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Very CEO Gives Tips on Transitioning to a Remote Company

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Veronica Goudzward

April 10, 2020
2 min read

Very’s CEO, Ryan Prosser, was recently featured in an article by HR Daily Advisor titled, “New to Remote Work? Follow These Expert Tips.”

Ryan was interviewed alongside Annette Harwood, Head of HR at M Science, about his experience leading Very in the transition from being a remote-first company to a remote-only company in 2018.

First, he shared why Very chose a remote-only path:

“When we had a physical location, our employees just were not utilizing it,” Ryan said. “Because our work is very cerebral, it is best done in a heads-down, distraction-free environment, and so we found that engineers weren’t using our physical space because they wanted to be able to control their surroundings and minimize cognitive distractions.”

Additionally, Ryan talked about how the company supported employees during the transition to remote:

“It was only a hard transition for 3-4 employees who were utilizing the office the most and are intrinsically very social team members,” he adds. “For those members of the team, we placed more energy into making sure they had a voice and were a part of building an online community. This was one impetus for us to create the Remote Work Commission.”

Finally, Ryan shared many tips for keeping teams engaged and productive while working from home, including:

  • Reread your messages before you hit send. Tone is often misinterpreted in text-only communication and can come across in a way you didn’t intend.
  • Make an effort to be social. You are a human, and you need social interactions to maintain balance. Make sure you make time outside of work hours to have a social life.
  • Save your ASAPs. We all want to get everything done now, but saying you need something ASAP when it can actually wait is very disruptive to the rest of your team. Be realistic with your needs and expectations.

Read the full article here.