Here at Alconost, we encourage our team to engage in sports and learn new things, so that’s why we have a policy in place to cover some private expenses.

Final Thoughts

Obviously, a remote work model doesn’t suit all roles (a surgeon can’t operate on a patient remotely, for example), and there are people who don’t have the mindset for working remotely, but for many companies and employees, it’s a win-win model for cooperation, as was confirmed by “forced” officeless work during the pandemic. We believe that remote work will continue to spread across the business world, and we hope that our tips will come in handy for you!