Teleworking is here to stay. But you have to learn to live with it, and not let it become the center of your life.
It seems that the coronavirus invented telework, Nothing could be further from the truth. Many companies and many freelancers have been practicing it for years.
Shane pearlman is the CEO of Modern Tribe INC, a web page and application design company that has 130 employees. All of them telecommute, spread over 4 continents and 10 different time zones, for more than 10 years.
Shane Pearlman has granted an interview with Business Insider, where he explains some tricks to telework effectively and joyfully.
This CEO works from his balcony overlooking Las Canteras Beach in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
But first he tried different countries, which did not meet his requirements.
A place for much more than work
If you plan to change cities to telecommute, don’t just look at work. Shane Pearlman created a list of requirements which included connectivity, time zone, airport, commercial facilities, infrastructure, health system and education.
He came to live in Japan, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, but they failed in some of these requirements. And you have to deal with unexpected things: he left Nicaragua because of mosquito bites.
Finally, in the Canary Islands he found everything he needed.
A calendar of life
Most people have a work calendar, and a personal one. When you telecommute, work becomes a part of your life, it’s not something you can separate.
This is why Shane has a single calendar where he mixes quotes like “video call with employees at 17:00“, with others like”have dinner with my children“or”browse“.
Set limits and be professional
To telework, you have to do it in a room with a door, which isolates the sound. Especially if you have children.
Modern Tribe INC pays employees up to 100 euros to buy a good desk table, or for them to hire a coworking space in a nearby office.
Too you have to keep the forms and be professional. Don’t do things like go to the bathroom in the middle of a Zoom.
Be independent, but ask
When you telework you have to learn to solve problems by yourself, because you don’t have the boss at the next table to ask.
But if you have doubts, you have to do just that: to ask. Shane Pearlman fosters relationships with his employees by asking them close questions, such as how his mother is doing, or what books they are reading.
Happy employees
This CEO thinks that you have to telework with optimism, and to think that things in the end, even if they don’t look good, will turn out well.
So instead of hiring people who take their jobs very seriously, he prefers those who are happy at work and make others feel good.
They are not very orthodox advice, and precisely because of that, they can be useful to you …