9 ways our remote team humanizes the digital workplace

97.6% of respondents to Buffer’s 2021 State of Remote Work study said they’d like to work remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their career.

That says a lot about remote work.

The overwhelming majority of information workers do not want to go back to the office, and definitely not full-time.

But working from home can be a little lonely, and overly…digital.

Replying to Slack messages, reading emails, checking briefs, logging into analytics dashboards…whatever you do during the day can start to feel not only monotonous, but unhuman.

And as humans, we crave connection, appreciation, and community. We want to know that our work is contributing towards something bigger. Without other people around us, it’s hard to feel that way, and even harder to drum up motivation. In fact, employees who collaborate stick with their tasks 64% longer than their solitary counterparts and report higher engagement levels, higher success rates, and lower fatigue.

As the CEO of two companies, I’ve made it a top priority to make our digital workplace a lot more human. Here’s how we do it together.

1. We prioritize asynch video and voice over other communication

There are 5 broad personality dimensions that psychologists score for a complete analysis of someone’s personality. The dimensions are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. A little bit of neuroticism can be endearing. But whatever type of personality you have, it’s very hard to ascertain its unique flavor in a Slack message.

When co-workers only use written communication, they might not get to know each other very well at all. But it’s important not to use video meetings as a way to get to know someone’s personality, because 71% of meetings are unproductive and inefficient.

So what can be done?

How we can enjoy each other’s personalities while still relying on asynchronous communication?

The answer is video and voice recordings. You can send a 3 or 5 minute screenshare video explaining your thoughts. This gives your co-worker a much better sense of who you are and what you have to say than just an email.

2. We value healthy productivity

One of my favorite quotes is:

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“Integrity is choosing courage over comfort. Choosing to do what is right instead of what is easy, fast or fun. Choosing to practice our principles rather than just professing them.” — Brene Brown

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Our team’s integrity is what helps us draw the line between productivity at all costs and what we like to call “healthy productivity.”

Healthy productivity takes an individual’s entire life and wellbeing into account. We want to get things done quickly, but we also want to be at peace, make sure stress and pressure don’t wreak havoc on our bodies, and enjoy what matters to us most, be that our children, pets, workout routine, or all of the above.

To put this into practice, we set ambitious but reasonable goals and we try to reduce the number of “fires” anyone needs to put out. We remind ourselves that what we do is important, but it’s not an emergency. The remaining points in this article are also major ways that we implement our stance on healthy productivity.

3. We protect each others’ calendars

We all have things to get done. We have team initiatives and individual initiatives that matter. So why would we want to stuff each other’s calendars with unnecessary meetings? That just requires the other people to field these meetings, vet the need for their attendance, and cancel many of them.

Because they’re such a productivity killer, Jeff Bezos, Mark Cuban, and Elon Musk all avoid meetings unless they are absolutely necessary.

You don’t have to be a billionaire CEO for your time to be valuable.

As a team, we believe that everyone’s time is valuable, so we take a lot of care when it comes to meeting invitations. When in doubt, don’t send the invite.

4. We don’t expect immediate responses

Sadly, Slack’s promise to kill lengthy, formal emails came with a massive downside: fast responses. The average Slack user is connected 9 hours a day to the service and is actively using Slack for 90 minutes of each workday. Most information workers would agree that 90 minutes is probably too long to actively use Slack every day. That’s a lot of time. The high stat is likely due in part to knowledge workers responding continuously throughout the day, rather than bulk their messages.

As a team, we aim to get back to each other in 4 to 6 hours during our workday, not right away. And because we use async video and audio recordings, we can respond to each other much faster than long, drawn-out chat threads. Instead, we reply directly to each other’s recordings.

5. We respect each other’s schedules

There’s no 9 to 5 requirement here. If someone wants to work 7 to 3, they can. And if they want to work 11 to 7, they can. Everyone’s life is different. Some of us are early risers with kids to drop off at school. Others have friends who eat dinner together at 10 pm.

Because we keep meetings to a minimum and we don’t expect immediate responses, we’re also able to allow everyone to live their best life.

6. We provide a budget for coworking spaces for whoever wants more human interaction

The number of coworking spaces around the world is expected to grow from 19,000 spaces in 2019 to 26,000 in 2025.

Coworking spaces are great for employers, who can provide office space for those who want it, while not having to pay for those who don’t.

We offer a budget for coworking to employees who want to get out and about, meet new people, and have conversations over lunch. And for those who work from home, we of course take care of the gear we need. This way, everyone can choose the style that works best for them, whether that’s 3 days at a coworking space and 2 at home, or any other combination.

7. We don’t let coworkers in other time zones feel left out

Distributing your workforce allows your company to have a local presence in different markets while providing headcount affordability. But if you continually host meetings that some coworkers can’t attend due to time zone constraints, you’ll accidentally create a big rift in your team. Some coworkers will be left out and unable to feel close to the rest of the team.

Reducing unnecessary meetings helps to avoid this issue. By respecting each other’s schedules and easing up our expectations on response times, we get the added benefit of being more inclusive of our team members around the world. And when there are important meetings, we make sure to find a time that everyone can swing.

8. We see each other in person at least twice a year

Motivated workers outperform those with low engagement by 202%. Highly engaged teams experience 21% more profitability. A lot of this has to do with company culture, which research proves is behind employee productivity, leadership effectiveness, and open communication.

We’ve found that in-person meetings are so important for solidifying and improving our company culture. Getting together in person connects us to the company mission and our own personal goals and motivations. A couple of meetings a year sustain us and keep us excited to collaborate together.

9. We trust each other

At the heart of all of this, we’ve got trust.

We trust each other to work hard, but not too hard that we’re sacrificing our wellbeing. We trust each other to reply when we’re able and always respect each other’s time to the best of our abilities.

Yes, the digital workplace is different. But, for many of us it’s a welcome reprieve from old-school methods of control.

Freedom is key.