GitLab publishes guidelines for introducing remote work
GitLab is one of the world's largest remote work adopters, with over 1200 employees in more than 65 countries and all employees working remotely. GitLab is committed not only to promoting remote work within the company, but also to promoting it, and has published guidelines for introducing remote work.
All Remote | GitLab
◆ Advantages
Working in a 100% remote environment brings many benefits and competitive advantages to employees and employers alike.
First, employee benefits include:
・ Spend a lot of time in daily life, such as hobbies, delivery, and family.
-Commuting time is eliminated, and transportation expenses are unnecessary.
・ Because there is no commute, there is no danger of getting involved in an accident when going in and out of the workplace.
・ Work interruption is less likely to occur.
・ I can go out without applying for a vacation.
・ Because it does not depend on the place, it is easy to go out and move.
・ Your colleague does not transmit the disease.
・ We are not bothered by human relations in the workplace or dispute over factions.
・ You can have the best workplace for yourself.
• Choose working hours based on your most productive hours.
-Opportunities for colleagues around the world to broaden their horizons and learn about new cultures.
・ I do not need a uniform.
The benefits of the employer include:
・ We can hire talented people from all over the world.
・ Saving office maintenance costs.
-There is no cost for expanding the office.
・ There is no cost to transfer personnel.
・ Employees around the world are working asynchronously, so someone is working all day.
・ Not affected by local disasters.
・ Diverse human resources increase the diversity of the organization.
◆
While remote work has many benefits, it is not suitable for everyone. Depending on the organization, as well as the employee's lifestyle and work preferences, it can be potentially disadvantageous.
The main disadvantages are as follows.
・ Because of not being able to immediately connect with colleagues, training for newcomers who require a lot of self-learning may be difficult.
・ Someone feels lonely right after moving from office work to remote work.
・ Communication ability may decrease.
・ Some people cannot separate work and life by remote work.
・ It is difficult to adopt remote work unless someone who manages their own time, is spontaneous, observes discipline, and can organize.
・ Since currencies and taxes differ from country to country, wages and expenses may have problems.
◆
You may face major issues around the world , such as pandemics like the new coronavirus . For leaders who manage teams remotely, here are five ideas for addressing issues.
• Document issues in real time and appoint a person to prioritize issues.
・ Create a manual that all employees can refer to to reduce the damage caused by an emergency.
・ Build communication tools that allow team members to freely enter and exit and share information.
・ Communication tools should be concentrated in one place so that logs can be obtained.
• Quickly understand what works and what doesn't, and notify all employees.
◆
Here are five things that new start-up employees need to be aware of:
・ Determine where to work.
・ Encourage the people around you to understand that just because you can stay at home by remote work is not free.
・ Be careful not to neglect communication, reporting, communication and consultation among employees.
・ Separate the time between work and life, and be careful not to work too long.
・ Understand working hours and working environment of team members.
◆ Information management
The following four elements are required for information management in remote work.
・ Make job information transparent so that reports, contacts, consultations, etc. can be conducted where anyone can see it.
・ Create a manual that anyone can refer to so that they can always get the information they want.
-Log the contents of the meeting in a document and convert it to text instead of a figure to eliminate variations in interpretation.
-Exchanges between team members with different working hours are exchanged by asynchronous communication such as e-mail and do not force the partner to work overtime.
◆
Managing the rewards of remote work team members spread across 65 countries like GitLab is complex, and Victor Wu, product manager at GitLab, states that 'there is no comprehensive solution.' GiLab pays its employees in their local currency.
The reason for not paying in a common currency is that 'paying wages in a common currency can make a huge difference in remuneration costs by country and tend to hire cheaper people, so we can secure the talent we want If you start paying the lowest wages for all your employees, you won't be able to retain the best people, 'said Wu.
◆
Remote education opportunities include delivering webcasts and sharing resources online.
There are three advantages to providing a remote learning environment:
・ Because there is no need to wait for everyone to be in the classroom, they can learn at any time.
・ By sharing materials online, you can quickly review at any time even if you forget what you have learned.
・ Each employee can study in their favorite time zone and environment.
In addition, the following two points are listed as disadvantages and issues.
・ I do not know even if the student skipped.
・ It is difficult for instructors to receive feedback from students, and it is difficult to provide a place for questions and answers.
◆ Communication
In a remote work environment, communication between employees is also important. In particular, leaders are encouraged to communicate proactively and create an atmosphere where team members can easily discuss topics unrelated to work.
Even in remote environments where the faces of each other are difficult to see, each person, as a human, still needs to focus on giving time to get to know each other. For example, the following are some of the communication events that were actually conducted at GitLab to promote communication.
・ Videophone that allows participants to freely propose themes they want to discuss.
・ Participants are divided into small groups and discuss non-work related topics for 10-15 minutes.
・ Gather the entire team in one place and meet and talk in person.
・ Meet and discuss with the company four times a week.
-Covers up to $ 150 (approximately 16,000 yen) per person when visiting team members.
・ Team members can gather at
◆
As the team grows, the need to document manuals, such as accumulated know-how and rules, increases.
By prioritizing manuals, employees can share a single, trusted source. Organizations that do not work on manual documentation can create a vicious cycle in which team members endlessly examine and reconfirm the same data.
◆
In remote work, meetings are optional and should be considered 'not essential.' Also, recurring meetings are not recommended. Recurring meetings impose time constraints on team members.
In many companies, meetings serve as a forum for consensus, but at GitLab, decision-making is given to one of the leaders, who listens to members and makes decisions that everyone can agree on. going.
If you have a videophone or chat meeting, do not necessarily force all members to join, save a log, and share information with members who are not there.
◆
In a remote environment, text-based communication is more common. It can be uncomfortable for those who came from an environment where meetings and conversational communication were commonplace.
There are points to be aware of when communicating in textbooks.
・ Be compassionate about the reader and recognize that what you wrote may be read by an unspecified number of people, not just the other person.
• Focus on relationships, avoid direct wording, and be sensitive to the emotions of others.
・ Assuming that the other party does not know anything about the agenda, try to convey as much information as possible in short sentences.
・ Reread the text before sending to confirm that the content is not negative or offensive
-Use text communication as a means of listening, understanding, and cooperating with others without forcing their opinions.
-Explain what you are grateful to the team members.
'Remote is definitely a business advantage, not a challenge to overcome,' said Wu. GitLab's recruitment and employment in countries around the world is GitLab's competitive advantage. However, Wu says, 'We expect the employment advantage gained by GitLab's adoption of remote work will diminish over time. With the penetration of remote work, employment opportunities will increase. I believe it will be evenly distributed and lead to prosperity around the world. '
Gitlab has published a number of other guidelines for promoting a remote work environment.
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