Attending Zoom Calls From Your Home Office Is Not Remote Work — Tell That To Your Boss

Attending Zoom Calls From Your Home Office Is Not Remote Work — Tell That To Your Boss Too many companies get remote work wrong. When lockdowns forced them to close their offices, they sent their employees to work from home.

Because, when employees are not working from the office, it's remote, right?

Moving A Synchronous Work Model To The Digital World Is Not Remote. Keeping the same meeting structure, but do all meetings online is everything  what is wrong with a synchronous work model but even worse.

Even as a remote advocate, I have to admit that online meetings are more exhausting than in-person meetings. During the first lockdown, we made the mistake of moving all our meetings to remote but not changing anything about the meetings at all.

The result? After hours of Zoom calls I was tired, not able to get any focus work done and irritable. Ask my wife and kids about that.

If you are still stuck in that work model, here are 3 actionable tips you could give to your boss:

Tip #1: Introduce a focus time policy

All employees should be invited to block time off their calendar to get some focus work done. 2-3 hours a day. 8-12 hours per week.

Tip #2: Have a “no meetings” day

Select one day per week. Forbid all work-related meetings. An occasional coffee chat is ok, but for the rest of the day. Focus Work. Again.

Tip #3: Tip your toes into the asynchronous world

Try to replace one meeting per week with an asynchronous discussion. You could set up a forum or wiki for that. Everyone contributes on their schedule. Hence, people can collaborate from wherever they want, not only the home office.

Moving the flawed synchronous work model to the digital world is the best way to burn out quickly These 3 tips will help you find a way out.