I have nearly 3 decades (ugh…) now of forming fully remote startups and working remotely.
It used to be totally non-controversial and completely validated by direct personal experience that only a minority of the population is built to work remotely. It’s so silly this is even an argument when our entire society and education is built on in-person interactions.
I think the 10% number is variable depending on the org you are hiring into. A company that was never built to be remote or put any thought into how information and communication systems must be different than office? 10% may even be high. A company built from first principles with lots of thought and intentional design behind business processes being remote only? Probably much too low. It will be reflected even in the types of personalities being hired on average.
If you reach for video calls as a solution to your remote companies communication issues you have completely failed and probably would be better served with fully on-premise. This would be the first question I would ask as an interviewee for a remote role. Any company regularly engaging or encouraging this means leadership is simply trying in the worst possible way to recreate an office environment and thus you can expect nearly everything else process based to be horribly broken for a remote company. I have some other “tells” as well, but this one stands out as the simplest as it displays a total disconnect with the reality of how to build remote teams. If you can’t function like a well ran open source project you are almost assuredly doing it wrong.
I read, wanted to reply but would only echo what you wrote. 100% agree.
Just a note that my 10% experience is based on general population of people who were working remotely for at least 6 months (and being a contractor I’ve switched orgs more often than average engineer)
What people forget is that making a good remote culture requires both the right people and a ton of intentionality. There are no unplanned interactions in the workplace that cause people to form more than a transactional relationship.
> It used to be totally non-controversial and completely validated by direct personal experience that only a minority of the population is built to work remotely.
I disagree with this. I beleive we just need better tools to support comfortable remote work. Big corporations are not interested in researching and developing such tools. And new innovative remote work tools like Virtual Frosted Glass (https://meetingglass.com/) have not yet gained widespread adoption.
My first remote position was in 2006 or so and I've been mostly remote since as I'm primarily a contractor.
I wouldn't agree that most people aren't built to work remotely, but I have always maintained that it is a skill that takes time to build. Which is why it's unfortunate that RTO happened so quickly.
Of course I always prefer remote work for companies in the same city. Being able to come in easily when necessary helps a lot.
> Of course I always prefer remote work for companies in the same city. Being able to come in easily when necessary helps a lot.
I wouldn't really call this "remote work" though. I know the terms are a little fuzzy.
My favorite option is incredibly selfish for me. I love working from home relatively close to an office I can come into at any time I wish. This requires everyone else working in the office on a daily basis so I can come in as my whims desire.
That is not remote work though. That's working remotely for an in-office organization and it only works if you are in the extreme minority in some special positions. Fully remote orgs with no offices whatsoever are a different beast entirely in my mind and require much different organization and communication setups.
It used to be totally non-controversial and completely validated by direct personal experience that only a minority of the population is built to work remotely. It’s so silly this is even an argument when our entire society and education is built on in-person interactions.
I think the 10% number is variable depending on the org you are hiring into. A company that was never built to be remote or put any thought into how information and communication systems must be different than office? 10% may even be high. A company built from first principles with lots of thought and intentional design behind business processes being remote only? Probably much too low. It will be reflected even in the types of personalities being hired on average.
If you reach for video calls as a solution to your remote companies communication issues you have completely failed and probably would be better served with fully on-premise. This would be the first question I would ask as an interviewee for a remote role. Any company regularly engaging or encouraging this means leadership is simply trying in the worst possible way to recreate an office environment and thus you can expect nearly everything else process based to be horribly broken for a remote company. I have some other “tells” as well, but this one stands out as the simplest as it displays a total disconnect with the reality of how to build remote teams. If you can’t function like a well ran open source project you are almost assuredly doing it wrong.