The Covid-19 crisis has distanced people from the workplace, and employers have generally, if sometimes reluctantly, accepted that people can work effectively from home. As if to compensate for this distancing and keep the workplace alive in a virtual sense, employers have also encouraged people to stick closely to the conventional workday. The message is that working from home is fine and can even be very efficient — as long as people join video calls along with everyone else all through the day.
Remote Work Doesn’t Have to Mean All-Day Video Calls
Three rules from a company that’s been fully remote since 2014.
September 09, 2020
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Summary.
When people work from home they are often expected to be virtually present during the regular workday. This can pose problems as people juggle the realities of working from home. GitLab, which has long worked all remotely, has shown that working from home can be highly flexible, mixing asynchronous and synchronous work as appropriate according to the importance of tacit communication at the task level. GitLab’s process is enabled by respecting: (1) clear boundaries at the task level between doing tasks and declaring them done; (2) the minimum viable change principe; and (3) the need for open communication. In addition, GitLab offers opportunities for socializing online, which proved helpful during the pandemic.