Are developers being professional while working remotely?

It’s a simple question with a really complex answer, eh? Actually, I believe that the last two years have offered companies a really unique opportunity to ponder this question for themselves.

I like when employees are given an opportunity to fail, truly. It helps to identify the superstars in your company and which employees cannot work on their own. Let’s be honest, most employees, when they started to work remotely, were managed in a much more hands-off way than when they were in the office. This gave them a massive opportunity to ‘fail’, or in other words, to take advantage of this lack of routine management oversight.

Some people are made to work in offices, while others (like me) don’t like being managed. In a company, you don’t manage the staff as a whole, you manage individuals. It’s totally normal that before March 2020, some were great and had their productivity decline, while others who were not excelling really found their stride when working from home.

Many companies won’t say out loud that they love remote work for that reason, but their silence on this subject is telling. We’ve adapted to the circumstances and now make it a point to give every new hire this unique opportunity to either shine or fail so that we can address it as early as possible. It works out well for both our company and the employee. If they shine, everyone knows it’s the right fit. If they fail, they won’t have lost too much time with us.

This is an unpopular topic, but I believe speaking the truth is always the right thing.