Human capital
Kahai brings this point to life by referencing a psychological concept called the ‘attribution effect’. “When you’re working in isolation, you have all kinds of gaps in knowledge about others,” he explains – and in most cases, people automatically fill those blank spaces with negative assumptions. Sure enough, social psychology studies show that people are quick to attribute their own behavioural shortcomings to special circumstances – including illness, caretaking responsibilities and burnout – but are slow to show others the same courtesy. Rather than attributing a coworker’s poor performance to some unknown personal difficulties, they’re more likely to blame character failings like laziness or incompetence. All this changes, however, when coworkers have the chance to form genuine connections. As Kahai puts it: “When we’re human and connect with others, then we’re less likely to fill those knowledge gaps with something negative. Through connection, you can see what challenges another person is facing.” Fundamental to success in the digital landscape, social bonding stops the attribution effect in its tracks – tearing down digital walls of anonymity, driving empathy through connection and encouraging camaraderie among teammates. For one of the world’s largest all-remote companies, GitLab, virtual coffee chats have been instrumental in building a strong sense of community. Moving beyond traditional happy hours and trivia nights, companies can also try more unconventional team-building events. For instance, Danish company Lykke & Co hosts virtual murder mystery and bank robbery simulations to strengthen staff relationships.
Goodbye, boundaries
Another major obstacle for remote teams, stresses Kahai, is the inevitable conflict between work life and home life. “Employees have two lives that they’re trying to merge into one, and it’s a huge challenge,” he says. According to staffing company Robert Half, remote employees wind up working more hours – and 70% of professionals admit to toiling away on weekends as well. According to Kahai, there are two types of virtual workers. “First, there are the integrators,” he says. “They love remote work. For them, shifting from one thing to another is not a challenge.” However, few companies are composed entirely of integrators – which leads Kahai to his next category. “The second type of person likes good boundaries,” he explains. “For them, remote work is a challenge. Going to an office helped them create boundaries, but now you’re leaving them to their own devices to figure out where to cut off one thing and begin the other thing. It’s a challenge for them to turn themselves off at the end of the workday.” During the pandemic, many pundits suggested that managers set clear guidelines to establish boundaries – for example, banning emailing after 5pm. But Kahai says that since each employee is different, a one-size-
Finance Director Europe /
www.ns-businesshub.com
fits-all approach simply won’t work. “Some people need boundaries, and some people can manage without boundaries,” he emphasises. For instance, employees who struggle with boundaries might want a strict nine- to-five schedule, whereas their integrator colleagues enjoy setting asynchronous work hours. For this reason, Kahai resists hard and fast rules like limiting email communications to certain hours of the day. “Some of the best leaders,” he explains, “are what we call transformational leaders.” Rather than treating all employees the same, transformational leaders show everyone individualised consideration. “Employees’ work habits, needs for structure, and dreams might all be different,” Kahai adds. “As a leader, you have to know that and adapt. Maybe one employee is busy with a kid during the daytime, and the evening is the only time when they can work. If they’re working all night, they might want that midnight email.”
Thinking outside the cubicle Given the many complexities of remote work, leaders can’t expect their staff to acclimate overnight. To truly succeed in a virtual environment, says Kahai, companies must make time for training. Training, he admits, was always missing from the world of remote work. “Even before the pandemic, you’d see upper management at companies shipping out work to different parts of the world and assuming, ‘We have Skype and email, so we should be able to manage remote work that’s done in India and China,’” says Kahai. “And they wouldn’t provide any training to the people who were managing the remote workers. Even now, I don’t know many companies that have embraced training for remote work.” According to Kahai, this has to change. “Training is needed, both on the side of the leaders as well as the employees,” he emphasises. Companies have already charted the landscape of cubicles and water coolers. But the virtual world is a different beast entirely. And at the end of the day, continuous education can be the difference between teams working remotely and remotely working. ●
£340bn
Cost of disengaged employees on the UK economy per year.
Office for National Statistics
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Inspiring/
Shutterstock.com
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