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Updated March 23, 2023You’re reading an excerpt of The Holloway Guide to Remote Work, a book by Katie Wilde, Juan Pablo Buriticá, and over 50 other contributors. It is the most comprehensive resource on building, managing, and adapting to working with distributed teams. Purchase the book to support the author and the ad-free Holloway reading experience. You get instant digital access, 800 links and references, a library of tools for remote-friendly work, commentary and future updates, and a high-quality PDF download.
Even if you don’t have a separate home office, there are steps you can take to project professionalism when you’re working:
Dressing for your role. You might dress a little more casually than if you’re going into a traditional office, but putting on decent clothes each day can help with your mindset and image. You may also want to consider whether you’ll be talking with outside clients, interviewing candidates, or using other forms of external communication that would benefit from you looking more polished.
Keeping the background appropriate. You might need to join video conferences and be on webcam. It’s wise to make sure that you don’t mind your colleagues or supervisors seeing the background behind you.
Minimizing noise and distractions. You’ll want to try to limit distractions wherever possible, but that’s doubly important if you’re on a video call. It’s good to let others around you know you’re attending a meeting and ask them to keep extraneous noises to a minimum.
importantIt’s worth noting, however, that more companies are embracing remote work as a way to rethink traditional office perspectives on what is and isn’t acceptable. Remote work also provides a less demanding environment for people with physical disabilities and mental health needs such as anxiety and depression, and in many cases, this includes a reduced need for in-person or face-to-face communication. Companies will have their own standards and expectations (and ideally, a code of conduct) for whether people need to have their video turned on for meetings, and what is or isn’t “professional.”
story “Remote work provides a more inclusive approach that is an opportunity to break free of the sterile co-located environment. This means that working parents need not be mortified if their children pop into a meeting. Instead, celebrate that! Co-located spaces require you to check the real you at the door, which is a tragedy. With remote, you bring your full self, background and all, so long as it doesn’t infringe on a code of conduct. You shouldn’t be embarrassed if your background is a mountain range or a beach. It’s actually really hard to work on the beach, and takes an exceptional amount of focus, maturity, and drive.” —Darren Murph, Head of Remote, GitLab
importantIt’s important to have a backup workspace. If you lose power, the internet goes down, or you can’t work from your usual spot, you’ll need to have a contingency in place. It’s worth spending a little time seeking out other areas you can work from to reduce stress if there’s an emergency. In general, you should have a go-to list of other places you know you can work that have reliable wifi and the kind of environment you’ll need (for example, co-working space with booths or rooms for video calls and meetings).