So you want to run a remote-first company? 

If that term doesn’t ring any bells, check out our recent article on what exactly a remote-first company is. If it does, and you’re ready to get stuck into remote-first working, congrats! This exciting new style of work is sweeping the globe post-COVID as so many businesses have had to get used to a distributed workforce.

It’s a new way of working – sure – but it has some amazing benefits for both your people and your business. In this article we’re unpacking the things you need to tick off your list before you start the remote-first vision for your company.

Why Transition To Remote-First Work?

A remote-first company is one that makes remote working the primary option for employees. Some of the key benefits of transitioning to a remote-first company include:

• Decreased office costs
• A more agile, flexible workforce
• A more productive workforce
• More comfortable work environments, which increase job satisfaction
• Increased employee performance by up to 13%

The Remote-First Company Checklist

Here’s the list of things that you need to have in place before you start a remote-first company.

• Communication schedules 

Having a set of schedules that detail how to communicate with people, and when, can be very helpful in running your business. When running a remote-first company, it is likely that you will be working across multiple time zones so employees will need to know when they can communicate and expect a response. 

Encourage having up to date calendars, as well as setting time zone and working hour schedules each week. This will help every member of the team will keep communication lines open. 

• Communication and project management tools 

You may opt to use communication tools to ensure that your employees can communicate effectively. Online tools can be saviors that make online working easy. There are so many options out there, but the trick is finding the online productivity and communication tools that work for your employees.

Slack, Google Docs, Asana, Trello, Email, Zoom, Skype and even the humble phone call all have their place in the working world. Find the tools that suit your people and work with them to squash any communication issues.

• Have a security plan

Much to many people’s surprise, often it isn’t the workforce losing touch or becoming demotivated by online working that is the biggest risk. In fact, one of the biggest risks to online working is security.

In order to mitigate that risk, it is important that you have a security plan before you start. Applications you use should be secure in order to keep your data safe, and employees should be trained in the best practices in cyber security before you begin.

• A home office setup

Often our environment can positively or negatively impact how we work and how productive we are. For this reason, ensuring that people have a good home office set up is essential to remote-first success.

It is not essential that the company pays for this setup. However, giving guidelines on how to set up a remote office for success is an easy way to get your employees excited for the remote-first lifestyle. If you do have budget spare from all of the business travel that never happened this year, you could offer to reimburse your people for home office purchases for a sure fire way to keep them smiling.

• Remote workers 

Without employees or contractors who are happy to work remotely, you don’t have a very strong remote workforce. In order to transition to a remote-first company it is important that you get everyone on board. By detailing the changes you hope to make as clearly as possible, you will give people the option to opt in or opt out.

If your employees aren’t comfortable committing to this new style of work, you may need to consider other options. One method is transitioning slowly over a period of years, this is often much more preferable for people who are used to office work day in day out. If you’re keen to get the transition started, it can be sensible to hire remote workers who can pad out your team and keep business flowing.  

If you’re ready to find remote workers who can support you as you shift over to remote-first working, why not take the steps to hiring a remote team today? Plus, check out these 5 signs it’s time to start outsourcing now for more insight.