Six ideas to help Virtual and On-Site employees live happily together, apart.
WFH FTW? Can be… sometimes... it depends.
I’ve worked in all three eras of virtual work: before Covid lockdowns, during Covid lockdowns, and after Covid lockdowns. I’ve also worked in office and remotely at a few different companies. From my experience, working virtually is different now than it was before Covid lockdowns.
There’s a medley of work environments we have now:
All employees in office 100% of the time
All employees working virtually (Remote or WFH) 100% of the time
A mix - some employees in office 100% of the time and others working virtually 100% of the time
A new mix - some employees as hybrid (in office 2-3 days a week and virtually the rest) and others virtual 100% of the time. This came out of the “return to office” movement.
I find myself thinking about how I can work better with my co-workers (and how they might work better with me) in this brave new world where there’s often a changing set of folks in office and folks that aren’t.
(Hopefully) your company’s teams are tackling the large scale challenges that came with return-to-office. I’ll write a bit more about that next week. While that’s happening let’s figure out ways to help each other out.
As a remote employee I thought I’d offer a few things up that I believe make virtual ↔ in person co-working better.
One size doesn’t fit all, so please take into account preferences and the situation. There are always exceptions and accommodations but here’s some guidelines that I find helpful.
It’s helpful to keep in mind how others experience you.
It’s more complicated than it used to be.
In-office environments have had a long time to address issues relating to workplace culture. Dress codes help ensure everyone’s in appropriate attire. Office volume norms help ensure that cube-mates aren’t disturbed with overly enthusiastic weekend recaps.
With higher amounts of folks working virtually we’ve added in new (and core) categories like - can people see you and hear you?
For example, walking meetings are great but what if only one person is walking and the other is at a desk? If the walking person is outside on a city street with lots of background noise what does that mean for the person(s) on the other end. Or video calls that include someone holding a phone that sees mostly ceiling and a killer view of their nostrils. How does screen sharing work when not everyone has access to their screens or only mobile screens?
If you’re the virtual person
Be aware of how you look and sound
You don’t need a setup like a professional YouTuber. If you want to invest in a camera, light or a mic, that’s fine. It’s far from necessary with the quality of today’s laptops. The idea here is to be aware of the basics.
Can you be heard? Most apps (like Zoom and Google Meet) let you record test audio and listen to it. Is there lots of background noise? Volume ok? Echo?
Can you be seen? Can someone see you? How close or far from the camera are you? Do you fill enough of the screen? Are you in darkness? Are you backlit so no one can see your face?
Be accommodating and understanding of limitations of being in office
If folks are in the office they might not be able to just click leave meeting then 1 second later click join meeting.
In my experience meetings run overtime more often than they don’t, so any buffer (if there even was one in the first place) between meetings is gone. Your in office co-workers likely need to move their bodies (and coffee, and laptop, and notebook) to a different location 5 to 200 steps away. Be patient and aware.
For bonus points: if you’re booking a meeting see if you can find a conference room for anyone attending in person. Ask what’s close to them and/or check a seating map of the office if one’s provided. You can pretend you’re their guy in the chair looking over building schematics.
Match environments when possible
Try to line up 1:1 meetings for when both of you are in the same kind of environment.
If you’re a remote employee look for days when your meeting partner is working from home. There is something about both folks being virtual or in person that makes a better meeting then one in the office and one not. It’s a common ground between you both and feels much more connected.
If you’re the office person
Allow for non agenda meetings
This is a personal one for me.
If we have a meeting on the calendar it’s often the only time I get a chance to connect with you. Would you not talk to a co-worker in the hall because there’s no agenda? Of course if you have a looming deadline and you need to reprioritize your day - do that. In the same way that you’d say “Sorry, no time to talk I need to get this report done” when running into someone in person.
Thanks to this new world we’re in with virtual and in person coexisting we now have meeting-meetings and casual-meetings. I can’t speak for all remote employees but declined meetings because “there’s nothing to talk about” often stinks.
Keep this in mind if you run team meetings that have a mix of located staff or want to skip a 1:1. Sometimes keeping even a 10 minute “check in” helps everyone feeling connected.
Use your laptop for 1:1 chats, not the conference room screen
First, the virtual person doesn’t need to feel self-conscious that their face is 4 feet large on a TV.
Secondly, it means they can see your face instead of a spec at the end of a conference table (as well as sounding about as far away). The new cameras that zoom in on the person talking are helpful, but it can not replicate the closeness of the camera and mic being right there. Even in smaller rooms - use your laptop. If you need your laptop to work for the meeting so want to use the room screen, see “Match environments when possible” above and try to do the meeting from your desk or home.
For Both
No video, no cry
Keep in mind that meetings don’t always need to be on video just because they can be on video. Have both folks turn off their cameras sometimes.
For those at home it allows them to take a camera break. Keep in mind it’s the only way they’ve been seeing coworkers… all day, every day, for weeks.
For those in the office it means they don’t need to scramble for a conference room or maybe even allows them to use their laptop screen to collaborate on something instead of it being occupied by a pretty face.
It’s hard trying to change norms
This is gonna take time but it’s a worthwhile investment to focus how to work better and be intentional on the change we’d like to see. This new hodgepodge of work styles is here to stay. Today’s successful interpersonal interactions will become tomorrow’s best practices.
I hope some of what I wrote is helpful as practical ideas or discussion starters.
In typical Adam fashion I wrote more then I could share in one post. Next week I’ll post thoughts on how managers and company leaders can support their teams for virtual and in-office interactions.
As always, I want to hear what you think. Please leave a comment or reach out directly.
If you read anything that you found interesting or helpful on this topic, please share it. I’d love to learn more.
Hope to see you soon either in person or next time I click join meeting.
👋💻😁