Holloway
Remote Work

You’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.

Remote Work≫Part I: Foundations≫Remote Work Myths and Pitfalls≫

When companies or managers say this, what they really mean is, “When people are in the office, I think I know when they’re working.” But presence doesn’t guarantee productivity, and it certainly doesn’t mean employees have clarity about what they should be working on. As we discuss in Key Channels and Tools for Remote Communication, the practices of clearly setting team goals and establishing more asynchronous channels of communication allow remote teams to thrive without constant managerial oversight.

Toni Cowan-Brown
The only solution here is: Hire people you trust and as a manager learn to look for outputs. If you don't trust they will get the job done far from your gaze, then you probably won't trust them for many other things so don't hire them full stop.

In addition, in a traditional office setting ask anyone and they will say that the best work they get done is the work they do out of the office.

1) They either need peace and quiet to get something done and will ask to WFH to finish a presentation, or write something.

2) There is huge value for employees of being out and about whether it's talking with clients/customers, being at conferences and meeting new people, being at a workshop and learning about your industry.

So this whole idea that if I can see you and you are at your desk, then you must be working / productive is outdated and naive.
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