
Things to plan for when hiring remote employees - andygcook
https://getlighthouse.com/blog/didnt-plan-hiring-remote-employees/
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mnm1
Video calls are absolutely useless. They add absolutely nothing and make many
people uncomfortable. Not to mention the extra preparation needed by the
participants to look good. This isn't a beauty pageant. I've been working
remotely for over half a decade and never needed a video call or found a
single meeting it would not have detracted from. This isn't management 101.
Frankly, it's stupidity. It's what idiot managers think is management 101
along with micromanagement and never giving raises. I stopped reading after
that. What a stupid thing to add to the list.

~~~
bonniemuffin
I totally disagree-- having video on a conference call is really helpful to
me. When you can see the people you're talking to, you can tell if they're
nodding along or if you're boring them, or if they want to jump in and say
something, and so on. If you're only talking over audio, it's much harder to
use those nonverbal cues to guide the conversation.

We also use whiteboards while on calls pretty frequently, which wouldn't be
possible if we were audio-only.

~~~
jevanish
Agree with those thoughts and would add that especially for things like 1 on
1s, you need to see someone's reaction to questions you ask.

For instance, I talk about feedback from a team member for you...are you
defensive? are you surprised? upset? It's hard to tell all that just from
someone's voice or the silence on the other end of the phone line.

As for appearance, that really isn't that important:

1) Skype is now giving you the option to blur the background when on video,
which hopefully becomes a common feature in the market

2) Zoom and Google both have "visual correction" which makes everyone look
better on the call

3) Most important, as a manager I don't care if you look like a model or Gary
Busey...it's just about reading your reactions and being able to create a
connection. I'm sorry if you've had bad managers who treat that like an
inquisition, but for good managers, those that care (and read 6,000 word
essays so they get better) really benefit from this because they use it from a
position of trying to help.

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CyberFonic
In my experience there are several overlooked aspects of the remote work
situation:

1\. Extroverts need lots of interaction, etc. Introverts are more inclined to
focus on their work. Naturally the latter are going to do a lot more
comfortable with remote work and lower levels of interaction.

2\. There are many talented people with disabilities who find it difficult to
commute, etc. For them, working from an environment that is set up to
accommodate them well, is far more productive.

3\. There is the ever present danger of micro-managers. They are the ones that
constantly interrupt and need to see people working under them to feel
"useful".

4\. Employing people is not always the best option. Consider sub-contracting,
i.e. work is performed to agreed specifications, timeframes and costs.

5\. Much of technical work is "Deep Work" (cf Cal Newport's book, etc) so
reducing interruptions leads to greater productivity. I once worked in an
office where the norm was to email co-workers 6 feet away so as to not
interrupt their being in the flow.

6\. Many multinational consulting firms have their staff work on client sites
all week and then bring them back to their local office for Friday afternoon
debrief and drinks. The managers travel around the different client sites to
manage relationships with clients and check-in with their staff.

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jedberg
> 1) Managing time zones for your remote employees

A good rule of thumb is no more than nine time zone span across the company.
Anything more than that becomes unbearably difficult to manage.

> Your remote employees may experience severe loneliness

One way my fully remote team tries to solve this is that each meeting starts
with each person getting a chance to talk about something not work related. It
takes up time, but it's worth it. It can be anything, like a TV show they just
saw, or asking for advice on how to fix their broken car.

Each one-on-one starts with asking what they did over the weekend or since the
last one-on-one. If the answer I hear is "worked the whole weekend", I made a
point of encouraging them to do something other than work. I also try to set a
good example by always having something that I did that wasn't work.

> Thank you, Texas, for $2000 in late fees for a business tax I had no way of
> knowing even existed.

Yep, I feel that one. We got hit at one point with a $5,000 fine from the
State of New York for not getting insurance that we didn't know we had to get.
Luckily we were able to prove that it wasn't necessary since our employee in
NY was a co-founder, and the rule didn't apply to business owners.

~~~
whycombagator
> A good rule of thumb is no more than nine time zone span across the company.
> Anything more than that becomes unbearably difficult to manage.

Why an upper limit of 9? What is that based on?

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rat9988
Because if you go up to ten you reach the second thumb. It's a rule of thumb
not of thumbs.

~~~
CSSer
But what if we count in hexadecimal?

~~~
xk3
then it's a maximum of 8192 time zones

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reggieband
I'm just looking now for my first full-time remote working job. I have worked
remotely in the past as a contractor a few times in the workation tourist /
digital backpacker category but never as a full-time employee. What I'd like
now is to buy a home with super-fast internet in a small town and work from
home.

I agree with the article that this category of work is likely to expand.
Ideally I can get some remote-manager managing remote-employees experience
under my belt. Then I would like to start my own business entirely with remote
workers.

As a first timer one question I have is salary. Most recently I have been
working in New York, and San Francisco before that. My perception of salary
might be skewed by those bubbles. For that reason I'm not sure what my salary
request should be. I have 15+ years development experience (most recently
full-stack Java/Node.js/React) and 5+ years experience as team-
lead/management.

~~~
jevanish
I've seen this work one of two ways:

A) If you're already in _remote place X_ then they'll look up salary data on
your area and offer to pay that amount or a small premium above it based on
your title/experience level.

B) The most clever people I know will take a job in SF or NYC, get some wins
under their belt so the company loves them, then say they need to move but
would love to still work here. When that happens, the company usually would
rather keep you than have to find a replacement, so they accept, and most
importantly _your salary is unchanged_.

Both have serious risks: With A) just check Twitter and you'll see that remote
work job posts are getting _hundreds_ of applications...so no guarantee you
can find a job fast.

With B) the company may not go along with it, and then what?

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mooreds
As someone who has worked at numerous remote first organizations I felt this
list captured a lot of the challenges for remote workers. I wish they'd gone
into the 4 different types in more depth, because knowing which type of worker
someone is colors the issues/challenges/opportunities which will arise.

~~~
jevanish
Hi -

I helped write the article...would love to hear the nuance, either as a
comment here or you can DM me on Twitter @evanish to speak more on it.

Thanks Jason

~~~
mooreds
Hiya,I was referring to the contents of the tweet mentioned at the start of
the article:

– digital backpackers

– workation tourists

– digital staymads

– remote workers

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seren
The article starts with talking about "work from home", then start talking
about distributed teams.

Where I am a bit puzzled is that there are already hundred of thousands of
people working in global companies where colleagues are already in different
time zones, with different cultural norms, etc.

So apart from the loneliness aspect, I feel it is not that a novel idea, and
feels like recycled content.

~~~
jevanish
Glad you think this is obvious to you. For many, it's not, which is why we
wrote the article...so more people see it as clearly as you do.

~~~
trilila
This is good content and imo remote work is not the same as distributed teams,
clustered in offices around the world. Usually these work autonomously and
resemble a company within a company. Remote work on the other hand is work in
isolation, and the points you raised are valid.

As someone who works remote, i would stress that some, if not all, go both
ways. Personally, I try and adjust my work hours to my client’s, and where not
possible, I make sure there at least a generous overlap, so that ignorance is
reduced and communication and clarity increased. Same for cultural
communication differences - i make sure i understand the other side and adapt
to an organisation’s predominant style, to reduce frustration. From my
experience as a remote office manager, i know communication is pretty much the
root of all evil.

~~~
jevanish
Well said. Communication is really at the core of most of the issues...it
comes from the question un asked or all the little times you would have
seen/heard/said something that doesn't happen when remote.

