3 Considerations: How To Operate Effectively as a Virtual Organization

2020’s pandemic brought with it a new need for many organizations and working professionals: the need for containment and new work-from-home policies to do their part in social distancing. It’s all very different from what most of us would’ve ever imagined.

Even those that operated fully remote prior to the pandemic felt an added pressure. As much as we wanted it all to be, it wasn’t just business as usual. Directives from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) change hourly and every employer is having to adapt and shift plans in real-time, the best way we know how.

Here are three remote work environment considerations that we’ve learned along the way, and are leaning into more as work-from-home life becomes the norm.

Cost

No matter if you’re a not-for-profit or a for-profit, expenses are a driving factor in any business decision. As your organization grows, or if it’s just starting out, with limited capital, operating with a remote work policy can drastically reduce an organization’s overhead costs. The math is simple: no physical office to maintain and change means no rent, furniture, utilities, supplies, or other expenses that come with being in a physical space.

Your employees will also likely save money by eliminating their commute, saving on food costs (they’re less likely to eat out for lunches and snack breaks), and having to buy and maintain less ‘work’ clothes.

For many right now, we’ve also restricted employee travel until further notice. This has required that we move quickly to re-design our planned in-person activities into virtual experiences, but it will also save us from those flight, hotel, and food costs that we can now redirect into implementing our work more creatively.

Connection

This is critical.

Even in a stable environment, with high employee satisfaction, remote employees struggle with feeling disconnected from an overall organizational culture. There aren’t any organic opportunities for hallway conversation, spontaneous group lunch plans, or popping into someone’s office to ask a quick question or bond over the weird thing someone just said in that team meeting.

You can’t ignore this additional layer of management. Nurturing remote employee engagement and satisfaction requires that you be intentional (and creative) in creating these opportunities to build community virtually.

For example, implement a company policy to use Slack, an instant messaging platform to communicate quick one-offs (versus email), and have a “Random” or “Bloppers & Fun” channel where you can have non-work related chat conversations whenever you need a mental break. On any given day, you might find a meme of someone’s pet in a Halloween costume or shared photos from a family weekend. Also require full-team meetings to take place over video conferencing so you can see each other’s faces with full attention while collaborating, versus just a voice over the phone. Or try kicking-off a monthly virtual brown bag, where you get together with your own lunches for an hour and fellowship over a fun topic.

It may be helpful to include more frequent short video team huddles throughout the week to touch bases on how you’re all being impacted (and distracted) right now. Always remind yourself that there is a person on the other side of that work product that shows up in your inbox, and take the time to reach out to remote employees for no reason but to say ‘hello’ and experience some human connection.

Communication

Which leads us to communication. There’s (almost) never too much communication in a remote organization. Internally, effective communication provides visibility and accountability for work plans, and ensures there is alignment among business functions. It’s easy enough for silos to form in a physical workspace, and it’s that much easier for them to form in a virtual workspace.

Use different communications platforms for different purposes (e.g. Slack for quick connection, email for formal approvals, and shared documents for collaborative planning). This requires creating some guidelines and norming, but once everyone gets the hang of managing each platform, it becomes second nature.

Also, respect each other’s communication styles. Some people prefer a phone call to an email explanation for status updates. Some prefer a text message to an instant message. Learn your team members’ preferences and communicate accordingly.

And know that when there are real disruptions to our physical, emotional, and financial well-being, effective communication should look different. While some are coping by frequently sharing funny cat gifs in the “Random” Slack channel trying to lighten the mood, others may need to put up a status update of “Uninterrupted Work Time” just to better focus through these days.

Cost, connection, and communication are just a few factors to consider as many of us are being forced into virtual work environments. While many of us are feeling an array of emotions during this time, stress from navigating a new working style doesn’t have to be part of the equation. Working in this new way, even if only temporarily, requires extra thought and planning upfront, but is 100% achievable and will ultimately strengthen all of our ability to remain effective and healthy.

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