Distributed teams are becoming the norm, not the exception

Learnings on this Thesis

• The workforce is increasingly flexible and remote: Remote work is a constant topic of conversations in offices and living rooms all around the world: in the US alone, 43% spent time working remotely and 57M work as freelancers (set to surpass 50% of the workforce by 2017).

• Remote workers prior to COVID-19 were a minority within larger organizations: The overwhelming majority of remote teams, according to Buffer, have a small part of the team working remotely (30% of the company) while the rest still work from an office.

• The most common challenges for remote workers include loneliness in the workplace (most often at their home), work-life balance, distractions, the lack of serendipity from physical chats, communication issues and challenging relationships to the onsite teams.

• Managing remote teams requires a set of new tools and processes compared to a legacy set of solutions from physical offices
  • Some creative and relational work benefits from face-to-face interaction (brainstorming sessions) while execution is generally easier while working individually – some of these will be taking to the remote realm (our remote tools are still very limited), and others will stay desirable for physical spaces (Learning Gyms
  • It’s not the tools we use, but the management and leadership styles that will make remote work work: remote work requires a heavier focus on process (to avoid communication breakdown and in the absence of quick meetings), robust frameworks for when to make use of online and offline interactions and better tools to augment team relationships.
• Hiring Goes Global
• Overall, a world in which fully-distributed teams are the norm may be a reality earlier than we think

Market size

The remote work world is made up of multiple markets, from communications to collaborative tools (which the employee uses directly) to more enterprise tools and infrastructure platforms.

• The total market size of work communication and collaboration tools is $46.7B (Statista)

Future Opportunities

• Remote workers need to catch up in employment protection and benefits
  • Remote work is becoming commonplace and new initiatives like Catch, SoleVenture or SafetyWing will transition benefits and employment protections into a new era of work.
• Use of physical spaces as a variable cost
  • Office space has mostly been a fixed cost in the balance sheet of companies – as remote-first companies get more strategic about their use of physical spaces, companies will emerge that take on the long-term risk of leases but open up space use as a variable cost for companies.
  • This is the WeWorkization of physical spaces (not just offices, but retreat spaces, areas to build team bonds, learning spaces, gyms, etc.)
• Tools to make remote work more enjoyable
  • Remote work hasn't been very joyful for the millions that were forced to go remote during COVID-19. Watch out for tools that make the remote work experience more delightful: making meetings more interesting and full of social connection, games, team building tools.

Fellows in this Thesis

Untitled Database

Resources

Freelancers predicted to become the U.S. workforce majority within a decade, with nearly 50% of millennial workers already freelancing, annual "Freelancing in America" study finds | Press, News & Media Coverage

Featured Speakers & Resources | The Remote Work Summit 2019

State of Remote Work 2019