The pros, and the cons, of taking your business fully remote

Why return to the office?

Sanjay Aggarwal is founder of Spice Kitchen, an artisanal spice and tea company.

As a food business, certain roles that support the business must be located on site including all managerial and operative warehouse roles.

Sanjay Aggarwal with Spice Kitchen co-founder, Shashi Aggarwal

Consequently, the company’s warehouse stayed open throughout COVID-19 and has continued to function fully in-office since, with only two managers working from home.

What are the biggest advantages of office working?

We ask Aggarwal what are the benefits of in-person working over mobile working.

Increased camaraderie 

Sanjay tells Startups that improved interpersonal relationships are one of the biggest bonuses of a shared office space.

“Coming into the office is great for that all-important buzz of working around others and having a sense of collaboration towards a common goal,” says Aggarwal.

Greater knowledge sharing

The physical nature of being a manufacturing firm means that, for Spice Kitchen, the switch to remote work would mean the ceasing of all major operations.

“The business just couldn’t operate with everyone working remotely,” Aggarwal tells Startups. “We need to have people in a physical location for picking and packing orders, labelling, grinding spices, and sending out orders.”

But Aggarwal adds that working together in-person is important for effectiveness in other areas, such as sharing information or skills.

“[Working in the office] keeps everyone on the same page in terms of where the business is at with orders and other developments,” he explains.

“Because we are small, the goalposts move quickly and often, and having everyone in one place means that we all shift gear together.”

Better infrastructure

Many home workers have struggled to work from corners of the kitchen or uncomfortable desks placed in bedrooms.

Spice Kitchen shelf

Spice Kitchen moved into a new office and warehouse space in 2021. Thanks to recent and planned investment in the area – including refurbishing a break area and building a new, more-discreet meeting room – team members have access to a modern work space.

“These changes feel really important to continue to offer staff the safe and nurturing working environment they deserve,” Aggarwal says.

What are the challenges of office working?

Recruitment

In today’s competitive environment, lots of businesses are facing pressure from job seekers to offer flexible or remote working as an added incentive. This has birthed a new challenge for business owners – how to recruit in a talent crisis?

Similarly, in-office working automatically shrinks the talent pool of candidates to those based locally to an area. So how has Sanjay worked to mediate this risk?

Transparency is a key priority, he tells Startups. When recruiting for roles, the HR department is clear and upfront that the job is based on-site.

“This sets up the expectation from the start. We’ve only ever had applications from people [who] want to work in the office or warehouse. “

Supporting staff

One of the most common issues associated with full-time working is keeping employees, who might hold opposing views of the subject, on-board.

However, Aggarwal seems confident that having a supportive and transparent culture when it comes to feedback can relieve these concerns.

“I have always said that I want Spice Kitchen to be a place where people want to come to work,” he says. “The feedback [we’ve had] from our staff is that they love what they do and enjoy the buzz and energy around the place.”

Aggarwal is also introducing an Employee Assistance Programme to ensure that Spice Kitchen’s workers “can have access to therapy or coaching if they need it.

“This is particularly useful for members of the team who experience anxiety or who want to work on how to have better relationships with others.”

Why work fully remotely?

Sano Genetics is a UK healthtech startup, founded in 2017, that conducts precision medicine research for rare and chronic diseases.

Pre-COVID, Sano Genetics was based in an office in Cambridge. After a trial period last year, the company’s 30 employees relocated to a fully-remote working model.

Charlotte Guzzo, founder of Sano Genetics

We caught up with co-founder and chief operating officer, Charlotte Guzzo, to hear why she made the decision to move online and how the journey has been so far.

What are the biggest advantages of remote working?

Broader access to talent

Before the shift to working from home, the company had to search for workers in Cambridge, where the firm was headquartered.

Now, Guzzo says that geography is no longer a hiring barrier.

“We’re getting a far bigger pool of applicants for each new role we post. We also know that offering ‘work from anywhere’ is making us much more attractive to new recruits.”

Improved work-life balance

One consequence of the shift to mobile working during COVID-19 was that parents, partners, and friends could spend more time with each other.

As Guzzo asserts, this change proved popular with employees at Sano Genetics.

“Mostly, people value the work/life balance, relish not having to commute and appreciate having flexibility over where to live,” says Guzzo.

“We [can] enjoy the monetary savings and health benefits of not commuting on public transport. We’re also able to fit more exercise, hobbies and activities into our day, where travel would otherwise have been consuming our time.”

Increased productivity

Conversely to pro-office Sanjay Aggarwal, Sano Genetics takes the view that employees are actually more productive when going remote. Guzzo argues that offices, though creative, can also be distracting environments.

So does working in an office make you more or less productive?

According to Guzzo, it depends. The tech company has seen no issues with productivity and performance since becoming remote. It also hasn’t made any effort to ‘micromanage’ and track staff whilst they work online, instead basing success on the results achieved.

“[This] has the effect of attracting and retaining smart hard working people who are not afraid to be judged on what they produce, rather than the hours they spend in front of their laptops,” Guzzo says.

However, as she acknowledges, it’s important to have the right tools in place. “Productivity benefits are quickly negated if processes and technology aren’t in place to help people work efficiently at home.”

What are the challenges of fully-remote working?

Risk of fatigue

Having the right infrastructure to work from home and be on remote calls might lead to the expectation that staff will be available at any time.

“There’s a risk that remote teams spend their working hours hopping from call to call, never having the opportunity to get their heads down,” Guzzo states. “We want people to enjoy their work, and long, pointless meetings are rarely inspiring for anyone.”

To counter this, Sano Genetics has introduced Wednesdays as meeting-free days. Zoom calls and Microsoft team meetings are banned to clear calendars for focus work.

Decreased engagement

By its very nature, a remote workforce is physically less connected to a company’s central hub of activity.

It’s hardly surprising then, that employees who primarily work remotely said they felt 182% less engaged than workers who primarily work in person.

How will Sano Genetics avoid joining this statistic?

Guzzo says, “we have a strong culture of feedback so we ensure everyone is supported closely by their managers and are aware, at all times. Of where they excel, where their areas of growth are, and how they can get there.”

The company has also introduced various tricks and tools for employee engagement. One is a learning and development budget so that staff can continue to learn new skills from home.

“We have two days per quarter when we meet in person,” adds Guzzo.