Working from home is having a moment amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but some startups are having an easier time of it than others.
Collage, an e-commerce site for custom gifts, has been all-remote since its inception; co-founders and co-CEOs Joe Golden and Kevin Borders started the company while Golden lived in Seattle and Borders was in Washington, D.C.
“Our team was remote from the start and we quickly realized we could make remote work work and turn it into an advantage for us,” Golden tells TechCrunch.
Those advantages touch many aspects of the business, from hiring the best people — no matter where they’re located — to saving money on office space. As with all things, there are disadvantages and challenges along the way. But Collage has found a way to make it work for them.
“You have to be more deliberate with your communication than you do in an office setting,” Golden says. “But over time we’ve realized that this makes us a stronger company regardless. Lots of the processes we’ve developed to make remote work work, such as clearly explaining our thinking and assumptions in writing, and clearly documenting all of our business practices, would likely improve many companies, but they are critical for remote organizations.”
To promote effective communication, Golden and Borders say it’s important to be flexible and provide redundant options instead of relying on one tool in particular. Collage uses both Slack and Google Hangouts for its chat and video conferencing needs.
“If one service isn’t working for a meeting — and video calls are never quite as reliable as you’d hope — everyone can quickly jump to the other platform without wasting too much time,” Golden says.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has catapulted video conferencing into the forefront, Golden says the most important thing companies can do is focus on written communication, whether it’s via email or Slack, as people are more likely to rely more on written communication than they have in the past. For startups that are transitioning into a more remote-oriented workplace, Golden says there are two key things to focus on: ensuring emails and documentation are as clear and concise as possible and to encourage people to show personality in their written communication.
“You can’t read body language on Slack or in an email, but you can use exclamation points, emoji and GIFs to show personality,” Golden says. “It may seem ‘unprofessional,’ but it actually goes a long way towards building rapport with colleagues in a remote setting.”
Startups also need to ensure that they’re not skimping on hardware and infrastructure, Golden says. It’s worthwhile to ensure your employees have good internet connections and up-to-date hardware.
“An employee with a bad internet connection or old computer not only wastes their time, but also slows down everyone else they work with,” Golden says. “Ensure your employees have fast internet, reliable internet. Send them hotspots if they don’t. And don’t skimp on the computers.”
Remote hiring and onboarding
Of course, in order to get these employees on board, your startup needs to go through a hiring process. Hiring in a remote-only workforce may feel arduous, but it doesn’t have to be. Assuming your startup has already built in some of the above-mentioned processes, you can incorporate those same protocols into how you conduct the interview process, Golden says.
That means interviewing people using video chat and considering giving a written, take-home assignment as part of the interview, because “clear written communication skills are critical and can’t really be judged effectively by just cover letters,” Golden says. It’s also worth setting up several one-on-one interviews between the candidate and employees to ensure they can communicate effectively and work well together since, Golden says, “remote work tends to have more one-to-one communication.”
Onboarding brings another hurdle, but a manageable one. And it’s important startups get this one right because it’s hard for remote workers to look to other people for guidance without an in-person component, Golden says. For startups transitioning into more remote work, Golden recommends first reviewing your existing onboarding procedures and seeing what needs to be changed. Then, you should emphasize to new employees that it’s encouraged for them to ask any and all questions they have. Companies should also equip the existing team members with the tools to help onboard new people.
It’s a new day for many startups, but remote work doesn’t have to be scary or overwhelming. For more advice on how to manage your remote team, check out our interview with Reedsy co-founder and CEO Emmanuel Nataf.
