Our Transition To A Remote Company

Our Transition To A Remote Company 

At CS Recruiting, we have worked hard to build and maintain a strong and inclusive company culture that our team members value. Pre-pandemic, the majority of our team worked from home two or three days a week, so we were somewhat used to a hybrid schedule and planned our days accordingly based on our work environment. Once the pandemic hit, we found it relatively easy to transition to a fully remote structure where we could ensure our team members were safe. Surprisingly, our entire group quickly adjusted extremely well to virtual meetings and we actually saw an increase in productivity overall. 

As we approach the one-year mark of working remotely through the pandemic, we have made the decision to go 100% virtual and have officially moved out of our office! Recent data shows that we’re not alone in this decision and 5% of organizations polled have already committed to a fully remote set up and 80% of companies will move into a hybrid model with options to work in an office and/or at home. This rising trend of remote work is something we never would have anticipated a year ago and we wanted to share our story and rationale to promote the benefits we’ve discovered. 

Cut Those Costs

• By eliminating monthly rent, office supplies, and costs around maintaining a physical office, we greatly reduced our overhead which opened up our budget and gave us the opportunity to invest back in the company and our people. 

Ditch The Commute

• Commuting can take a toll on employees. Sitting through traffic to get to and from work not only takes away from time spent completing a task, but it drains energy before you even start your workday. By eliminating the need to commute, we’ve seen an increase in productivity and a decrease in unnecessary stressors that affected our entire office. Once we freed up the time we previously spent commuting, we realized that our team started work earlier in the day and found it easier to manage their time to better and reach their goals, stress-free.

Keep The Balance

• Working from home allows employees to feel a healthy balance of time spent working versus their personal time. We are fortunate to trust our team to manage their schedules and do what is necessary to maintain this balance throughout the day. Our employees know that as long as their work is complete, we won’t judge a mid-day workout, walk with the dog or baby or stepping away from your computer to prep dinner.

 
Strengthen The Bonds

• While it’s hard to believe that being remote has brought team members closer, it actually has allowed our employees to interact more often with other team members virtually. On day one from working from home, we implemented a “video only” rule for internal conversations. We quickly learned that we actually enjoyed connecting with each other through the screen better when the conversation could be more focused without office distractions. 

Team Time

• Twice a week, company-wide video meetings are held and follow an agenda covering high-level status items, KPI/Goal Check, Company news and updates, and “Shout Outs” to recognize our peers. We rotate the presenter of these meetings and each week we learn about the presenter's background, interests, and life outside of work. 
• Smaller team meetings are held twice a week with an efficient agenda covering project statuses but always saving time at the end for personal check-ins and non-work-related conversations.
• Our leadership team also conducts individual 1:1 meetings with each team member on a quarterly basis where the conversation is focused on anything but work.

Silver Linings

• Despite not being able to spend physical time together, our team has gone out of their way to make holidays and celebrations eventful. We’ve come together for happy hours and incorporated some fun with interactive games and contests around Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day. Since our entire team is local, there have also been some surprise home deliveries with unexpected treats and we even had a team of elves hand-deliver holiday gifts...six feet away of course!
• We’ve made an effort to schedule virtual lunches where randomly picked team members receive an invite to join a video call over lunchtime. The attendees are kept a secret so everyone is surprised to see who they’re dining with and use these opportunities to get to know each other more. 
• Our team also finds ways to stick together through a monthly book club for our readers, continuous training for those who love to learn, and Superbowl squares and March Madness brackets for our sports fanatics.
• We also use our bi-monthly internal newsfeed as a platform to share industry news, recruiting tips, and feature team challenges that include recreating iconic movie scenes, sports moments, etc, playing the infamous “would you rather” game, and even a guessing game with baby photos.

 
Our pivot to a fully virtual company has had a positive impact that we never could have imagined. Being remote has provided more autonomy and flexibility for everyone and has empowered our team to plan their days and weeks with schedules that work for them.
In turn, we have seen major cost savings, increased productivity, and a stronger bond with the opportunity to get to know each other better. Overall, we’d say it’s a win-win and have no intentions of going back to a physical office!