Do our employees love working remotely? Absolutely! At QCerris, we care about our employees’ preferences and needs. They can choose when they work and where they work, as long as they deliver great results. In practice, some teammates come to the office everyday, enjoying a vibrant office atmosphere, others choose to come on occasion, especially on Barbecue Thursdays, and some work from home entirely. It is up to them to choose what works best for them!
At QCerris, we are a big believer in remote and hybrid work, simultaneously striving to make our offices a peaceful and friendly base, where our employees can always go and work side by side with their colleagues.
QCerris knows no boundaries as we recruit people from all over the world. That means that our employees can live their best lives at the place they choose to call home, all while being a part of the QCerris family. This is especially convenient for our teammates who prefer living in a smaller city, or a village, where there is no opportunity to make a brick and mortar office. However, gathering together for team building activities several times a year brings us together!
We want our QCerris crew to be happy at work, and we take this goal seriously. Although our company is tech-driven, and led by engineer master-minds, our HR team is regarded as just as important, as they take care of our employees, make innovative projects, organize events, and make sure that everybody feels welcome, safe and in a great environment to thrive. We take mental health seriously, and we encourage our employees to seek support, or guidance. We also know that our employees are living interesting lives, have families, travel, enjoy social activities, so we have a rule when it comes to work: no to working overtime unless urgent, no to taking work home, no to disrupting your private life!
Work environment is not just an office, or a Zoom meeting, it is a whole QCerris experience. From a selection phase, to being promoted to senior positions, each step of the path is tailored to specific needs of a person, and we avoid any strict and imposed hierarchies. No matter if you are a CEO, or a cleaning lady, at QCerris you will be treated with respect. Our company’s structure is rather horizontal, with the emphasis on personal growth, learning from colleagues with more experience and working in diverse teams. Each of our employees has a couch, a person with considerable work experience, that is there to answer any concerns regarding the future career trajectory, or help employees solve a work related problem.
Working from home is not a privilege anymore, it is slowly, but surely becoming an industry standard. The covid-19 pandemic made companies challenge their “working from home” productivity fears, accelerating the workplace transformation. With more companies working remotely, we have an increasing amount of data that can help us settle the heated debate about remote work productivity.
First thing first, not all remote work models are created equally! We will give our attention to the following:
The company does not have a permanent location, and all employees are working remotely. This could be done asynchronously, so they do not work at the same time, or synchronously, meaning employees have working hours.
The name says it all, this model combines working at the office and remote work. Depending on the company, or the employees’ preferences, some employees work mostly remotely, only coming to the office occasionally, and some do the other way around. This model encompasses all different kinds of arrangements, and the emphasis is on flexibility.
For this model, the company clearly defines the remote vs. the office days. Depending on the preference of the company, there are two main variations: office first and remote first. Unlike the hybrid model where employees have an important role in defining their work location, in this model, the management of the company makes the final decision.
At QCerris, we work hybridly, allowing employees to choose if and how often they want to come to the office, or if they want to work completely remotely.
Working from home during the pandemic became the “new normal” out of necessity, and it is important to note that most organizations did not plan this: they did not prepare for this. The result is millions of employees who are new to working from home being lost at the beginning, with no clear direction, expectations, sometimes even with no quiet place to work. This “experiment” reorganized how we perceive private vs. professional life, and it blurred the lines between work and free time.
What are the main productivity challenges when working remotely?
So instead of blaming people for using time wisely and multitasking, at QCerris, we make meetings short, efficient and engaging, with a clearly defined purpose. Our teammates are therefore fully present and contributing to the meeting’s topic, and after the meeting is done, we love taking a couple of extra minutes to share cute pictures of our children, pets, or funny outfits.
Our policy has always been simple. We don’t need fancy productivity tools to know if the job is done. If you are present and active in meetings, finishing your tasks on time and communicating smoothly with the team and the client, it is completely up to you how you organize your working day. Therefore, employees can manage their time according to their needs, and preferences. We let our night owls or morning persons stay the way they are!
This is a tough one. People are social creatures, and Jira, Zoom and Skype aren’t exactly a natural habitat. When QCerris teammates feel tired from remote paradise, they have an opportunity to come and work from one of our offices, and reconnect with the crew. The best part is that you will be completely taken care of! We will cover the trip and the accommodation, and make sure that you enjoy your office stay!
The answer is simple: you choose! Hybrid work has proven the best model for QCerris employees, as everybody has the freedom to take advantage of the optimal working environment they want to have. Whether it is the beach, the living room, or an office, our employees are thriving, and for us, it is the only thing that counts!
