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Veselin Kostov

Fully remote or hybrid for a <10 employee startup?

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I think there are definitely pro's and con's for both options. For example, fully remote can save up on some costs, while hybrid may not allow you to hire talent from outside your city/country. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of both?

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Cris Rat
Such a vast topic, depends on company, people, etc etc. You seem to already have a good answer. But... why not both? If some of the staff are local, co-working from an office every now and then can be useful. While also allowing remote, means you can hire from anywhere (just make sure the "locals" don't feel they have to go in the office while the remotes don't)
Veselin Kostov
@cristian_rat It's a good way to approach it indeed! And then perhaps, if possible, to have the remote people fly in on some occasions, just to make sure that they are not missing out on building relationships face-to-face.
Cris Rat
@veselin_kostov yep, that's exactly how we are. Last year we did the meetup here, this year, we're flying to the others for a team build. A few days of fun, go karting, paintball, that kind of stuff
Alyne Padilla
Remote but with bi-weekly high engagement activities. Standard meetings don’t count, more like ideation jam sessions, team builders, team demo days, etc. As operating costs allow, quarterly offsites.
John Koo
@alynepadilla I like the concept of high engagement activities. this is something my company can also try.
Alyne Padilla
@imjohnkoo Good to hear the share resonates. For growing teams, I also recommend holding quarterly team health check-ins. Similar to a retro but more focused on how the team is collaborating as a whole, what they learned in the past x many months, along with similar conversation topics as opposed to only having the traditional dev cycle/sprint retros.
Veselin Kostov
@imjohnkoo @alynepadilla Definitely agree with you! In case a team goes fully remote, I still think they need to have meetings that are outside the usual operations agenda.
Kaya Lordoğlu
I think for a team of that size, you'll need a lot of face time to develop documents, policies and procedures. So a hybrid mode where you come into the office 3-4 days a week would be ideal
Veselin Kostov
@kaya_lordoglu Given all the available collaboration tools out there, I wonder if face time is still needed to develop these items you mentioned. Maybe if it's something legal?
Kaya Lordoğlu
@veselin_kostov you are right. Miro and Figma are definitely impressive. I still don't think the initial whiteboarding sessions and the concept of breathing the air of the same room can be imitated :-)
Andrew Duncan
Maybe remote but renting out a coworking space once a week or every other week? This way you can save on the lease for an office but still get together once in a while. Pros of remote - better balance of work/life, lower costs for company, can hire best talent regarldess of where from. Cons - can be difficult socially. Pros of hybrid - get together sometimes, in-person collaboration. Cons - can limit your hiring range.
James Tedy
fully remote can save you money, you don't need to rent a space for your team and you can hire people from outside your country like you said to find cheaper employee. for hybrid, it's easier to bond with others when you're meeting in person. personally, i think some meetings are better in person rather than over video calls.
Veselin Kostov
@james_tedy Perhaps an in-person meeting or whole day working together once every month?
Hello_Joy
With a fully remote team, can have access to a wider pool of talent. I think it really depends on what works best for your team and company culture.
Morgan Harrington
It all depends on your needs and your team's needs. Learning how to work fully remote and a good onboarding process can help you deal with issues!
Av Utukuri
Remote with using engaging remote meeting software like Reactiv SUITE that helps me to keep the team spirit going and not let remote work get boring.