Lauren Schaefer - Does remote work really work?

Spoiler alert: yes, remote work really does work!

With nearly nine years of experience as a remote employee across three different companies, Lauren knows the ups and downs of remote work. In this session, Lauren will dive into what the research says about remote work and share her personal stories of failures and successes.

You'll walk away from this session knowing why remote work is awesome, empowered to convince your boss to let you work remotely, and armed with the tools you need to be a happy, successful remote employee.

If you've been thinking about making the transition to working remotely, you're a manager of people who are or could work remotely, or you've made the leap to remote work and are struggling to make it work, this is the session for you!

https://us.pycon.org/2019/schedule/presentation/146/

Transcript

1. Does remote work really work? @Lauren_Schaefer
2. Think about a time you were fabulously productive.
6. Open offices spaces can be THE WORST.
7. Cubeland can be THE WORST.
8. Working remotely can be THE WORST.
10. Does remote work really work? @Lauren_Schaefer
11. My Story
16. Will you let me work from home? Check yes or no. Yes No ✓
18. Cubeland can be THE WORST.
20. Working remotely can be THE WORST.
21. Working remotely can be THE BEST.
22. Why do you want to work remotely?
23. Why work remotely? • Unable to relocate due to spouse’s job or kids’ school • Lengthy commutes • Availability for children or aging parents • Distracting office environments • Travel the world
24. Why do employers offer remote work options?
25. Why offer remote work options? • Attract and retain top talent--no matter where they live • Increase employee morale • Save money! ◦ Smaller/no office space ◦ No relocation costs for new employees • Increase employee productivity ◦ Fewer sick days ◦ Shorter breaks ◦ Fewer distractions
26. What does the research say?
27. Where do developers want to work?1
28. How often do developers work remotely?1
29. Greatest challenge to productivity1
30. 2014 scientific study2
31. 13% performance increase in work from home employees2
32. work satisfaction in work from home employees2
33. 50% reduction in attrition rate in work from home employees2
34. 50% reduction in promotion rate conditional on performance for work from home employees2
35. 22% performance increase after allowing employees to choose where to work2
36. 2009 Cisco Teleworker Survey3 Black this time, a nice change by Gary Denham, Creative Commons
37. productivity, work-life flexibility, and job satisfaction3
38. $277 million savings in productivity from teleworking3
39. 47,320 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions not released in 1 year due to teleworking3
40. Summary of 46 studies spanning 20 years4 “Telecommuting has a clear upside: small but favorable effects on perceived autonomy, work– family conflict, job satisfaction, performance, turnover intent, and stress. Contrary to expectations in both academic and practitioner literatures, telecommuting also has no straightforward, damaging effects on the quality of workplace relationships or perceived career prospects.“
41. Downsides to working remotely • “Professional isolation negatively impacts job performance”5 • Having a remote manager may negatively impact you7 • Remote employees fear stalling careers, isolation, distractions, and blurred lines between work and home life6 • Remote work encourages employees to “overwork and to allow their work to infringe on their family role”8
42. Does remote work really work?
43. Does remote work really work? YES!
44. Remote work works for… The employee. The company. The environment.
45. How to convince your boss to let you work remotely
46. Propose an experiment9 IMG_9425-001 by Oleg., Creative Commons
47. But what about collaboration and water-cooler conversations? The Lunchroom by Sonny Abesamis, Creative Commons
48. When all else fails, talk about the bottom line. Money by Keith Cooper, Creative Commons
49. How to succeed at working remotely
52. 5. Join the right team World Map by shaireproductions.com, Creative Commons
53. 4. Be productive
54. 3. Communicate with your team all eyes on the docent by michael davis-burchat, Creative Commons
55. 2. Travel Airplane by Sean MacEntee, Creative Commons
56. 1. Actively prevent burnout 40+234 Work! by bark, Creative Commons
57. Top 5 tips for making remote work really work 5. Select the right team 4. Be productive 3. Communicate with your team 2. Travel 1. Actively prevent burnout
58. Does remote work really work?
59. Working remotely can be THE WORST.
61. Working remotely can be THE BEST.
63. Does remote work really work? YES!
64. Remote work works for… The employee. The company. The environment.
65. Telle Whitney Former CEO and President The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology "If I could change anything, it would be that each and every one of you would ask for what she wants."
66. Remote work really works! Advocate for yourself and advocate for others.
67. Remote work really works! Get the slides on my Twitter page: @Lauren_Schaefer Find me at the MongoDB booth after this talk! Advocate for yourself and advocate for others.
68. Appendix
69. References 1. 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2. Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment 3. Cisco Study Finds Telecommuting Significantly Increases Employee Productivity, Work-Life Flexibility and Job Satisfaction 4. The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown About Telecommuting: Meta-Analysis of Psychological Mediators and Individual Consequences 5. The impact of professional isolation on teleworker job performance and turnover intentions: does time spent teleworking, interacting face-to-face, or having access to communication-enhancing technology matter?
70. References 6. The Evolving Nature of Working at Home 7. Does it matter where your manager works? Comparing managerial work mode (traditional, telework, virtual) across subordinate work experiences and outcomes 8. Toward Understanding Remote Workers’ Management of Work–Family Boundaries: The Complexity of Workplace Embeddedness 9. REMOTE: Office Not Required
71. Other studies & articles • Assessing the growth of remote working and its consequences for effort, well‐being and work‐life balance • Contagious Offsite Work and the Lonely Office: The Unintended Consequences of Distributed Work • Team dynamics in virtual, partially distributed teams: Optimal role fulfillment • Comparing telework locations and traditional work arrangements. Differences in work-life balance support, job satisfaction, and inclusion • How To Succeed At Working From Home • Implementing & Managing a Telework Program. A Complete Guide to Properly Managing Telework Employees • Putting the work-life interface into a temporal context: an empirical study of work-life balance by life stage and the consequences of homeworking
72. Other videos • Nora Denzel Keynote Speech - Grace Hopper Celebration 2012