Why remote work?
I shared the story of how our software company Imonology started due to the observation that technologies (and the VR revolution it brings) likely will impact tremendously how people interact. Imonology was thus a remote work place since day 1.
There are arguments both for and against remote work. Proponents praise the flexibility and lower costs in commute, relocation; while most firms today still believe that face-to-face, in-location interactions is best to facilitate and monitor work performance and to build team morale.
I’m certainly biased towards the freedom of remote work, though I’d like to share a few personal experiences on how it actually impacts people’s life.
Early on in our marriage, my wife and I decided that we should raise our children by ourselves as much as we can, meaning that no nannies or other caretakers. This is to both bring intimacy and understanding for us during our children’s growth.
My wife have a regular teaching job, where she has to go to classrooms, so naturally the day-time caring falls on me. Thanks to being able to work at home, I cared for our daughter for three full years before she went to kindergarten, and our son for two years (he was cared by a nanny for a year as it’d be too much to care for two while still doing a software startup).
The other example is our senior developer and project manager. He’s very spiritual and would like to perform mission works as a core focus in life. Before joining us he held traditional developer job, yet the strict work hours prevent him from doing any mission work, now he’s got that flexibility.
Another example is the students who has worked for us, from undergrad to graduate levels. As our founding CTO Matthew Lien (BlueT) holds a teaching position at a university, we had a steady flow of students, which would require costly office space and commute if we were not remote.
In fact, Matthew himself would not have been able to teach, which is a passion and mission of his, had he not the freedom to work remotely.
Naturally, remote co-workers would not be as intimate to know each other’s personal life as well as office workers. But my observations is that if we all understand the rules in a remote culture, such as being honest and self-disciplined, people actually work much more professionally and efficiently.
And there are still ways to remedy the missing interactions: for example, we hold “Monthly Gathering” where people would dine and meet face-to-face. We also ask everyone to update a bit of their weekend at each week’s first sync meeting, to have better ideas of each other’s life.
While remote is certainly still new but on the rise, I believe it’s important enough to warrant some understanding. In this digital and mobile age, being able to work and collaborate remotely with international talents, might just become more and more of a necessity.
If you’d like to learn more how Imonology work, feel free to visit us and drop a note!
