Hidden gems of remote work
The greatest part of remote work is not about work-life balance. For the company, remote work enable 3 key elements for the future of work:
1. Global talent
Once we have a work flow that allow remote work, we can outreach to talent from the world. Many startups are raising funds even before their first 10-20 employees have met in person.
2. Various mode of engagements
Remote work allows people to engage with the Company in different forms, be it part-time or project-based or consulting mode. People can hop on a zoom call easily and they don’t have to make the effort to go to the office 9-to-5 every day.
3. Work around the clock
With time zone difference, people in different time zones can work around the clock. While it takes time to smoothen out the process, it can become the edge of the company once you get, say, a good team of developers working on the product managers’ comments overnight every cycle. This can change the speed how the business develops itself.
A little story about me.
It was August 2018.
I joined Fusion Bank as Chief Marketing Officer. The Bank had just got a virtual bank license from Hong Kong Monetary Authority and would be launching its service in months.
The Bank was backed by Tencent, the tech giant based in Shenzhen while the Bank was going to do business in Hong Kong.
Covid-19 swept the world and everything is history.
All our developers worked in Shenzhen while the commercial and operation teams in Hong Kong. We had our launch in December 2019, which was uneventful. We soon welcomed thousands of customers.
For more than 2 years, I worked with the developers in Shenzhen remotely. We had thousands of meetings over Tencent Meeting (the equivalent of Zoom in China). The developers worked days and nights, during vacations.
I still remember vividly that on 31 December 2019, we fixed a bug at 23:59. We all celebrated the New Year’s Eve virtually together, but in fact NO ONE on the call was in office.
One of my developers told me later on he was then staying in London for his permanent residence status.
All these have been an eye-opener for me. The world has transformed and the meaning of “work” and “life” has also changed completely.
You can read more about my story here.