In May, Twitter announced that they will allow employees to permanently work from home once the COVID-19 pandemic settles. As one of the largest social media companies pivots some of its workforce to remote, it's time to re-evaluate what the future looks like, as we plan our adjustments for this "new normal."
<p>While many companies were exploring remote work prior to the pandemic, COVID-19 accelerated this transition. People around the world have swapped cubicles for kitchen tables, found new co-workers with their pets, opted for video conferencing over in-person meetings, and shortened their commutes from the bed to a makeshift desk. Despite the shaky beginning, many employees have changed how they view the work experience, and employers have recognized the need for continued flexibility.</p><p>To take a deeper look into how people feel about working from home, my team at Jamm conducted a survey that revealed 81% of respondents want to have the choice to work remotely going forward, even when stay-at-home orders are lifted. While the work-from-home experience has been more enjoyable than not for most, we learned three important takeaways.</p><h2>Video Has and Will Continue to be Indispensable </h2><p>Video conferencing has been an essential tool during the pandemic with 94% of respondents relying on video conferencing for communication, compared to 74% using Slack or Microsoft Teams. Moving forward, 83% of respondents will continue to use video communications to stay connected with colleagues if or when they return to the office. </p><p>While work from home has been agreeable for most, respondents still feel that the experience has some downsides – 70% of respondents miss face-to-face interactions, 48% think working remotely makes it harder to collaborate, 35% feel lonely, and 43% feel the stress of having to be "always on." When we were building Jamm as a remote team, we understood this problem first hand and believed that video could be a game changer. It's the in-between meeting conversations over lunch or across desks that more closely mimic how we communicate and collaborate in real life, which can't be replaced with Zoom happy hours.</p><h2>Returning to Work FOMO Free</h2><p>As some companies make the transition back into the office, employees will most likely have to alternate days working from home to avoid crowded office space. Fortunately, a majority of respondents (57%), felt they would not be missing out if they remained working remotely while others worked together in the office. </p><p>Since these work-from-home protocols will be necessary for companies to comply with sustained social distancing, a lack of "FOMO" from employees is good news. With Zoom, Google, Jamm, and other video conferencing apps, employees are able to stay connected with their coworkers from around the world without having to travel. Video enables teams to quickly huddle to accomplish tasks across cities and timezones without missing out.</p><h2>Employees Need to Know What's Next</h2><p>With all of this in mind, companies will inevitably need to adjust to the new reality. Employers will need to communicate their new work-from-home policies as soon as possible to set boundaries and provide clarity to employees. It will also become crucial for managers to trust their employees when working remotely. While 65% of respondents said they won't be one of the first people to return to the office, safety is still their top priority when it comes to entering the office again.</p><p>To continue working from home for an extended period of time, managers need to understand that results and morale are what's important, not the number of heads in the office. In addition, flexibility is key. Not everyone will be comfortable with coming into contact with clients and coworkers, so letting teams swap in-person meetings for emails or video conferences when possible is the best alternative for social distancing purposes.</p><p>As remote work continues, companies will need to accommodate flexible schedules and distributed teams to meet the demand of our new reality. Video makes this possible by not only enabling teams to quickly connect and accomplish tasks, but also allowing colleagues to easily give context by sending video messages. The need of the hour is to enable more engaging modes of collaborating and to maintain social cohesion in this remote-work world. </p><p>For the most part, teams have been able to make working from home <em>work</em>. Now it's up to employers to take what they have learned over the past few months and implement changes for the long-term. </p><p><em>Badri Rajasekar is the co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://jamm.app/" target="_blank">Jamm</a>, a video collaboration tool.</em><br/></p>
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The latest edition of our dot.LA Convenes series, devoted to empowering women in tech, focused on "Building Confidence in a Virtual World."
dot.LA Convenes: Building Confidence in a Virtual World youtu.be
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As movements such as Times Up and Me Too gain in popularity, examples of women using their voices in the workplace have taken center stage. With all this attention on these issues, why is it that we still struggle with self assurance to stand up for ourselves? Why is it more difficult to find the same confidence our male counterparts easily exude in workplace interactions — especially in male-dominated industries like tech?<br/>
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Challenges around self-censorship have only increased during the pandemic with financial security at stake and working from home making it more difficult to have authentic interactions. We seek to foster an honest dialogue and discuss specific strategies to combat them.
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<a href="https://esportsone.com/" target="_blank">Esports One</a> COO and Co-Founder Sharon Winter, <a href="https://vurbl.com/" target="_blank">Vurbl Media</a> Co-founder, CEO Audra Everett Gold, and <a href="https://www.valence.community/" target="_blank">Valence</a> Head of Partnerships Victoria Tinsley held in in-depth discussion on the topic, led by dot.LA Chief Host & Correspondent Kelly O'Grady.
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<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMyNjYwNC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MjU4NDI4OH0.mvGmp687foqJEGVMCIRcsWXGuJI-wNSsjbW1pS2NU18/image.png?width=980" id="5353e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="446ba4c6e6b8a0276bc61071c7365ffe" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Victoria Tinsley, head of partnerships at Valence
Victoria Tinsley, Head of Partnerships at Valence
<p>Victoria Tinsley is the Head of Partnerships at <a href="http://www.valence.community" target="_blank">Valence,</a> a new tech platform and community incubated by Upfront Ventures focused on connecting Black professionals with mentorship, career opportunities and capital. The company's mission is to unlock the global combined power of Black professionals to create massive economic wealth and social progress that impacts current and future generations. Valence was founded in January 2019 and has a thriving membership of thousands of Black leaders across the nation. Valence also partners with a variety of organizations such as PledgeLA, Netflix, Facebook, USC, The Gathering Spot and Silicon Valley Bank.</p><p>Prior to joining Valence, Victoria served on the marketing senior leadership team at AAA as vice president, consumer insights & data analytics. In this role, she led the analytics center of excellence that supported four divisions (Insurance, Membership, Travel, A3 Labs) representing over $4 billion in annual revenue. </p><p>A traditionally trained CPG marketer, Victoria also previously worked at General Mills managing product development and marketing strategy for the Annie's Homegrown, Immaculate Baking Company and Pillsbury brands. Prior to earning her MBA at the Michigan Ross School of Business, Victoria held a variety of marketing roles during her 7 years at Active Network, a tech startup that had a successful $1 billion IPO and sale. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMTIxNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzUxNzAzOX0.7nTYo-hS5aM1FeASf8kH7MvaEtnFognC-jLcGg4yfeQ/image.jpg?width=980" id="64b1d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3380f3f5ea4372d735495564900e9243" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Audra Everett Gold, co-founder and CEO at Vurbl Media
Audra Everett Gold, Co-founder and CEO at Vurbl Media
<p>Audra Gold has dedicated her entire career to building first to market and scaled mass media digital products. Her passion for product management and her ability to identify new and emerging product trends has led to her reputation for developing novel, cutting-edge products across gaming, streaming video, digital media, enterprise SaaS platforms, in various business verticals.</p><p>Today, as the founder of Product N, a product management consulting and recruitment firm, Audra and her team work with early-stage ventured funded start-ups in various verticals to create, launch and grow their digital products. The team also works in partnership with the VC firm Alpha Edison, helping <a href="https://www.alphaedison.com/companies" target="_blank">AE portfolio companies</a> in need of product management expertise to either create, expand or pivot their digital product lines. </p><p>Prior to Product N, Audra has spent years leading Product teams at <a href="https://rubiconproject.com/" target="_blank">Rubicon Project</a>, <a href="https://themighty.com/" target="_blank">The Mighty</a>, <a href="https://pluto.tv/welcome" target="_blank">Pluto TV,</a> Fourthwall Studios and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defy_Media" target="_blank">Defy Media</a> (formerly Break Media). She also held senior product roles at WeddingChannel/TheKnot, Viviendi Universal's online division, and IGN.com. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxMTQyNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1OTI1NDI5NX0.NAvuCCyGpRyxaNRKfjRnt_4RvqSNoxU7eLd-IEonOxc/image.jpg?width=980" id="ce651" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4622fdae840b72bb9f8eb9de3f6b5ae6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Sharon WInter, COO and co-founder of Esports One
Sharon Winter, COO and Co-Founder of Esports One
<p>Sharon Winter is the COO and Co-Founder of Esports One, the first all-in-one all-in-one fantasy esports platform with real-time predictive data. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Sharon previously worked at IBM's Watson division before becoming CEO and Founder of Hotpoint App, a CRM and data company for the entertainment and hospitality industries with over 2500 clients from Live Nation, Patron, Hakkasan, Wynn, and others.</p> <p>Sharon has experience building community-centered products within data-rich platforms. She's on the mission of bringing esports to the Olympics by bridging the gap between esports and sports, and the endemics and non-endemics of the gaming world.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Guest Column: This Month Marks the Start of the Greatest Workplace Experiment in History
Mar 24 2020
The impact of coronavirus on every business across the world is enormous and undeniable. Companies everywhere are re-evaluating their workload and workforce – at potentially extreme costs. Working remotely works right now because everyone has been forced to do it, but is it here to stay and is it for everyone?
<p>The pace of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is accelerating at an alarming rate. With no vaccine or cure anticipated for many months, the immediate reality for every company should be to re-evaluate their workplace strategy right now, not just for the short-term but also for the medium and long-term.</p><p>This month marks the start to the greatest workplace experiment in history. </p><p>While we will all come out stronger, workplace strategies are being tested, changed and reimagined right now. What was our day-to-day is no longer the norm. Most companies haven't had time to establish a normal workflow yet. Corporate leaders are rapidly adopting new protocols and procedures for basic tasks as well as re-working the paths to completing critical projects that were previously accomplished with a full, on-site workforce. How do you protect your staff and mitigate health risks while operating your business effectively under these circumstances? Most companies are working from home right now, but is it sustainable? </p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg5Mjg5Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTk1OTQ2MH0.Yojyh4T39r-hUtko_ibO8Izg4Qqi81bycIYuCOe-MA4/img.jpg?width=980" id="b6462" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cd158fbca2fab83246256a105d92af72" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Owen Fileti is Managing Director of HelloOffice, a technology-powered commercial real estate brokerage.
<p>There is no clear one-size-fits-all strategy for every company managing the current chaos. From startups to Fortune 100 companies, immediate adjustments to workplace strategies will depend upon multiple factors: leadership, type of industry, geographic location, employee size, current office layout, work style, workflow, client service practices, transportation patterns of employees, HR policies, health status of the team and the number of COVID-19 cases in the local area. One certainty is that the companies that can adapt the fastest will increase their likelihood of surviving, thriving and emerging stronger when all the craziness subsides.</p><p>Communication, technology, and connectivity are crucial to productive remote work as well as the ability to service clients and engage employees. When you remove everything from inner office collaborations, face-to-face spontaneous interactions, random distractions, and long distance commutes, will performance increase? How will companies measure productivity in this new environment? One lesson companies are quickly learning is that they must leverage technology more effectively to optimize remote work.</p>
<p>At some point, business will go back to usual. </p><p>After 9/11, companies eventually resumed work though our lives changed in significant and permanent ways. Some industries, such as travel and airlines, were forever changed. But they did bounce back, just like they will do after the 'curve flattens.' The harsh reality is that some businesses might not be able to weather the economic impact of this unexpected turbulence. Businesses must leverage technology more effectively and become smarter on new workforce ideation and strategy quickly. </p><p>The good news is that many companies are investing in the technology needed, but even those best suited for remote work face challenges implementing so much change so quickly.</p><p><em>Owen Fileti is Managing Director of HelloOffice, a technology-powered commercial real estate brokerage.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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