The deepening Covid-19 crisis has much of the population hunkering down at home, leaving many companies and nonprofits figuring out how to adjust to remote work for an uncertain period.
Running a virtual office brings unique challenges no matter the context, experts say, but especially during these difficult times, when many groups are battling falling revenue while trying to meet an increased need for services due to the virus and the economic downturn.
Some organizations have operated remotely for years with positive results, and their experiences offer lessons for managers and employees working from home for the first time.
GrantStation, a company that runs an online database of grant opportunities and provides grant-seeking resources to nonprofits, transitioned to a virtual office in 2012, more than a decade after its founding in Fairbanks, Alaska. The company wanted to shrink its carbon footprint from car-commuting and broaden the geographic scope of its staff, says Cynthia Adams, CEO.
The move was successful despite a couple of departures early on: GrantStation’s 17-person staff is “overwhelmingly happy” with working from home, Adams says, and its productivity spiked by 75 percent.
Trial and Error
Figuring out how to manage a remote team was a process of trial and error, however. In the beginning, Adams grappled with how to keep in touch with staff members throughout the day and evaluate their work when she could not see them — and had never even met some of them in person. The organization was using Google Chat for quick communications, but it wasn’t always easy to locate employees. “You didn’t know where people went — they’d just disappear,” Adams says, “sometimes for hours.”
Things improved in the second year when GrantStation started using Slack, an online messaging service, and set guidelines for staying in contact during the day. The staff has flexibility to take breaks and run personal errands as long as they complete their work, Adams says, but they are required to update their status on Slack to indicate when they’ll be back and how others can reach them in the meantime.
Adams also hired a “process auditor” during the early stages of the transition to help the company adapt its operations to remote work. That person handled all questions about procedures — such as who should answer the phone, where the mail should go, what insurance coverage to keep. This step was crucial to ensuring a smooth transition, she says.
Any nonprofit can do this, Adams adds, even if it can’t afford to hire outside help. Some businesses, including GrantStation, would be willing to provide mentors or volunteers to help nonprofits figure this out during the coronavirus crisis, she says, or you could work with a board member whose company works remotely.
‘Watercooler Moments’
The Pollination Project, a nonprofit that makes micro-grants to community leaders in 116 countries, has operated remotely since its creation in 2013. Executive director Ajay Dahiya oversees a virtual team of 10 full-time employees, most of whom live in the United States, and more than 100 volunteers around the world who are actively involved in the group’s grant-making process.
A huge challenge of running a virtual office is building and nurturing a strong organizational culture without in-person interactions, Dahiya says. “Unless you’re careful and conscious, it can just become about business all the time, and you interact with one another simply because there’s a task that needs to be done.”
Working to replicate “watercooler moments” that are typical in a traditional office is essential to creating team members who trust one another and are committed to the organization’s success, Dahiya says. One way the Pollination Project does this is by dedicating the first five to 10 minutes of its weekly meetings with its core employees to checking on each other. Because of the Covid-19 crisis, the group now holds a “team huddle” videoconference every morning that includes time to see how everyone is feeling and what support they need.
Both Dahiya and Adams say Slack channels — in which groups of people discuss a specific topic — also have been useful for fostering a sense of community among employees. Around half of the Pollination Project’s channels are focused on subjects that are not related to work, such as food (“since we don’t go out to lunch with one another,” Dahiya says) and “pets and plants” so that no one feels left out. The group also has a channel dedicated to sharing messages of appreciation to colleagues. “That is something really important because it can be lonely to work remotely,” Dahiya says.
GrantStation has similar channels on Slack and has added new topics of conversation during the coronavirus outbreak: tips for preventing infection and ideas for keeping kids busy and providing educational opportunities while they are not in school or day care.
It’s best to let these outlets for personal connections emerge organically from the team, Dahiya says because people probably won’t “bring their heart” to them if they feel forced.
Unexpected Benefits
Despite the challenges, operating remotely also brings some valuable benefits, Adams and Dahiya say. For example, it led to a notable decrease in personnel problems at GrantStation, such as complaints about coworkers’ behavior or conflicts because of office cliques. “A virtual office strips away all those silly shenanigans,” Adams says.
As an international organization, the Pollination Project has found a different type of value in having a virtual office. Because the group works with grantees and volunteers in many countries, it can’t bring them all together in a physical space. But it can open up its virtual staff meetings to its broader network. For instance, it used to invite a grantee to join a staff meeting once a month to discuss his or her work and its impact.
This helps build relationships among everyone involved in the Pollination Project’s work, Dahiya says, and connects them to the mission in a tangible way.
“Of course, you could always do that through videoconferences even if you were an in-person office,” he says, but that often gets overlooked.
Here are more tips from Dahiya and Adams to help your organization strengthen a remote team or transition to a virtual work environment for the first time.
Build organizational culture. Create opportunities for staff members to interact with each other to prevent people from working in “silos” and to foster accountability. “Don’t lose your culture because you’ve lost your workplace,” Dahiya says.
Hold weekly staff meetings to help people feel closer to each other and the organization. Adams also tries to have a conversation with each employee every morning to see how that person is doing whether by a phone call or a quick message.
Build time into the beginning of meeting agendas for personal connection. “Otherwise, it’ll spill over anyway, and it may take your meeting off track,” Dahiya says.
Consider holding a daily “team huddle” during Covid-19. Use this time to check on people’s feelings and their needs for support.
Streamline the tools you use to collaborate. “Everything runs more efficiently if people don’t have to check 12 different places for communications and for updates,” Adams says. If you work with a consultant or volunteer to develop procedures for remote work, that person should be able to help with this, she says.
Consider the best channel for each communication. Define simple guidelines and stick to them, Adams says, such as when to use email versus online messaging. If you’re not sure which method to use, make a phone call, Dahiya says. He likes to use video calls around 75 percent of the time. “A lot can get lost without seeing the body language, the tone, the context of what’s being discussed,” he says. But don’t over-rely on video, Adams says. Some employees don’t like feeling that they need to tidy their work area and their appearance when telecommuting.
Also consider each individual employee’s communication preferences, Adams suggests. For example, she speaks to certain people by phone because they need to talk through their thoughts, while other staff members prefer to resolve questions quickly using online messaging or email.
Dedicate an online channel to showing appreciation. This can help employees feel valued and deepen connections.
Look for unexpected advantages of working remotely. Flexibility to adjust schedules and greater productivity are a few, the experts note.
