{"id":1319,"date":"2024-05-17T18:33:33","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T18:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gyfted.blog\/?p=1319"},"modified":"2025-05-22T13:41:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T13:41:55","slug":"running-remote-2024-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gyfted.me\/resources\/blog\/running-remote-2024-recap","title":{"rendered":"Running Remote 2024: async, remote, hybrid, distributed, WFH?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

#RunningRemote 2024 Personal Takeaways <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My TL;DR: remote & hybrid are harder, have to be very intentional. Remote makes many things easier, and it\u2019s centric around culture and people – that’s why People and Culture is key to the future of workplaces [Chief People Officer functions will flourish, People and Culture will be more strategic, and CHRO and HR as we know it (“policing”) will diminish].\u00a0 At Gyfted we believe that recruitment is the world’s most inefficient supply-chain for the #1 input into any organization: people. It has to and will change thanks to distributed work and AI. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick Bloom on LinkedIn<\/a> re. growing role of People function \/ HR: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last month reaffirmed my takeaways from 2023 \u2013 Running Remote seems to be one of the best remote OG events with an extremely high density of People and Culture professionals passionate about this topic. Although activity\/atmosphere was calmer (recruitment\u2019s in a downturn, remote work<\/a> has stabilized, and we\u2019re out of the mental COVID trauma). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What remote work eases significantly: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Access to talent (it\u2019s so easy<\/em> if you know how to hire that is \ud83d\ude09<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Easier to bootstrap <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Work-life balance (talk to parents – data shows this clearly) <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Flexibility (esp. important for women & parents, individuals with disabilities, talent in emerging\/frontier markets being able to access opportunity across borders!) <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Significantly cuts operating & talent costs \u2013 no permanent office costs, lower\/optimized pay <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Creates a much more competitive, global labor market<\/strong> \u2013 employers have to care more about the People\/HR function!<\/em> This is amazing, as in my view 90% of the problems in recruitment stem from the way companies\/organizations operate and (mis)manage things. And the signal<\/em> at Running Remote is precisely about this \u2013 you have to be among the top managers if you want to run a remote team\/company well.  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What remote work makes harder: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Communication (probably #1 factor that\u2019s made harder) \u2013 communication has to be much more structured and intentional [written and verbal], whether it\u2019s in synchronous or async mode  <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Hybrid ie. mixing remote and hybrid is the worst scenario \u2013 it\u2019s the hardest, mixed up mode of operations, communication and management! <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. As a consequence coordination and collaboration get harder, especially there where fast-paced innovative product development that benefits from face to face (behavioral\/visual\/social) interaction <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. \u201cFairness\u201d (it\u2019s funny because we\u2019re social animals, just like these monkeys in this experiment, with a strong sense of justice\/fairness<\/em> around money and resources, but we try to game the systems we\u2019re in all the time – including leveraging remote work to our benefit [flexiblity & freedom]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Screening\/evaluating candidates for hire (will insert an article specifically on the why and how on this subject here later – doing some user research on it) <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      What remote companies* excel at vs \u2018old world\u2019 companies: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      *fully distributed teams, remote-first teams, flexible hybrid<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. People and Culture \/ HR<\/strong> \u2013 you have to be very intentional and caring for teams if you want performance, you have to build a culture that\u2019s people-oriented for remote to work well, communication has to work great and you need people who are aligned in teams and very self-disciplined and proactive as individuals <\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. Resilience thanks to flexibility<\/strong> \u2013 as an economist this is clear to me, and the best example for this is the heroic Ukrainian nation that is thriving and surviving [entire sectors are] in the middle of the biggest war since World War II. Why? Remote work during COVID prepped them to go fully remote and distributed, to minimize risk in war mode. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Talent Acquisition<\/strong> \u2013 access to talent is easier, but doing so remotely also requires more finesse when f2f meetings aren\u2019t an option, and I think that basically it\u2019s the result of remote teams having to get their sh** together and correct in talent acquisition! Remote enforces <\/em>better behavior and rules on teams who want to hire top talent. However, screening\/evaluation are still in a shift to a new equilibrium IMHO, which we see from two things: a) the huge mismatch in job markets, which I like to call a dual job market that\u2019s formed [candidates want remote work above all (if you’re a candidate btw check out Remote Rebellion)<\/a>, and most companies want control via weak hybrid\/office work modes], and b) the shit-show happening during recruitment around definitions of remote\/hybrid\/WFH regarding time-zones, location, geographic (border) boundaries, and jurisdictional work\/tax compliance \u2013 all because most companies (non-remote ones) are still figuring it out\u2026 which is an organizational and culture matter as much as a pure recruitment process and job expectations matter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Running Remote 2024 Recap  <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        People and Culture, Remote Team Alignment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        The shift to remote work puts a spotlight on the need to get asynchronous communication right. It\u2019s crucial because our teams are scattered across various time zones and effective written communication becomes the backbone of project success. Another big deal in this space is honing writing skills. When teams communicate well in writing, it ramps up engagement and ensures everyone’s on the same page, regardless of their location. <\/p>\n\n\n\n