How to optimize working remotely during Covid-19

Since the start of the Covid lockdown, companies have been developing work-from-home policies to keep business running and help employees follow social distancing guidelines. While the pandemic is certainly a catalyst for this shift, working from home is nothing new and was already a growing practice in many companies, including Qonto.

As our model is based on the digitalization of business banking, and owing to the fact that we are present across four countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain), working remotely is part of our culture at Qonto. For instance, every Qonto employee was already entitled to work from home one day per week. However, the home office concept can present a host of new challenges for both managers and employees such as lack of communication, difficulty in managing time and loneliness. This is why at Qonto we established a box of tools to ensure the continuity of our service and maintain teamwork, team spirit and unity.

Because working remotely is not a new practice at Qonto, these tools have been implemented and used by our teams since the beginning.

In addition to remote access to the internal server via a VPN and the use of Google tools (G Suite), such as Drive, Docs, or Sheets, Qonto relies on the following tools:

However, effective remote working teams don’t just require the right technology - they require the right leadership and management, as well as little gestures and moments of fun to keep the spark of teamwork alive. 

So here’s what we are doing at Qonto to keep our teams motivated:

We organize a video conference every week where people can ask anything they want to our founders, from our new HR policies to the future of Qonto. While communication is always essential for managers and leaders, it becomes of paramount importance when working remotely — especially in terms of reaching out to team members and remaining available. We also maintained our monthly company meeting (All-Hands) and do it now on Google Meet, where every employee is invited to attend a management presentation of the objectives, key results and next steps from each team.

When you are in the office it is very easy to interact with your colleagues throughout the day, but when everyone is working remotely, it requires a little extra effort. Regular, everyday communication with teams becomes even more important. This is why, at Qonto, managers have daily meetings with their team members to discuss their daily tasks and planning, but also to stay connected.

With all the changes that come with implementing remote work, it is important to foster and maintain team morale. Our Happiness Manager organizes Qonto challenges, games and e-workouts for everyone to enjoy. Our workout sessions are held twice a week on Slack. Two people from Qonto do video calls with everyone who wants to follow the class, which last for an hour usually. For the “Qonto Challenges”, employees upload a photo to Slack, and everyone can vote for the best outfit, the best meal, the funniest pet, and so on. As for the “Qonto Games”, people at Qonto can try musical and trivia quizzes, polls or play online board games.

Finally, every Tuesday evening, someone from the team puts an apron on and cooks a meal via videoconference. The recipe and ingredients are shared 4 days in advance so that everyone can join in.

For office buddies, lunches and after-work social events can be a nice time to reconnect over video chat. This is why our teams have been keen to organize virtual lunches and aperitifs to keep the team spirit alive.

Last but not least, Qonto’s HR team selects and shares the best articles, tutorials, videos and apps that can help employees get through any lockdown boredom.

We hope that these few tips and good practices have given you some ideas on how to best manage your remote work during this period of quarantine.

Only one month to go before we finally meet (in person) again.