300 employees on different continents: how we in Alconost organized work without an office
We decided to work without an office from the very beginning. Perhaps, for a small translation agency aimed at working with IT companies via the Internet, this was quite logical. Now, 10 years later, more than 300 people from all over the world work in Alconost . These are not only translators, but also marketing specialists, contextual advertising specialists, sales managers, editors, localization managers, video production specialists. We still believe that the office is inefficient, and at the same time we feel great. As a co-founder of the company, I, Kirill Klyushkin, can tell you how we do it.
Lack of office affects the development of business in a very positive way. Our clients are located all over the world, so they often write to managers during off-hours. Due to the large difference in time zones, the resolution of questions would inevitably be delayed for several days. But not with us. We do not limit employees to the rigid framework of the working eight-hour, but at the same time we ask them to respond to letters as quickly as possible. Quick answers are a very positive thing, even if you just write "I will find out this question and come back to you with the answer tomorrow." The client becomes happier, and we together with him.
We work without an office, not because we can afford a slow pace - rather the opposite. It happens that the score goes not for hours, but for minutes. So, half of the orders through our Nitro fast online translation service are completed in less than 2 hours. At the same time, we promise an answer within an hour to everyone who emails us with any questions about Nitro . With a fixed office schedule, it would be simply impossible to achieve such efficiency.
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Our formula for success is remote work, high-quality employees, free schedule and the lack of total control. Each component of this formula deserves separate attention. With remote work in general, it is clear: work where you want, as long as it does not interfere with your work effectively. The same with the schedule: we really do not care when and how much you work. The main thing is that the tasks are solved, the processes go on, projects are done quickly, and other employees do not suffer from your delays. For example, personally, I often write articles or scripts for videos at 2-3 in the morning, when current problems go into the background and I can do more in two hours than in the previous week.
We do not ask our employees to keep a daily record of what has been done or, worse, install software on their computers that works as an hour meter and at the same time imperceptibly sends screenshots to the employer. We have the opposite approach. We are convinced that it is unproductive to stand over the soul with a stopwatch and calendar, both for the employee and for the company. If a person works with all the dedication - this is immediately evident from the solving problems, satisfied colleagues and clients. If not - this is also noticeable. We evaluate the results, not the processes that led to these results. We want to do business, not control.
Here we turn to the main component of our formula, without which everything else loses its meaning - quality people. What I mean? If the goal of a person is to spend 8 hours doing something, he is not for us. If work for a person is just a way to make money, it’s not for us either.
How do I determine a quality person or not? I ask a lot of questions at the interview, often quite personal, sometimes even a little incorrect. So by the end of the conversation a fairly clear psychological portrait emerges for me. Looking back at all the interviews that we had, I understand that right after the interview it was usually possible to decide whether this person is suitable or not.
Of course, no error is complete. It happens that a person loses motivation, starts to work poorly. We are fighting for each employee: we make efforts to find the reason for such an attitude, we try to involve him in the business, setting new interesting tasks. If we lose the fight, we stop working with the person.
Speaking of motivation. It is very important for employees of "officeless" companies, and now it’s not about salary. If you do not sit side by side with the leader, colleagues, subordinates, the feeling of elbow is inevitably lost. Often within six months of remote work, an internal crisis comes, a person loses the feeling that he is working for a company, and may fall out of corporate culture. Yes, yes, we also have it - this is love for customers, this desire to go one step further, this is the ability to answer questions that the customer has not yet asked.
There is no universal method to combat this phenomenon. We found this way - ask the employee to write an article for the media or speak at the conference. While he is preparing a text or a report, he remembers his experience anew, plunges into the topic, and feels “in the stream.” It is useful and easy to meet for informal communication, drink whiskey together. One way or another, the manager should think in advance about how to help keep this motivation so that one day he will not go looking for a company with a large office and Friday gatherings in a bar, a company where he may feel socially relevant.
It is vital to keep in touch with each of the employees and provide them with proper feedback. If the work is done well - do not forget to praise, if it is bad - do not be afraid to say this, only to share the assessment of work and the assessment of the person. The main thing - do not be silent. I say this from my own sad experience, unfortunately. Last spring, I and the founder of the company, Alexander Muravsky, left with my families for three months to live in Montenegro (by the way, another advantage of remote work). There appeared so many domestic issues associated with this temporary relocation that we were distracted from contact with employees. Because of this, we lost a couple of people who, even if we were virtually close to each other, could not have left, we could help them maintain their motivation.
If the work is done poorly, you should not be afraid to say so.
However, in order to lose contact, it is not at all necessary to go somewhere. It happens that you simply immerse yourself in some business too deeply, while other employees feel lonely. Now I know how dangerous it is.
With “officelessness”, it is very critical to establish a competent working process - it is much more important than when all employees sit in one huge open-space. We felt this even at the start of the project, when we needed to hire the second and then the third client manager. I had to think about the processes and mechanisms that make remote work as smooth and quick as if they were sitting next to each other.
We have been looking for a tool for a long time in order to set and manage tasks correctly. Tried Megaplan and Bitriks24. Then we switched to Trello - very convenient and at the same time simple. We stopped at it, although the methodology for working with tasks is still being polished. We often work with translators through a cloud platform when it comes to localization of large projects. The rest of the communication is via mail, Skype or Google Hangouts, so that the participants of the group conference can search the screens.
All documents and files are stored in Google Drive. We do not use Microsoft office suite and other offline programs, but work only with online documents. The advantages of such a solution are the availability of documents from any device, the convenience of text coordination and joint revisions.
We also created our “internal Wikipedia”, where our knowledge, rules, necessary links and previous developments are collected and systematized. Everything is there - from the instructions for step-by-step setting up of corporate mail to the ideology of working with tasks in Trello. Wikipedia is constantly updated and updated. This significantly speeds up the training of new employees and optimizes the work as a whole.
It is very important to maximize the automation of routine and simplify business processes. This saves work time, allows the state not to swell and simply frees up resources for more creative tasks. After all, a trifle that takes five minutes of time each day, as a result, takes a week over a year.
And, of course, it is worth getting the necessary tools in order to be able to work anytime and anywhere. A lot of modern devices and mobile Internet make it quite real. For example, I once wrote scripts for video clips all day, communicated with clients and managed a team, standing in line at customs when crossing the border. I had enough of my mobile phone with a 5-inch screen.
My first advice: develop your own schedule. Waking up at the same time, determine for yourself the most productive hours to work. Man is a creature that needs rhythm.
Secondly, there must be conditions for remote work. If not, they need to be created. You can not work in a two-room apartment, in which children rush, and homework you are constantly distracted. You need your space, limited, closed. I have this office in my apartment. Alconost founder Sasha Muravsky has a small room in the business center, because he has two noisy children at home.
Well, the third. When working in a free schedule, the working day imperceptibly becomes irregular. There is no clear boundary between work and personal time, as in the office. It can tire someone very much, and this is the first sign that such a schedule is not suitable for this particular person. After all, if you like work, if this is a favorite thing, then at any of the 24 hours a day you can do it. I personally do not like the word "work". I do not work, I live and at the same time doing things. And it makes me happier, because it is a full life.
The original article is posted on AIN.UA.
about the author
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any string resource formats.
We also make advertising and training videos - for sites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
Lack of office affects the development of business in a very positive way. Our clients are located all over the world, so they often write to managers during off-hours. Due to the large difference in time zones, the resolution of questions would inevitably be delayed for several days. But not with us. We do not limit employees to the rigid framework of the working eight-hour, but at the same time we ask them to respond to letters as quickly as possible. Quick answers are a very positive thing, even if you just write "I will find out this question and come back to you with the answer tomorrow." The client becomes happier, and we together with him.
We work without an office, not because we can afford a slow pace - rather the opposite. It happens that the score goes not for hours, but for minutes. So, half of the orders through our Nitro fast online translation service are completed in less than 2 hours. At the same time, we promise an answer within an hour to everyone who emails us with any questions about Nitro . With a fixed office schedule, it would be simply impossible to achieve such efficiency.
')
Our formula: remoteness + people + freedom - control
Our formula for success is remote work, high-quality employees, free schedule and the lack of total control. Each component of this formula deserves separate attention. With remote work in general, it is clear: work where you want, as long as it does not interfere with your work effectively. The same with the schedule: we really do not care when and how much you work. The main thing is that the tasks are solved, the processes go on, projects are done quickly, and other employees do not suffer from your delays. For example, personally, I often write articles or scripts for videos at 2-3 in the morning, when current problems go into the background and I can do more in two hours than in the previous week.
We do not ask our employees to keep a daily record of what has been done or, worse, install software on their computers that works as an hour meter and at the same time imperceptibly sends screenshots to the employer. We have the opposite approach. We are convinced that it is unproductive to stand over the soul with a stopwatch and calendar, both for the employee and for the company. If a person works with all the dedication - this is immediately evident from the solving problems, satisfied colleagues and clients. If not - this is also noticeable. We evaluate the results, not the processes that led to these results. We want to do business, not control.
We evaluate the results, not the processes that led to these results.
Here we turn to the main component of our formula, without which everything else loses its meaning - quality people. What I mean? If the goal of a person is to spend 8 hours doing something, he is not for us. If work for a person is just a way to make money, it’s not for us either.
How do I determine a quality person or not? I ask a lot of questions at the interview, often quite personal, sometimes even a little incorrect. So by the end of the conversation a fairly clear psychological portrait emerges for me. Looking back at all the interviews that we had, I understand that right after the interview it was usually possible to decide whether this person is suitable or not.
Of course, no error is complete. It happens that a person loses motivation, starts to work poorly. We are fighting for each employee: we make efforts to find the reason for such an attitude, we try to involve him in the business, setting new interesting tasks. If we lose the fight, we stop working with the person.
Motivation VS internal crisis: who to whom?
Speaking of motivation. It is very important for employees of "officeless" companies, and now it’s not about salary. If you do not sit side by side with the leader, colleagues, subordinates, the feeling of elbow is inevitably lost. Often within six months of remote work, an internal crisis comes, a person loses the feeling that he is working for a company, and may fall out of corporate culture. Yes, yes, we also have it - this is love for customers, this desire to go one step further, this is the ability to answer questions that the customer has not yet asked.
There is no universal method to combat this phenomenon. We found this way - ask the employee to write an article for the media or speak at the conference. While he is preparing a text or a report, he remembers his experience anew, plunges into the topic, and feels “in the stream.” It is useful and easy to meet for informal communication, drink whiskey together. One way or another, the manager should think in advance about how to help keep this motivation so that one day he will not go looking for a company with a large office and Friday gatherings in a bar, a company where he may feel socially relevant.
It is vital to keep in touch with each of the employees and provide them with proper feedback. If the work is done well - do not forget to praise, if it is bad - do not be afraid to say this, only to share the assessment of work and the assessment of the person. The main thing - do not be silent. I say this from my own sad experience, unfortunately. Last spring, I and the founder of the company, Alexander Muravsky, left with my families for three months to live in Montenegro (by the way, another advantage of remote work). There appeared so many domestic issues associated with this temporary relocation that we were distracted from contact with employees. Because of this, we lost a couple of people who, even if we were virtually close to each other, could not have left, we could help them maintain their motivation.
If the work is done poorly, you should not be afraid to say so.
However, in order to lose contact, it is not at all necessary to go somewhere. It happens that you simply immerse yourself in some business too deeply, while other employees feel lonely. Now I know how dangerous it is.
Trello, Skype and Clouds
With “officelessness”, it is very critical to establish a competent working process - it is much more important than when all employees sit in one huge open-space. We felt this even at the start of the project, when we needed to hire the second and then the third client manager. I had to think about the processes and mechanisms that make remote work as smooth and quick as if they were sitting next to each other.
We have been looking for a tool for a long time in order to set and manage tasks correctly. Tried Megaplan and Bitriks24. Then we switched to Trello - very convenient and at the same time simple. We stopped at it, although the methodology for working with tasks is still being polished. We often work with translators through a cloud platform when it comes to localization of large projects. The rest of the communication is via mail, Skype or Google Hangouts, so that the participants of the group conference can search the screens.
Maximum automation of routine and simplification of business processes is very important.
All documents and files are stored in Google Drive. We do not use Microsoft office suite and other offline programs, but work only with online documents. The advantages of such a solution are the availability of documents from any device, the convenience of text coordination and joint revisions.
We also created our “internal Wikipedia”, where our knowledge, rules, necessary links and previous developments are collected and systematized. Everything is there - from the instructions for step-by-step setting up of corporate mail to the ideology of working with tasks in Trello. Wikipedia is constantly updated and updated. This significantly speeds up the training of new employees and optimizes the work as a whole.
It is very important to maximize the automation of routine and simplify business processes. This saves work time, allows the state not to swell and simply frees up resources for more creative tasks. After all, a trifle that takes five minutes of time each day, as a result, takes a week over a year.
And, of course, it is worth getting the necessary tools in order to be able to work anytime and anywhere. A lot of modern devices and mobile Internet make it quite real. For example, I once wrote scripts for video clips all day, communicated with clients and managed a team, standing in line at customs when crossing the border. I had enough of my mobile phone with a 5-inch screen.
Three tips for those who work remotely
My first advice: develop your own schedule. Waking up at the same time, determine for yourself the most productive hours to work. Man is a creature that needs rhythm.
Secondly, there must be conditions for remote work. If not, they need to be created. You can not work in a two-room apartment, in which children rush, and homework you are constantly distracted. You need your space, limited, closed. I have this office in my apartment. Alconost founder Sasha Muravsky has a small room in the business center, because he has two noisy children at home.
Well, the third. When working in a free schedule, the working day imperceptibly becomes irregular. There is no clear boundary between work and personal time, as in the office. It can tire someone very much, and this is the first sign that such a schedule is not suitable for this particular person. After all, if you like work, if this is a favorite thing, then at any of the 24 hours a day you can do it. I personally do not like the word "work". I do not work, I live and at the same time doing things. And it makes me happier, because it is a full life.
The original article is posted on AIN.UA.
about the author
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any string resource formats.
We also make advertising and training videos - for sites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/222865/
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