Balancing Office and Remote Work for Optimal Team Success
In this video, explore ScreenCloud's unique approach to combining office-based and remote work. Learn how their hub-based strategy fosters collaboration and growth while maintaining flexibility. Discover insights on the challenges and benefits of remote work within a team-oriented culture.
Key Takeaways
- A hub-based approach enhances cross-functional collaboration and trust.
- Flexibility in work location has been embraced since the mid-2010s.
- Fully remote work challenges growth and collaboration for early-career professionals.
Topics
- Remote Work
- Company Culture
- Team Management
- Business Strategy
Transcript
So, ScreenCloud has been around for almost 10 years now, but the business that it evolved out from has been around for 20 years. We've always taken a hub-based approach to our work, and we've always been international, so we've been in London and Bangkok from day one. I believe in a hub, basically an office where people can come to and collaborate and work, because the best work is done that way, especially when it's cross-functional between design, development, strategy, project management, marketing, whatever it might be. You need those teams to have trust, you need them to know each other, and to learn from each other, and that's what the office environment is for. I also believe that a lot of work can be done from home, so with the hubs we have a flexible approach, which is you do not have to be here all the time, and this was how our philosophy was from pre-COVID, especially once the technology had been set up to allow for that. So around the mid-2010s, this is when we began to really embrace it because we could, and not because we were hindered by previous technology, which forced us in the office. But I don't really believe in fully remote work. That doesn't mean I don't think it can't work. I think it needs to be intentional from the outset, and in the company's DNA from day one, which it just isn't in our DNA, and I don't think it ever will be. So I'm not against remote work completely, but I think that people who have previously had a culture based on the office, and then based on some flexibility, which I think is right, I don't think they can go fully remote. I don't think that's going to work. I've also noticed that the people who don't come in as often as the people that do are definitely hindered by that. I think that their growth, especially in early career, is limited. I don't think there is well-known in other teams, and cross-collaboration I think is something that's more of a struggle for them. And ultimately, I do think they don't get the greate