A remote work policy, do you already have one? The workation trend continues unabated. Indeed, remote work is becoming increasingly popular. Not only as an individual, but also as a company. So as an employer, you need to find something to do with this trend. And create a policy or rules for it. This does not have to be a book on paper, but thinking about what you think of workations as a company is necessary.
Needs of your employees
As an executive, owner, managing director or HR manager, do you know what needs employees have around remote working? We often find that we don’t. Workstations are still relatively new and therefore many people are still searching for what is and is not possible. This applies to both employees and employers. Starting a conversation about needs is the first step. Remote working requirements are very personal and sometimes vary considerably. Make no assumptions here and make sure you find out what the real needs are. Only then can you set the ground rules.
Forms of remote working
Some would like to spend a week in Spain, others 3 months in Bali. The length of a remote work adventure has a big impact on the consequences of working remotely from abroad. At many companies, staff now work 50% from home and 50% in the office. When you spend a week working from a remote location, you miss 2 to 3 days in the office at most. That is manageable. A week or 2 weeks is also already wonderful to be away from your own environment for a while and gives you a dose of energy and creativity.
If someone wants to go abroad for a good number of months then there are greater consequences. Again, nothing is right or wrong, it just has a different impact. Especially if you go away for such a long time that a work permit is needed. But usually up to a period of 3 months that is not necessary. You do need to think carefully about how you are going to maintain connection with your team and your clients. Not all clients like or embrace remote working. That is also important to consider.
Establish preconditions
So many people so many desires. Smaller organizations have the ability to move with personal wishes, but as a larger organization you will need to establish a policy. This makes it clear to everyone what the possibilities and associated frameworks are. That is not to say that the door is closed to those who have slightly different wishes, but guidelines in the possibilities are necessary. And logical.
If one person can go to Bonaire for a month, so can another. Before you know it, your entire company is scattered around the world! A scenario many an employer is now contemplating. But is that really the case? Does everyone have the desire to go on workation? In my experience, no. Not everyone wants to travel, be away from home, away without family or work in a different environment. And if everyone wants to go away and work from a different place, is that bad? Or are there ground rules for that so you can still work productively and cooperate well.
The policies of 3 companies
We spoke to 3 diverse employers about their remote work policies: Independer, Whello and Adwise. Different in size, work culture and in their stance on remote working. Each has set their own frameworks about remote working to align with their business strategy.
Whello understands the added value of a workation
Whello is an online marketing agency in Amsterdam with 35 employees. Working Remotely previously provided their workation to Valencia. “We welcome workations!
Years ago, we ran work weeks in Spain as an experiment to see if we could meet the normal targets and service levels with the team while we were away. The result was extraordinary; performance at least the same compared to working in the Amsterdam office or better. More importantly, an enormous connection was created between the Whello’ers. The advantage of “vacation setting” was the casual atmosphere in which a lot of team building happened.” Says Steven Neeteson, managing partner Whello. Nu is het een vast onderdeel van werken bij Whello.
Neeteson indicates that there are no more challenges around workations at Whello. “It’s been tested and proven. Workations and remote working have become a regular part of our culture. As advice to other entrepreneurs, I will be especially careful to make sure the team goes with the right expectations; it’s not a week’s vacation, you just go to work together, but under tremendously nice conditions. Get help organizing the location and activities so there are no surprises during the stay such as failing internet or disappointing facilities.”
Independer has realistic frameworks
At Independer you compare insurance, energy, telecom, mortgages and other financial products. I spoke about this with Marie-Louise Verbeek, director of Culture & Colleague and Happy Customer. At Independer are enthusiastic about remote working and are happy to share the frameworks for it that they have:
- 2x 3 weeks per year (not consecutive)
- Internet allowance will continue to be paid (€25 per month, pro rata)
- You work through a secure connection, this is your responsibility
- Available at least 50% of your working hours between 08.30 – 17.00 Dutch time
- Always in consultation with supervisor
- You are responsible for a proper/ergonomic workstation and that you bring the proper equipment
Freedom and responsibility first at Adwise
“With freedom comes responsibility,” is the vision of Adwise on remote working. I spoke to Leonie Kranenberg, Director of People & Culture. She indicated that trust is the basis for good cooperation. There is deliberately no remote working policy on paper. And yet everything runs very smoothly among the 140 employees. Because of a close mutual bond, there is social control. Are you neglecting your workstation? Then your team members will say something about it. And rightly so.
It is your own responsibility to think carefully about whether a workation is timely. If you have just had an important meeting or are working with each other on a complex issue, you can think for yourself that this is not the time to leave. Use your common sense. But if you want to stay a week longer after your vacation in Spain, or go to Panama three times a year because you’ve lived there for a long time, Adwise will certainly not stop you. They realize all too well that this flexibility and freedom is worth a lot to the staff and contributes to employee retention.
My own experience at Frankwatching
I myself enjoyed working for years at Frankwatching, a platform for marketing and communications, where I regularly went on workation. Working here as an event manager, I had regular moments where I really had to be on location in the Netherlands, but also enough freedom to travel around that. From a week with colleagues to Croatia, to 3 months of solo travel through Spain. There were no real rules. But no policy is also a policy. It’s all about trust. Both from the owner of the company, your manager, and your colleagues. Together you achieve great results, in which each share must be balanced. Failing is not an option. Believe me, especially from your workation destination, you want to show extra hard that you are indeed just working.
Develop a workation policy
I understand many companies’ fear of giving a lot of freedom, yet that seems to work well for many companies. Frameworks are good, freedom is better. Then your own responsibility comes around the corner and you can really show your worth. Didn’t work and someone delivered poor performance? Then you learn from that together and see how you can do it better in the future. Whether you can successfully work remotely is very personal.
If you keep the door for remote working completely closed or your boundary conditions are so strict that you barely have room to move, then someone will switch to the competitor. Especially in this day and age. I am not saying that you should always allow remote working, but consider your choices carefully and be aware of the possible consequences.
Efficient on workation? Good preparation is half the battle! View here the roadmap for a successful workation. Need help drafting your policy, we’d be happy to help with that.
