Tips on Working Remotely from a Remote-Pre-Pandemic Tech Startup

Qntfy’s guidelines on working from home

This article is an adaptation of Qntfy’s Remote Work Guidelines, developed over the years of us working together remotely. This adaptation was primarily authored by Caitie Hilverman, a Qntfy Data Scientist and working parent with a toddler at home due to COVID-19.

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

We’re now nearly two months into a pandemic and are gradually realizing that we’re in this for the long haul. For many of us, this has meant figuring out how to work from home. We’re getting a crash course in the social mores of video conferencing, juggling working with the competing needs of our partners, kids, and pets, and realizing that we cannot, in fact, keep our house clean and get laundry done while we work. It’s an impossible situation and many of us are just squeaking by, with no guidebook to figure this out.

For me, this shift was made quite a bit easier because I was already working from home — and had been for six months when COVID-19 hit the U.S. In September, I started working as a data scientist at Qntfy. Qntfy, a technology solutions provider, is a fully-remote company and has been since its founding five years ago. For more information on us, see our other blog posts (we’re doing some cool COVID-19 related work). When I was hired, our CEO, Glen Coppersmith, shared with me that he feels incredibly lucky to be able to hire based on talent and fit without having to consider where his employees physically reside. And indeed, Qntfy’s current staff of 23 people reside in 17 U.S. states.

For the employees, the perks of a remote work lifestyle are expansive as well. For me, my commute shortened from one hour each way in Nashville traffic to roughly 15 steps. My work hours are flexible — we have four daily “core hours” — more on that below — but otherwise can make our own. So I start and finish relatively early to spend more time with my family. I’ve created my own comfortable, person-specific work environment. And my dog gets pets and walks intermittently throughout the day. I’ve gotten into a work-from-home routine that has been good for me and good for my family too.

This routine was upended when COVID-19 hit and our country implemented sweeping stay-home orders. Suddenly my toddler was home full-time and we were kicked into a state of anxiety and disarray. Even for someone already working remotely, this has interfered with my life both personally and professionally. I am still figuring out how to make this all work. But returning to Qntfy’s “Remote Work Guidelines” — a document that was given to me during my orientation — has helped me regain some composure and get into some semblance of a routine at work again. I realized that this document, that Glen and many other employees at Qntfy have thoughtfully put together, could be helpful to others trying to sort out how to work from home having never done this before. I’ve added my own tips in there too, as I have a three-year-old at home full-time and am learning how to work with her around (in a two-parent household where we trade off childcare responsibilities).

For those of you who are here for the abridged version, these are the ten tips we unpack below:

1. Work in a room with a door that closes
2. Mitigate little distractions
3. Mitigate digital distractions
4. Allow yourself some healthy distractions
5. Create a strong AV setup
6. Work a “core hours” schedule
7. Establish communication norms and boundaries
8. Be respectful and present in meetings
9. Be clear and honest about your boundaries and struggles
10. Build trust

And I should note — while the tips described in this document might be of use to you, you will not find a magic formula to being a productive employee, present parent, and supportive partner during a pandemic. This is because there is not a magic formula. It is impossible to be a full-time worker and full-time parent at the same time. You are doing your best, and your best is enough. But in case this mitigates your burden at all, here are some tried and true work-from-home strategies from a remote-pre-pandemic company, editorialized by a tired-but-getting-by working mama.

Work in a room with a door that closes

The ideal scenario for working from home involves you having an actual home office: a room with a door that closes. When you are in this space, you are working. Not everyone has the space for a home office. In fact, I don’t; I work from my bedroom, which luckily has a closing door. The door itself plays the obvious role of shutting out noises and quieting distractions. But more important than the door itself is the shift that you make in your mind when you are in your workspace — when you are in this space, it is time for you to work. Remove as many distractions as possible for your workspace. Sit at a desk or surface that you only use to work. When you are in this dedicated work space with the door closed, you will hopefully be shifting your mindset to focus on work.

The closed door can also serve as a signal to others in your house that you are working. When the door is closed, you are working and are not to be bothered. Now, while a partner might understand this, I’ve found that my three-year-old does not. And for now, while she is home during a pandemic, this has got to be okay. We have taught her to knock and to wait till she has been told to enter to come in. But even that is a work in progress. So I’ve alerted my colleagues that my daughter may door bust our meetings, and they have taken it in stride. Many of them have engaged with her during meetings (big shoutout to Kyle, for chatting her up about dinosaurs and then asking her if she could find a picture of an Allosaurus in one of her books — a task that took her a solid 40 minutes). I hope that everyone’s colleagues are being this generous and supportive right now.

Another useful kid strategy that has been working lately is having scheduled visits to my office. For us that has meant a visit every hour or two, planned with my partner by text. When my kid asks my partner to see me, he can tell her she just has to wait X more minutes before she can give me a hug or tell me her story. This has made the time that we engage during the day more meaningful; rather than having unfettered access to me (and constantly interrupting my work flow), we spend time during our meetups cuddling and exchanging stories before she heads back out with her dad.

Don’t have a room with a door that closes? Not all is lost. Try to get a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Make it clear to those in quarantine with you that when your headphones are on, you are working and thus not immediately accessible. And when it is safe to return to public spaces (and we suggest you defer to the health experts on this one) it’s worth trying to work in a cafe or co-working space where there is some ambient noise and fewer personal distractions.

Mitigate little distractions

Your house, while the most comfortable space for you, is rife with distractions. The dishes are piling up. Tiger King is apparently a must-watch. Every person you know is reorganizing their closet. And even though you’ve been wearing the same outfit for three days, your laundry is somehow piling up. It may seem at first that you can make this all work, or at least sneak in some laundry time. But it’s harder than it seems.

For example, let’s say you have laundry piled up and it’s 8:45am, right before you’re about to start your workday. You plan to get the laundry in quickly before you start your day. But alas, you realize that you’ve left laundry in the dryer. You quickly start the laundry in the washer, empty out the dryer, and start to fold the last load of laundry. Before you know it, you’re late to your 9am meeting.

At Qntfy, we can deal with these situations in one of two ways. First, given our flexible work hours, I can just go ahead and do the laundry. This involves posting to a Slack channel that we have called #status (more on this below). I can simply say something like, “catching up on laundry; at keys at 10”. Then I can fully focus on getting my house in order without trying to split attention. Alternatively, I can just wait. Rather than start my workday in a tizzy about the laundry, I write it down as something to address while I’m off work.

This strategy — writing down distractions that come to mind during the workday — has been particularly useful during this pandemic. I’ve been using a reminders app and creating reminders like “call Grandma” and setting them for a midday break or for the evening when I’m off work. Getting them out of my head and into a list allows me to track them without letting them interfere with my workday.

Mitigate digital distractions

BuzzFeed was built on the principle of what Jonah Peretti called the “Bored at Work Social Network.” That is, a whole lot of people across the country occasionally get bored at work. Since they’re in front of an Internet-connected computer, they’ll look for a short “digital snack” — a distraction to make them smile, laugh, or reflect. This is even harder now, during this pandemic, with the added impulse to check the latest news or see the content that our friends and influencers have more time at home to produce.

In truth, these short digital breaks are probably harmless. But sometimes these distractions can spiral out of control. The five minute Facebook check-in can turn into a one-hour foray into your neighbor’s quarantine closet reorganization technique. Or you can go down a rabbit hole of reading various news articles on when it will be safe for the country will reopen until you come to the true answer — no one really knows. These distractions are less healthy. Our Remote Work Guidelines document puts it this way: if you are spending an hour on Facebook, you are spending an hour being Facebook’s product (for commodity advertisers), rather than spending that hour improving Qntfy’s product (building programs and services to improve mental health).

For me, I’ve removed digital distractions largely by keeping my phone in another room while I’m working. I am not logged in to Facebook or Instagram — my main social media choices — on my work computer, so that for the most part has mitigated my digital distraction spiral. In the past I’ve used apps that block social media during work hours. Be aware of how you’re spending your time and intervene if it seems unhealthy for you or counterproductive to getting your work done.

Allow yourself some healthy distractions

There are also all sorts of healthy distractions you can try out during the work day. Qntfy encourages these (and I recognize that not all employers do; this is something that, in my opinion, is worth advocating for if you feel that it’s safe to do so). Examples of healthy distractions from our Remote Work Guidelines include spending an hour jogging or walking, doing something spontaneous and nice for a friend or loved one, or volunteering for a local organization. Others for after this quarantine period include meeting up with a friend for lunch or coffee or volunteering in person.

For me, healthy daily distractions now include catching up with my kid, walking my dog, watering my seedlings, and listening to a good song while I make a coffee. These distractions are less likely to carry over into my work periods and ultimately make me feel good (during a period of history where not much does, I might add). If my day involved small bouts of productivity punctuated by long hours on social networks or reading the news, I would achieve neither focused work nor great life balance.

Create a strong AV setup

Because your replacement for in-person communication is video chat, we are expected to have a reasonably optimized AV setup. At Qntfy, this means:

• Headset: use headphones whenever possible to prevent echo; a headset will prevent the annoying feedback loop that disrupts meetings and makes communication difficult. We are expected to be on a headset for every meeting (and Qntfy will provide one if needed). I personally use a cheap pair of earbuds and my laptop’s built in microphone, but you can spend some serious cash on this if you want a fancy headset.
• Microphone with optimal settings: adjust your mic settings; every operating system buries these controls but they tend to make a big difference.
• Bandwidth: ensure that your home or remote office setup provides the bandwidth necessary for you to participate in video calls. Ensuring sufficient, consistent Internet connectivity is on you. It’s like ensuring you have transportation to work — we don’t care how you get here (bus, metro, car, walk…or in this case, home) but you must get here reliably without making it your team members’ problem. When we can’t hear you or you can’t hear us, you disrupt the meeting, waste people’s time, and lower productivity.
• Camera: the default expectation at Qntfy is that your camera is on and pointed at your face in every meeting. This helps us connect as humans and read each other’s body language, further strengthening remote communication. Every once in a while your hair is doing something weird. Or you realize you’re still wearing the same shirt as you were yesterday. Take 5 minutes, take care of yourself, then turn your camera on. Qntfy doesn’t mind if you show up post workout to internal meetings, given how strongly we encourage self care. One hack that I use: I keep a button-down shirt on the back of my chair so I can easily put on if someone asks for an unplanned meeting. What’s on my lower half? Pajama bottoms, forever.

Work a “core hours” schedule

This is a Qntfy-specific aspect of working that I have found helpful to my life pre-pandemic and beyond. In general, the Qntfy web office is “buzzing” between 10am and 2pm ET. We consider these our “core hours,” and we try to make sure all obligatory team meetings are only scheduled in this period. These four hours are the “default value” for hours we are expected to reliably be online. With my kid at home, having these “core hours” in place has been helpful for planning my days. I might plan a run with the stroller for 9am before I log on or cut out at 2pm for an hour of driveway chalk time — this gives a much-needed break to my partner and breaks up my workday nicely too. I recognize that not all companies that are migrating to remote status will be able to accommodate a “core hours” schedule, but for Qntfy and its employees it’s a practice that seems to serve us well.

Establish communication norms and boundaries

This is something that will vary from company to company, but being clear about expectations surrounding digital communication is a critical piece of working from home. At Qntfy, we will receive direct messages on Slack at all hours of the day (given the flexibility in work hours). As employees, we are expected to be able to send direct messages or @ someone in a channel without fear of waking them up or disturbing their life. Shifting the onus on preserving your sleep and home-life from the message-sender to the message-receiver is critical for remote work. This maintains workflow and means that when you return to work, you have the information that you need immediately available to you. Slack allows for turning off notifications, as many other apps do as well. I use my phone and laptop’s Do Not Disturb settings to ensure that I don’t get messages during unwelcome hours of the day.

Another useful Slack practice that we use at Qntfy is a #status channel. Whenever we step away from our keys for more than a few minutes during core hours, we update that in the status channel. That way if someone is trying to get in touch with us midday and we’re not responsive, they can check this channel and learn that we’re out on a quick jaunt with our dog (or what have you). We also use this channel to share if we’re on weird hours (e.g., I’m starting late today due to a doctor’s appointment; on from 11am to 7pm). This helps our colleagues anticipate how to get in touch with us when they need us.

Be respectful and present in meetings

If you’re in a meeting, BE in the meeting. This means no coding, browsing, Slacking, emailing etc. in the background. This is another reason to have all our cameras pointed at our faces. It makes it pretty clear that we’re all listening to the speaker and engaged in the conversation at hand. At Qntfy we’ve recently started employing a “round robin” technique in our meetings: when we’re discussing something, we make sure that everyone in the meeting has an opportunity to weigh in on what’s discussed. This allows everyone’s opinion to be heard and valued. This only works if everyone is paying close attention to what is being said. This communicates respect and builds trust.

Be honest about your situation and struggles

This wasn’t in our Remote Work Guidelines document prior to this pandemic, but it’s been critical to me doing my job well during this pandemic as a working parent. It became apparent to me quickly after my toddler was home from school semi-permanently that my existing setup was not going to work. After a week or so of trying to make it all work, I communicated this struggle to my colleagues. They encouraged me to adjust my schedule and be clear about what I can and cannot get done. By communicating that I was struggling to strike a balance, my colleagues were able to be proactive in changing their expectations and adjusting our work schedules accordingly.

Being honest with colleagues allows them to be reactive in providing support as well. One example of this: last week I was asked late in my workday (now 7am to 3:30pm to split childcare with my partner) if I could get something done for a 9am meeting the next day. Although this would have been doable pre-pandemic when we had childcare options, this now would mean either cutting into my childcare responsibilities or cutting into my sleep. After agonizing over it for a few minutes, I simply stated to my team that it would be difficult for me to get it done in time because I was a half-hour from my work day ending. My colleague, Max, jumped in and offered to do it so I could spend time with my kid (thank you, Max!). I was tempted to just try to get it done anyway — at the expense of my family or well-being — and I’m glad that I communicated my concern instead. If you don’t communicate your circumstances to your colleagues, they won’t know how to help or adjust to accommodate them (and, I’ve found that people without children truly don’t understand how difficult it is to be without childcare during this time unless you tell them). Once you’ve set, communicated, and stuck to your boundaries, be generous with yourself and your colleagues for the things that you might not be able to manage and be proud of those you can.

Build trust

And last but far from least in Qntfy’s guidelines for remote work is to build trust. This is highlighted throughout our internal guidelines, and it is paramount to each of the sections above. Stephen M. R. Covey defines trust as “both character (who you are) and competence (your strengths and the results you produce).” Trust in others comes not only from being truthful but also from the extent you reliably do what you say you will do.

What should you do if you want your colleagues to trust you? These are a few principles that are cited frequently as key steps to building trust.

• Communicate, communicate, communicate. We are far more likely to trust those we like. We trust others that stay in touch with our issues and concerns. Take the chance to initiate conversations and meetings. Seek others’ opinions on important topics. Share accurate and complete information with colleagues. Transparent communication builds trust.
• Track your commitments. Carefully track the commitments you make to others. Often, with good intentions, people agree to do something but then forget the commitment. Trust comes from reliability.
• Accept blame and share credit. Avoid blaming others when things go wrong. Accept personal responsibility if there is a problem that involves your group, even if you were not the person who made the mistake. In the same vein, be sure to share with your team any opportunities for praise and commendation for success.

There you have it — these are the guidelines that every new hire at Qntfy sees and that have guided our company’s inner workings since its inception. We hope that these guidelines will serve you well as you figure out how to work remotely during this challenging time. If you want to learn more about Qntfy, visit our website or find us on Twitter.