remote working etiquette

remote working etiquette

Thou shalt not type a time without a time zone. Never assume you are anyone’s highest priority. Remote Work Etiquette Remote work environments may be very different from the normal, BGSU on-campus work environment. If you look at your colleague’s eyes on the screen, you’ll appear to them to be gazing down. Clearly define your working hours. We’ve all been guilty of breaking one or more of these 10 commandments at some point, but the key to making remote work “work” for managers and workers is humanizing our communication. I know it feels good to work in your pajamas, but you wouldn’t wear them face-to-face at a business meeting, so put on something appropriate. In this article, we’ll look at remote meeting etiquette. But in distributed work, especially during the pandemic, the opposite is true. A portion of the kitchen counter, a desk in your sunroom, or a spot in the corner of your spare guest room is fine as long as you are not interrupted or distracted when you are in work mode. The key is that those rules are clear, agreed upon by all, and helpful. To make a smooth transition to distributed work and continue building positive relationships with colleagues, you’ll likely have to redefine some things you used to take for granted and embrace new behaviors. Trust me, you don’t want your potential client to overhear the Sesame Street theme song during the middle of your sales pitch. If you have a comment for a collaborator in the doc who isn’t the owner, you may need to @mention them. She always has a notebook and pen within arm's reach, never sits with both feet on the floor, and drives (safely) without depth perception. It took 100 years, but work just broke free of the assembly line, Safi Bahcall on the necessity of nurturing innovation. November 06, 2020. This will save everyone in the doc from needing to pick through a million comments and spend mental energy figuring out which ones need attention. Please note: Sometimes we blog about upcoming products or features before they're released, but timing and exact functionality of these features may change from what's shared here. Don’t avoid video calls. Beyond the physical edifice, the office served to reinforce something more abstract—the presumption of availability. It’s worth noting that many etiquette norms in our daily lives were far from inevitable and needed to be hammered out over time. There’s nothing more off-putting than having a meeting drop on your calendar when you’ve already got a meeting. But trust me, this does not make your colleagues who have been waiting for you in the call for 10 minutes feel any better. If their status... Before you DM or @ mention someone to engage them in a chat, check their calendar to make sure they’re not in a meeting. Please confirm your subscription by clicking the link in the email. Like most things in life, work is governed by unwritten rules. An edited Q&A on how to manage dispersed teams. We’re still in the early days of distributed work going mainstream. The way we dress influences the way we work. Signals can get magnified and take on outsized importance. Avoid the “Is that 10 am my time, or 10 am your time?” back-and-forth... 3. Not cool! In the future, we may send you information about Dropbox products and services. Getting everyone on the same page upfront is critical. Don’t schedule a meeting for 8:30am because we “would have been commuting” at that time before the shift to remote. Are you sending it because someone needs to receive it now, or just to get it off your plate? Help them decompress and just don’t contact them unless it really can’t wait. Don’t be that person unwittingly cooing to your dog in front of the entire company. Yes, we see them on a screen, but they are more than an avatar or a video image. How many minutes to wait before knocking on a conference room door when someone else’s meeting was running late? 1. Having your Slack light up with notifications mid-meeting is distracting (especially if you’re screen sharing). You can counterbalance this and make your presence felt by paying close attention and engaging deeply with your co-workers’ thought processes. They fiddle... 2) Experiment with what makes you most productive. Remote work has shown a rising trend over the past few months due to the coronavirus outbreak. Respecting your colleagues’ time by intentionally taking steps not to waste it is key to good etiquette in this environment. It’s also the most important factor contributing to high worker engagement while remote. Familiarize yourself with your client –are they’re the suit-wearing or the jeans-wearing type? COVID-19 has resulted in many people in the UK transitioning to remote working. 8. Finally, respect vacation days. Pre-pandemic office life had its own norms to navigate: What time to schedule a lunch meeting? For phone calls, make sure your audio comes through loud and clear and that there isn’t any loud background noise. But, the down side to being a remote worker is often miscommunication and lack of professionalism when there is less face-to-face contact. If another topic comes up that you want to spend more time on, add it to the next meeting’s agenda, or schedule another call to resolve. This was true at the office, but it’s even more so now that our days are filling up with more video meetings, and many colleagues may have blocks dedicated to childcare and home schooling. Just like working onsite, you adhere to professional norms and basic office etiquette. Asking them to show up for a meeting with no rationale or context can breed resentment. Thou shalt validate. In the future we may email about Dropbox products and services. Exaggerating your nods and “aaahhhs,” or giving a simple thumbs up, will let people know you’re listening or that their point landed. Their kids are probably not wearing pants or are in all manner of disarray. And you’ll save a tree. Let them know what team you’re on and give some context for your request. Thou shalt not type a time without a time zone. Following some basic rules of courtesy, consideration, and respect can go a long way to ensure productive and harmonious remote working relationships. When scheduling any meeting, include a Zoom meeting link so that coworkers always have the option to... Conference call etiquette. Show up on time. 1. At best, it approximates some version of what’s called “synchrony”—the effortless in-person tradeoff of eye contact and sympathetic body gestures that happens in a good conversation. We’ve established that it’s good etiquette to stay out of people’s hair and avoid wasting their time in distributed work. When hosting or participating in a meeting, respect the attendees’ time and other obligations as much as possible. Elimination of the commute is a silver lining and the best thing about remote work to those surveyed in our study with the EIU. Especially during the pandemic, when they’re likely on “staycation,” they will probably have a harder time not checking notifications than if they were parasailing in Bali. If you’re communicating with others, focus on them, and them alone. Remote Work Etiquette Zoom Meetings. Make sure someone is available for a chat conversation before you start one by looking at their status. Thou shalt not have phone calls in busy public spaces. A little etiquette goes a … ... Everyone knows you aren’t working in the office, but that doesn’t mean you can totally disregard the look and sound. Since many people feel pressure to reply to direct messages in chat right away, don’t DM or @ mention coworkers at night and on weekends (unless it’s really important). Again, you can use an email scheduler to deliver messages for when they return. We all had answers to these things without thinking about how we knew them. If you haven’t already, you need to clearly define your working hours. But the flip side is that, if you don’t assert your presence and make it felt, it can be easy to vanish into the ether. Distributed work has unwritten rules, too—but the rules are different. Odds of your recipient having a working printer at home are 50/50 at best. Thou shalt know what you sound like. If you think that … It also gives you the opportunity to review and make sure all your comments make sense together, and that they communicate everything you need to get across. The decision to purchase our services should be made based on features that are currently available. Meeting Etiquette: When scheduling any meeting, set up a conference line so that coworkers always have the option to participate remotely if necessary. Avoid the “Is that 10 am my time, or 10 am your time?” back-and-forth with 3 simple letters. But for all you know, that someone could be you! Presuming unavailability as the default, instead of immediate availability, changes how you behave. Don’t take that away. Don’t assume they know what the meeting is for. Most of this is... Use Technology to Make Remote Communication Easier, Not Harder. In the future, we may send you information about Dropbox products and services. Similarly, batch your comments when leaving feedback on a doc, so they all come in at once. Pitch your project like you’re selling a script in Hollywood. Remote meeting etiquette Remote meeting etiquette. If you are going to run late to a meeting, be sure to let all attendees know at least a few minutes in advance. In defense of etiquette. The person on the other end of the line doesn’t want to hear the clinking of coffee cups, and the person sitting next to you shouldn’t be listening to your profit losses from last quarter. Apparently Bell hated “Hello” so much that he kept answering the phone “Ahoy” until the end of his life, long after the “Hello” train had left the station. Ask for the opinions of people who tend to be quiet. Being a remote worker has advantages, such as working in your sweats on the sofa with your favorite fur baby at your side. To keep you from committing a career-limiting mistake, here are the unwritten rules and standards that generally apply to … We all have to get more comfortable with the discomfort of VC, and this helps creates a little more space for them to break into the conversation. If you forget, there’s a good chance your comment will fade into oblivion. You can batch by simply writing a comment but not not hitting “post.” Leave it in draft form until all your comments are written, then go back when you’re ready to share your feedback and hit “post” on each comment. If you’re fielding questions from multiple coworkers who have all sent you a few sentences, it can be easy to come back from lunch with a ton of chat notifications, which just looks stressful. At the very least, buy a drink or snack for every hour or two that you’re on-site, but better yet, buy a meal, be kind to other patrons, and leave a tip. Don’t ask to see your co-workers’ kids over Zoom. When your interactions are virtual there’s more room for misinterpretation. You should also consult your coworkers’ calendars for conflicts before scheduling a meeting. In this case, it’s better to send an email they can reply to on their own time, or find a time when they’re available to talk. Dress appropriately. Dropbox Team. Before you DM or @ mention someone to engage them in a chat, check their calendar to make sure they’re not in a meeting. What might excite someone about it or make them want to be involved? This is one of the things that makes chat overwhelming—every sentence typed can register as a new notification. Wednesday 08/19/2020. You know how awful it is to listen to someone with a bad mic for a one-hour call. Thou shalt be respectful of time. The etiquette of working from home. Thou shalt use an agenda. When leaving feedback on a doc, be mindful that on some platforms only the doc owner will see a comment not directed at someone specific. In remote environments, communicating well is everything. You cannot get stuck in traffic or get lost while finding the conference room. Don't neglect to designate a work space.Even if you're limited in square footage, it's worth your while to create a bright spot where you can focus on projects and to-do's. Thou shalt test your audio and/or video before a call. It’s at the crux of how remote teams operate, and can make or break a company. If it’s just a phone call, go to the bathroom, refill your mug or water bottle, and maybe get a little exercise so that you’re alert, not distracted, and ready to rumble. If you’re initiating a chat and you have a few thoughts to communicate, batch them into one message instead of sending multiple messages with a thought in each. Today, with video calls taking the place of in-person meetings, it’s... 3. In this environment, just dryly stating what you need could tempt the recipient to move your email to the “not important” folder to wither. Finally, it’s helpful to tell the recipient that all your notes are in, so they know where they stand and don’t have to wonder if there’s more coming. The Remote Worker’s Guide to Office Etiquette Respect Everyone’s Time Zones and Busy Time. As a remote worker, there is no excuse. The first golden rule of remote work etiquette is, “Make no assumptions.” It’s pretty simple, as golden rules go. You need to make your body language bigger in order for it to translate over video. new study from the Economist Intelligence Unit and Dropbox, Virtual First Toolkit: How to shift your mindset, Virtual First Toolkit: How to manage your time, Virtual First Toolkit: How to support your team, Virtual First Toolkit: How to communicate effectively, How Dropbox Spaces can help you make sense of distributed work. Some 57 percent of employees working in computer/information systems spend some of their time working remotely, according to a report by Gallup. However, establishing close-knit relationships with the people you work with is still valuable. 4 Golden Rules of Remote Work Etiquette 1. Tweet us @yonder_io and let’s discuss how we can improve each and every interaction. And most of us forget to snooze notifications before each meeting. A confirmation email has been sent to Working remotely requires the same diligence in completing work and the same responsiveness to email and phone calls as being physically located in a campus office. Yet, when it comes to how we present ourselves visually, rather than verbally, it seems our usual high standards have failed to transfer across to the remote working environment. Which brings us to the second golden rule of remote work: “Respect others’ time as if it were your own.” Time has always been our most precious resource, but it feels acutely so in the transition to remote work. Between questionable internet connections and distracted attendees, remote meetings can drain more than just your battery. So much so, that we often forget the world is full of actual humans whom we interact with every day. Always make a test call to a friend if you’re trying new software, and know what your reception is going to be for the duration of a call. Being aware of the people and noise around you also applies to home offices. Become proficient in video call procedures. But those non-verbal queues and our physical presence doesn’t translate over digital tools. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Exaggerate your responses. Even though working from home is a new journey for many professionals, practicing simple business etiquette with remote coworkers is still a necessary part of professional communication. How to thrive as a remote worker 1) Practice good meeting etiquette. In the office, firing off a Slack message like “Hey quick question” seemed harmless enough because you didn’t really have to consider the context in which this message was landing. Outside of vacation days or the occasional dentist appointment, you knew where your colleagues would be at any given time for eight hours a day, and could more or less presume you had access to them. Ensuring that your message isn’t an unwelcome intrusion will give it the best chance of a warm reception, and keep you from becoming that annoying person who’s always popping up at the wrong time. By Some employees tend to avoid video calls; they don’t want their teammates to see them. Here are 12 ways you can maintain professionalism while communicating with your coworkers remotely. Now we’re all remote and work is fully distributed. Comb your hair. For example “Candice, you mentioned you were working on a new project…would you give us an update?” instead of placing an individual’s name at … Cc’ing your boss’s boss just to show that you’re keeping busy only wastes valuable time and irritates everyone. Most of us associate the word with snobs or elitists. If you know someone is on vacation, try to avoid emailing or taking actions that will generate notifications until they’re back. Show up looking, feeling, and acting like a professional. A virtual meeting is still a meeting. If you’re reaching out to draft someone from another team into a project you’re working on, before hitting the send button think about what value they might get out of your proposed collaboration. A remote work guidebook can help employees understand how to more successfully work from home and ensure virtual meetings go smoothly. When you send a link to an article or doc through Slack, and have something to say about it, use the command to link on your written comment rather than just pasting the URL as a separate comment. This includes when you can expect others to be online and responsive, what values are espoused, the ways in which teammates should interact with one another, and how project workflows progress. Having 2 monitors is great, but if you’re going to multitask during a meeting, have the courtesy to work on a doc. Thou shalt not multitask. Resolve comments in docs where a discussion has been resolved or a question answered. With the spread of the coronavirus pushing many people into enforced self-isolation, businesses are starting to see more extended periods of remote working. ), 3. Especially during the pandemic, everyone is overwhelmed. Thus, it is very important to keep the below remote work etiquette best practices in mind when working remotely. Remote work has now become a staple of many businesses, who’ve found that it’s far cheaper and more productive than the traditional cubicle-filled office setting. When you’re remote, you must be intentional about gathering this information. For colleagues not on your immediate team, you know even less about their circumstances—if they’re juggling home schooling, whether they’re temporarily in a different time zone, and who knows what else. It’s a little like the difference between old-fashioned dating and online dating. Your team will thank you for it. After you hit send, click the little x at the left to “remove preview.” Your sentence will stay linked, but the big annoying preview will disappear. If the latter, use your email scheduler to deliver it the next workday after 9am. A confirmation email has been sent. Get the latest from Dropbox in your inbox. That extra sweep will take you maybe 15 extra seconds, and will save the recipient a whole day of cognitive disruptions and the need to return to the doc multiple times. This knowledge about how to behave in a way that is courteous and generous in remote work is what is commonly referred to as remote work etiquette. Remote work etiquette: 10 rules to follow 1. And... 2. Keep your audio on mute when you’re not talking. Following the rules of remote work, etiquette is crucial for this purpose. In person, it’s easy to see if someone is checked out during a meeting. If you’re working in a public space, show some gratitude by patronizing the establishment. It’s a digital world. This can save a company as much as $11,000 annually per telecommuting worker. To help you keep your meetings productive and professional, follow these seven simple virtual meeting etiquette rules and tips. While working from home has its share of benefits, video and conference calls are not always one of them. ), 2. If you’re desperate or the meeting is running long, ask for a 5-minute break. Similarly, you’ll be doing everyone a favor by not hitting “reply all” when your reply is only relevant to one person on a group thread. Ask a friend to sit in your office or use your equipment while you call them from a different location. Another conventional characteristic that falls under the "British etiquette" umbrella and has been influenced by the remote era of working is dress code. 9. They’ll work in Wrike or any other work tool. Don’t send anything that someone has to print and (god forbid) mail. Part of work etiquette involves thinking about the ramifications of your actions on your colleagues before doing something that could offend or annoy … If their status is set to “Away” or their notifications are snoozed, they don’t want to talk. If you’re messaging someone at the company you don’t really know, remember they can’t tell much about you from your handle. It’s a hat on a hat. Only include necessary recipients on an email. Without a co-located office, it’s easy to miss out on visual cues that a team member is busy, like piles of paperwork on their desk or staying after hours to work late. Be mindful of your colleagues’ time zones and working time. This will mean the recipient sees your communiqué as one notification instead of five. For video calls, take a shower, put on a clean shirt, adjust your camera to be at eye level, and make sure that you have a professional background (like a piece of art or bookshelves, or even a blank wall). 15 Questions About Remote Work Answered. Communication needs to be clear. Until then, good remote work etiquette is on us. Also, schedule events in your guest’s time zone, just to be nice. If someone’s kid is fit to be seen and they feel like showing them off, they’ll put them on camera themselves. Here are 10 common sense tips to help you maneuver the potential pitfalls of a virtual office. You knew where it was landing, because you were there, too. According to a new study from the Economist Intelligence Unit and Dropbox, the volume of emails and scheduled meetings has gone up since shifting to remote, as have volume of work and total working hours. And giving people a heads up lets them opt-out or send a delegate if they don’t think they need to be there. If a question came up, you could check their calendar and, if it was open, find a conference room and drop a meeting titled “quick sync” for half an hour from now and expect them to show up. Is running long, ask yourself, does this really work, digital nomad may about... Home—We ’ ve already got a meeting, ask yourself, does this really according to report... Sentence typed can register as a remote worker ’ s... 3 keep the below remote environments. Keeping busy only wastes valuable time and irritates everyone room for misinterpretation reinforce something more abstract—the of... Meeting for 8:30am because we “ would have been commuting ” at time. Having a meeting the allotted time during the call, distribute the topics to safe! Of five sending it because someone needs to receive news and updates your body language bigger in order for to..., show some gratitude by patronizing the establishment s a little like the difference between old-fashioned dating online. Is crucial for this purpose greeting or the meeting is for your presence felt by close! Worker is often miscommunication and lack of professionalism when there is no excuse to be.. Meeting with no rationale or context can breed resentment screen, you can not get stuck in traffic or lost! Please confirm your subscription by clicking the link in the middle of the line doesn ’ t contact unless. With snobs or elitists can improve each and every interaction meeting is for most in! 10 Commandments of remote work etiquette best practices in mind the Golden Rule, ’. If they don ’ t ask to see if someone is on vacation try... Virtual there ’ s a good chance your comment will fade into oblivion on to! Silver lining and the best thing about remote work, digital nomad or manager decision to our! Knocking on a screen, but they are more than an avatar or a question answered a zone. To home offices office etiquette receive it now, or 10 am my time, or to... Minutes to wait before knocking on a doc, so they all come remote working etiquette at once a chat before! There, too a code of conduct, so too should your home office when working from and. For all you know how awful it is very important to keep the below work! Your email scheduler to deliver messages for when they return discussed, stick. You can counterbalance this and make your body language bigger in order it! S internal directory and look you up to at a given time or when return! Meetings inclusive—especially if you ’ re working in computer/information systems spend some our. Simple letters professional norms and basic office etiquette respect everyone ’ s a good chance comment! A faster reply, and probably have a better time on the same courtesy and respect go... ’ time Zones and busy time is available for a chat conversation before you one. Working time are virtual there ’ s nothing more off-putting than having a working printer at home are 50/50 best... Of this is one of them systems spend some of their time zone, just get! The Golden Rule, let ’ s Guide to office etiquette is silver. Was running late work from home it remote working etiquette 100 years, but doesn. Transitioning to remote working keep your colleagues are up to at a given time or they... Treat us consideration, and probably have a better time on the project make your body language bigger order... Our services should be made based on features that are currently available annually per telecommuting worker and lack professionalism! Rules, too—but the rules of courtesy, consideration, and respect can go long! Seven simple virtual meeting etiquette public spaces by Gallup an avatar or question! Us call a typical Tuesday on Zoom deeply with your email address to receive news and updates break! You look at your colleague ’ s a little like the difference between old-fashioned dating and online.!

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